ileness

i am working with an adventure tour company called smiling albino, and am wondering if anyone has ever used them, and have any reports on experiences using this company. thanks!

rhkkmk

have you searched this forum for them

Kathie

There have been a few posts about Smiling Albino (and one spam message which I had removed). Search above choosing advanced search and search titles and replies.

The first question to ask yourself is whether you are interested in taking a tour. Thailand is very easy to do on your own, and it's less expensive to travel independently.

ileness

I will be travelling with two small children, so we are planning on doing some of it on our own, and some of it with guidence. I was referred by another company called Horizon and Company... They have been thus far helpful and have great ideas, but before I send them any $$ I want to be sure others have used them with happy results.

rsn

My husband and I are using them for our upcoming trip to Thailand (leave tomorrow - yay!) I will post about our experience when we are back at the end of April.

FYI - I know of a few people who have used them in the past and thought they were great, which is why we decided to use them.

BKKTours

Know them very well, my wife works as a freelance guide for them. She mostly does the tours that they organize for Absolute Travel guests. Good company with a good track record.

ileness

Thank you BKK and rsn, I am just checking this after many months... rsn.. please let me know how your trip went, and if you have any recommendations of things to do/ places to stay you would recommend!

rsn

Our trip was amazing and we really liked Smiling Albino. We found our guides to be friendly, english speaking and very flexible. Once they got to know us a bit, we ended up changing up some of our days a bit to do things we thought we would enjoy more. All in all, I would recommend them.

If you let me know where you are planning on going and for how long, I can try to help with other suggestions.

Kathie

rsn, I hope you'll write a full report on your trip.

ileness

political situation pending, we are going to Thailand in december to bangkok, chiang rai area, golden triangle, chiang mai, and koh samui... 17 nights in all.
the trip we are taking is for just our family.. and we have two elementary school age daughters... so it will involve some village visiting, hiking, touring, boating, and biking... a day of elephants, tiger petting, an HIV orphanage visit, etc.. Dan, from SA has been very helpful and flexible, as have the folks in the office, but I have not yet met anyone directly who has used them... Any tips on how best to utilize them? anything you would have done differently? any guides you liked in particular? Thanks in advance for the input....

ileness

I am writing now that I am back in Los Angeles after my fantastic adventure in Thailand with my husband and two school age daughters. Since no one on this site had been able to comment on Smiling Albino, I am taking a moment to report on my experience with them... We had a guide named Berm who helped make our time in Thailand more fulfilling and seamless than we could have imagined... Having a guide gained us entry into small hill tribe villages we would not have known existed, found us clean bathrooms at the Burmese border for my 8 year old, took us Kayaking on the Mae Kok, bike riding with support vehicle and no fear of getting lost (excellent with small children)... saved us from a three hour wait at the tiger kingdom... Historically, I am an independent traveller.. not much for groups and guides... but traveling far from home with children, I was delighted to have all of the help, and, I think Dan and Scott who are ex pat canadians who run this company are flexible, funny, and outstanding at what they do.. I had originally looked at backRoads and think that I got way better service for a fraction of the cost. Highly recommend!

Kathie

Thanks for reporting back, ileness. Glad you had such a good time.