grace

I'm just starting to plan a trip to the Galapagos and was wondering whether anyone could provide a recomendation re a travel agency that they might have planned their trip with, ie one with a lot of expertise in this area. I read the posts on this forum, have ordered the book several people recommended and have looked at the websites of some of the outfitters. However, as I have pretty (well, very) specific requirements in terms of the dates I can go, I thought it might be helpful to work with someone who could clue me in on various firms' departure dates, trip length, etc. Ideas? No self-adverts, please.

Hanna

Hi Grace:<BR>There are many companies recommended on this forum. Someone here also adviced to get a book "The traveler's guide to Galapagos Islands" and to decide for yourself taking under consideration your preferences. This is what we did and based on informations in this guide book we chose one and we had the best trip in our entire lives. There are many great companies but you will need to decide what appeals to you. I hope you will like Galapagos as much as we did

grace

Thanks, Hannah. As I mentioned, I've ordered the book and I think that'll be helpful. I've also checked out some of the sites (eg, Overseas Adventure Travel, which seems to be highly recommended but having s-l-o-w server problems), but since my date requirements are pretty strict, I though it would help to work with someone who knows, eg, all 5 companies that have 7-day trips that leave on a Monday, or whatever, rather than leaving it up to my hit-or-miss search of the internet and the info in the book, wh/ was published in 1998.<BR><BR>Since you enjoyed your trip, which company did you use? Any particular good/bad points about the services they provided?

kathy

We used a local agent who steered us toward Lindblad Expeditions as she had gone on it and liked it. (We liked it too.) You may want to look at their site to get some idea of at least their packages, dates, etc. Sorry I could not help more.

Anne

Grace,<BR><BR>My family used Brendan Tours 3 years ago and they were very good. It so happened that while we were enroute to Quito, the government made some bad decisions. While in Cuenca there was a strike by taxi drivers and bus drivers, they blocked the streets in Cuenca as well as Quito and a few other places. We had prepaid for airport transfers and Brendon Tour employees made sure we made all our flights. It was an amazing trip. I would book with Brendan Tours again without a second thought!

Carol

I'm going to the Galapagos next year, and am going with a group out of Naples FL who are chartering the Lili Marleen. It's a 10 or 14-day trip (with 7-day cruise) and with Macchu Pichu. If you are interested, email me and I'll give you their name.