Anyone ever use Friendly Planet Travel? They offer a very economical "Sale of Two Cities" (Athens and Istanbul) which sounds intriguing. I've seen a couple of other queries on this board re Friendly Planet, but the posters have gotten little or no response, so I'm trying again. Anyone?

we just finished a trip (september 2007) to Greece with Friendly Planet. It was great! Everything promised was delivered. The guides were friendly and knowledgeable. I will definite travel with them again!! In our group, therev were other people who had travel with Friendly Planet, and everybody had great things to say about the agency. Good luck!

I was glad to see a reply to this query.

How large were the groups?

Thanks.

Brahmama: I wouldn't hold my breath. periquita just registered and has only dredged up this one and a 2006 thread to post about this agency. I suspect s/he IS Friendly Planet Travel.

I've been on the Asia/Europe boards for years, and I don't work for Friendly planet.
I have taken two of their tours: Thaliand (last christmas) and Vietnam, Cambodia and Bankgkok (last spring).
They are a good company, hotels were generally very good (except for 2 in central thailand). I prefer to travel independently, but my husband enjoys an occasional tour. You can expect a group of about 30 people. What I liked is I could go my own way in a city, and just hook up with the group when we were heading on to the next city. If there was something on the itinerary I wanted to do I would join in, but I largely went on my own. I have to say that the guides were outstanding.

I'll have to agree with janisj. Periquita's only two posts have been to praise Friendly Planet Travel. Hmmm...

I traveled with Friendly Planet to Egypt in 2005. It was a great trip. Just as promised. Good hotels and excellant guide.
I am researching other trips with them now.

I don't work for them either. I went on a tour of Central Europe, to Prague, Warsaw, Budapest, Vienna.. The tour was excellent. I had previously got on tours with Insight ( very good too) and I preferred Friendly Planet. The hotels were good, the tour guide was excellent. One thing I really liked was that they didn't stop at perfume factories or other places where you are trapped in the middle of no where and expected to buy something. There was none of that.
Many of the people were repeat customers with Friendly Planet. I would not hesitate to go with them again. Good value for the money, compared to the big companies like Globus and Trafalgar.

Hi Kodi!
Good to see you posting.
When did you go to Central Europe???
Did you write a Trip Report?

HiBrahmamma!!! I was just thinking about you the other day and wondering what you've been up to. still travelling like crazy?

We went to Central Europe 2 years ago right about now. It was Sept and it was a great trip.

Last Sept to Greece with a Canada company.

Do you still have my email

[email protected]

but I know how busy you are..
Drop me a line if you have a chance.
It's so long ago now since we first talked about buses from Heathrow to our hotels. What are you up to in the near future?

Good to see your name!!

I will drop you an email. Thanks for the addy - I lost a lot of the when we changed providers really fast.

I want to hear all about your Eastern/Central Europe trip as we're planning this for Sept/Oct 08, if all goes well.

Carol

raphaekg,
I'm sorry that I hi-jacked your thread. I really am interested in FP Travel ideas too. We are wanting Cairo and Istanbul and it's hard to find anything that combines the two. and the Air between them is high.

I noticed that you posted way back in January. Did you book anything with them? If so, let us know the pros and cons.

No problem, Brahmama. The replies finally started appearing AFTER I had already FINISHED by travel. Since Friendly Planet was an unknown company, we decided to go to Greece independently. (One day, I will get around to posting a full trip report -- I LOVED Crete!). In any case, sounds like Friendly Planet might be a consideration for a future travel adventure, although I admit that I prefer independent travel.