Service rating : The Distant Journeys team were very efficient and answered all our questions when booking. Tailored our home bound stopovers as requested. Very enjoyable three week itinerary in NZ. When the pandemic impacted our home bound stopovers and flights, the team kept us informed and rebooked flights, including a contingency flight to ensure that we got home as quickly and safely as possible.
Product : We enjoyed the different destinations within our itinerary and the contrasts between North and South Islands. It is a tremendous benefit to have free time in places so there's time to relax or see more. Loved the scenery and nature. Our coach captain's did a great job of organising everything and telling us about local history and culture, also reassuring us as the global pandemic evolved.

Service rating : Very helpful staff on first booking excellent help on booking excursions very goo
Product : Only the first two weeks was five star. The next two weeks were spent in lockdown in a hotel at Auckland airport before a flight home could be arranged. The support of Distance Journeys, Leopard Coach and the landing agent Terra Nova was second t none

Service rating : Very professional and knew their product. Always helpful and friendly. Prompt settlement following last 3 day cancellation due to corona virus.
Product : Excellent tour guide Jennie Pyrke. Great experiences!

Service rating : Strongly recommend Distant Journeys
Product : Great tour with experienced coach captains and good range of trips on free days.

Service rating : They offered exceptional customer service at the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. We were stuck in New Zealand on a Distant Journey holiday when the country went into complete lockdown and international flights were suddenly cancelled. Staff in the UK office worked tirelessly to get us alternative flights home; they also ensured that conditions in the hotel airport were we sent to were bettered, eg by ensuring we all had fridges in our rooms, and by putting us on full board so we were fed. They communicated regulary with us to let us know what was happening and what they were doing for us - their communications were honest and open so that we were not given false promises. We never felt abandoned by our tour operater during this troubling time for us all.
Product : A brilliant holiday, but some of the coach journeys were long.

Service rating : An excellent company to deal with, from first enquiry to booking. Helpful and professional service at all times. Sadly as our holiday came to an abrupt end because of Coronvirus again the professional service of DJ kicked in and they worked tirelessly to get us a flight home.
Product : Good value way of travelling and seeing NZ but this also means a lot of time sitting on a coach which may not be for everyone. This is a holiday that covers all of NZ's highlights. Excellent hotels.

The trip was the perfect blend of organised trips to iconic sights such as Uluru, and snorkelling in the barrier reef with free days to do our own thing. Good hotels, great guide, lovely companions. Loved spotting the native wildlife, especially kangaroos, parrots and the fruit bats at Cairns and the stopover trip in Singapore on the way home. Another highlight was the outback BBQ - not to be missed. Can't wait to go back - now busy planning a trip to New Zealand - with Distant Journeys of course!

Service rating : They were always there to answer every question by phone or by email, always friendly and helpful.
Product : Distant Journeys provided an unforgettable experience of Essential Australia, so much in so short a time. Excellent.

Service rating : From start to finish the whole trip was well organised,pick ups to and from flights were allways on time and the excursions were excellent.
The accommodation was first class, with the hotels in great locations which made for easy access to all the attractions.
Our tour guide James was both knowledgeable and great fun, he was always available to answer any questions and give advice.
Unfortunately our holiday was cut short because of the corona virus but Distant Journeys made a great job of arranging new flights home for us all and we received compensation for the part of the holiday we had missed.
I would definitely travel with Distant Journeys again as they handled the whole holiday very professionally making this a completely stress free holiday.
Product : The flights, hotels and all the excursions were well organised and we felt they had given us a great overall view of each part of Australia including the amazing sights, culture and history.

Excellent communication skills and helpful on all telephone dialogue

Service rating : Very helpful and professional staff, the booking process is very easy.
Product : A very good experience, the tour was very varied and covered most of the main cities and some of the interior. Due to Bush fires we missed Kangaroo Island and due to the Covid 19 pandemic we missed the Great Barrier Reef. This was no fault of the company. The company gave us a refund on our missed days and put in a few extra experiences. The guide James was excellent in all areas.

Service rating : From booking to return service was excellant would travel with them again and can highly recommend their frendly staff.
Product : Good holiday great mixture of organised tours and free time.Hotels used were of good standard and everything arranged for you.Great group of people and good value.

Service rating : It was very easy to arrange my trip with Distant Journeys. Their staff were knowledgeable and helpful and the service felt personal.
Product : My trip to NZ went brilliantly. All the details were spot on and it was easy to tailor to my requirements. The accommodation was all of a great standard. The choice of stops was very good and the coach captains were friendly, knowledgeable and I felt looked after. Unfortunately, the trip was cut short by a couple of days because of Covid-19, but we were still well looked after and an alternative route home was sorted out. Distant Journeys refunded the cost of the Bali stopover I couldn't have without hesitation.

Service rating : Excellent service.
Product : It was a very interesting tour which visited most of the places we wanted to see. Only having a driver who had to drive and do a tour operator's job fell a bit short. The driver was excellent but we felt he had enough to do driving the coach without having to do a running commentary as well. Some days were rather long and we could have reached the hotels earlier but it was as if there was an earliest arrival time so we often dallied before booking in. It would have been nice to relax at the hotel rather than hanging around. NZ weather is very changeable so some of the highlights were not as good as expected due to inclement weather. Overall we had a very good time but not quite warranting a five star review.

Service rating : Very helpful and efficient. Also very knowledgable about holiday in question.
Product : Tour guides very knowledgable. Well organised trip.

An excellent company to journey with! Hotel accommodation was excellent and as advertised,the coach comfortable enough with plenty of stops. Our Coach Captain was also excellent who kept us amused,giving us a very knowledgeable commentary.
Can only speak highly of this company and that of John, Terra Nova Distant Journeys handler in N.Z..
Our trip was cut short due to Covid-19,missing out on Napier,the Bay of Islands and our extension to Bali. We were directed to Auckland and lock-down to await a flight back to U.K.
It was here that we experienced great support both from Distant Journeys and John in dealing with our hopefully short stay, Thank you.
A beautiful,friendly country, shame about the missed parts but hopefully we will be able to complete at a later time with the same companies.I will be in touch.

Service rating : The whole experience from enquiry to booking and the travel itinerary were handled superbly
Product : The holiday exceeded expectations. The holdai Guide , Alison was a joy to be with . She made it all so easy.

Service rating : After a long time searching for our Australian holiday, definitely chose the right one with Distant Journeys. What an amazing holiday and 10 out of 10 for Jenny our tour guide all through Australia and a big thanks to the staff back in Lancashire. Hope one day to travel with them again.
Product : 5 stars not enough. Couldn’t have wished for more!

Service rating : Very efficient with promp action keeping us well informed at all times.
Product : Excellent until it came to a sudden end because of Lockdown due to Covid

Service rating : Wonderful memorable holiday. Staff very helpful with my queries. Our your guide out in Australia was fab, extremely helpful and friendly.
Product : Amazing and well organized.

Service rating : Distant Journeys provided a very comprehensive holiday package for our Singapore & Australia trip. Very good hotels. Interesting trips and activities. Good value for money. Excellent, knowledgeable and hardworking tour guide who remained with us throughout our holiday.
Whilst on the Alice Springs leg of our holiday, we were, unfortunately, caught up at the beginning of the Australia’s pandemic shut-down. This meant that we had to cut our holiday a few days short. Out tour guide and Distant Journey’s head office staff moved heaven and earth to get us back to the UK in good time without too much airline disruption. Ten days after our arrival back home, without any prompting, the company transferred a very acceptable compensatory figure into our bank account for the loss of that part of the holiday affected by the Australian lock-down. I would highly recommend Distant Journeys to anyone considering a long haul trip and will definitely be booking with them for our future trips.
Product : Good itinerary, with several interesting trips and activities, including bread making at an outback barbecue !? Hilarious. And the best steaks, ever.
Stargazing lecture in a light-pollution-free outback. Fantastic. And I’m not even interested in astronomy.
Drinks in the Long Bar, Raffles hotel, Singapore. Where else?
The Australian city tours, which were all included in the price were interesting, enhanced by our very knowledgeable tour guide, Alex. We stopped at all the right places for some great photo opportunities. The journey from Adelaide to Alice Springs on the ‘Ghan train, through the outback, was especially memorable.

Service rating : Brilliant. Staff were friendly and very helpful
Product : New Zealand was amazing..

The holiday from start to finish was well organised. Hotels were great. Our 2 Tour Guides/Drivers were very knowledgeable and full of great stories and helped to make the holiday even better. We enjoyed all the cities we visited and there was plenty to do. The holiday is very relaxed and you do not feel like you are always on the move. You actually get time to stop and explore every destination

We were in NZ when Covid 19 struck and Distant Journeys did everything they could to get us all back. There were back up plans put in place, which was very reassuring

This is our 2nd time of using Distant Journeys and we hope to do it again in the future,

They are a Company that puts their customers first, a real class act

Service rating : Very helpful, very polite, excellent customer service. Whoever I spoke to made me feel I was their only client.
Product : The holiday was 1st class from beginning to end and ran like clockwork. All the hotels were fabulous and in ideal locations. Tours were always on time and there was always a surprise extra, which we loved. Our rep Jenny was a treasure and especially helpful in getting us home at the start of the global pandemic.

Service rating : Very happy with the whole holiday and would certainly travel with them again. Thank you!
Product : Comprehensive and well organised tour of New Zealand

Service rating : The whole trip was very well organised and at the end managed to reschedule our flights and get us home despite Corona Virus
Product : Very good holiday which gave us varied experiences over both islands. One criticism, possibly not your fault was that some of the extra experiences were quite expensive. We were put off some tours by the cost though everyone who went on them seemed to enjoy them.

I was a bit disappointed that the wine tour was in the South when I would have thought the British were more familiar with wines from the Marlborough region. Perhaps it couldn’t fit into the North Island schedule.

The hotels were generally fine though we would have liked a scenic view from just one of our bedroom windows rather than the car park or the back of a building. Generally the breakfasts were good and the staff friendly and helpful.

The guides were very good and imparted an enormous amount of local knowledge. They were obviously very proud of their country.

All in all a very interesting and memorable holiday.

Service rating : Excellent communication prior to the holiday,
Excellent arrangements during the holiday
Most importantly, as we were due to return to the UK on the 23rd March, DJ went out of their way to make sure we were able to actually fly out.
Product : Unbelievable holiday of a lifetime, Absolutely brilliant!

Service rating : Very helpful pleasant staff. Interesting trip. Unfortunately we had to return home early due covid19. Alex, who was our guide was extremely good. Along with your Sidney office DJ managed to get us home safely.
Product : Trip excellant. Couple of hotels at beginning were not 5star. Hotel in Singapore was average. Good location but noisy with building work within hotel.

Service rating : Excellent customer service. Friendly staff and all questions answered. Rescheduled early return journey from New Zealand handled smoothly and professionally.
Product : Good itinerary, good hotels, lovely country and the good company of fellow travellers. Also the holiday was good value for money.

Service rating : The guides were superb. The itinerary was brilliant. The trips that were booked independently were also excellent. The accommodation that we stayed in were all top notch with the meals at breakfast time substantial.
Product : Absolutely ****** brilliant!!!
Perfect in all aspects.

Service rating : Very efficient with minimum of fuss. Last minute changes to return journey requested by us handled quickly and helpfully.
Product : Excellent. Very enjoyable.

Service rating : They were most helpful at every level ...would certainly recommend them ...and have done to friends ...hopefully when some normality returns
Product : Felt right balance of free tim3 and fixed trips

Service rating : Everything went exactly as planned. All arrangements were perfect
Product : Excellent value, can't wait for the next trip

Service rating : Excellent customer service - answering any concerns/questions.
Product : So well organised, quality hotels and included trips. An excellent tour guide Alison Diddams.

Service rating : Well organised, great itinerary, super efficient tour manager.
Product : Super efficient tour manager, great itinerary, well organised.

Service rating : very well organised. the tour guide was excellent at her job.
Product : there was so much packed into the holiday. but there was also time to do your own thing on the freedom days.

Service rating : Distant Journeys gave us the trip of a lifetime to Australia and to New Zealand. Our guide were exceptional and in both countries we learnt more and experienced more than we ever could on our own. We made new friends and tasted new foods and have returned home with thousands of photographs to treasure. Would highly recommend for anyone visiting Australia or New Zealand for the first time.
Product : Both tours are amazing. We visited the major cities of Australia and travelled deep into the Outback. In New Zealand, we went into the spectacular rainforest, to the top of the glaciers and to beautiful island beaches. A wonderful introduction to both countries.

Service rating : Very happy with the service and attentiveness of this company throughout the whole process from the start of booking our holiday to the post holiday call from them to talk about our experience while on holiday.
Product : A really good overview of New Zealand with plenty of free time to do your own thing or go on additional excursions.

Service rating : Distant Journeys provided me with a fabulous holiday tour of India, myself and my wife enjoyed every minute.
Product : Great value for money and we certainly learned a lot about the Indian sub continent

Service rating : Helpful staff when booking. Good hotels. Excellent tour guide driver in New Zealand. Well planned route frequent rest stops ,viewpoint ,lunch , between hotels.
Product : Excellent itenary. Multiple choice of tour extras.good hotels well located. Tour captain was exceptional in knowledge of both islands .

Service rating : The staff in the office were excellent. Always available to answer questions no matter how trivial. If they didn't know they found out and got back to you promptly.
I would have liked the office to process and acquire our visas. Similar to when we went to Australia
Product : The whole holiday as brilliant. Virindra our guide was extremely knowledgeable and made sure we experienced as much of India its culture and sights. He makes holidays. The driver and bus assistant saw to our every need. They were wonderful. The hotel in Dubai by the beach was superb wouldn't want to stay anywhere else if I had another stopover there.
Negatives (nit picking really)
The meal in the Amer Fort was cold and nothing special. However the ambiance of the Fort made it an unforgettable experience. This should be addressed. The house wine was undrinkable
Apart from Delhi and Jaipur eating in the hotel was the only real option. A little expensive.
Three nights in Agra Lucknow & Varanassi would have allowed us some rest periods and allowed us to enjoy the hotels to the fullest.
Our hotel room in Agra was in a dark dingy room.. Distant Journeys should request upper floor rooms for all its guests as the ground floor ones are fronted by lots of greenery blocking the light. We were moved for our second night. Much better.

Service rating : Everything was handled perfectly , great customer liaison
Product : A truly memorable experience

Service rating : Organisation was superb as always. Faultless.
Product : Organization brilliant. Excellent on the ground team of Tour Guide + Assistant + Driver (he needs a medal for driving in Delhi). Lots of wonderful things to see and do. The Taj Mahal, the Tigers in Ranthambore and the white knuckle ride that was the Rickshaw Journey around Delhi.
Perhaps a few too many "early morning calls" as the average age of the 20 tourists was well into their 60s.
My wife and I struggled with the local cuisine even though we are big fans of a curry back at home.
The "pricing" in the Hotels was obscene. We expect to pay over the odds in 4* Hotels but the price quoted THEN had 20% added for VAT and another 20% for Local taxes. Why not be "honest" on the price list?

Service rating : Always looked after with a personal service
Product : Excellent value, A wonderful experience

Service rating : From start to finish the whole experience far outdid our expectations. We were made to feel important and taken care of.
Product : Virandra our tour guide was first class from the depth of his knowledge to his attention to detail. He made this the best holiday ever.

Service rating : Excellent service from start to finish. Very friendly, informative and helpful staff.
Product : Fantastic holiday from start to finish. Everything was so well organised. The hotels (except one) was 1st class, with amazingly comfortable beds, VERY important when your on a tour. New Zealand was truly beautiful, with the most spectacular scenery. Our tour guide (Peter), was so knowledgeable and nothing was too much trouble. This was our 2nd holiday with Distant Journeys, it won't be the last.

Service rating : Excellent from beginning to end friendly and informative staff
Product : Value for money. Excellent Hotels and mainly centrally situated. Informative guides

Service rating : Excellent tour of New Zealand-all the highlights covered with the help of a great guide/driver.Distant journey staff sorted everything.
Product : Excellent tour

Service rating : They were polite, helpful, professional. Hit them with a tricky question and they'd come right back with an excellent solution. Bespoke arrangements no problem. Change of plan at the last minute no problem. Great service and a fantastic tour.
Product : The best holiday of my life, highly recommended. My only niggle was that I wished it had gone on longer!

Service rating : Booking was easy and the office was very helpful during this process. Paperwork arrived in time and gave good information.
Product : This was generally a well planned and organised tour, allowing you to see a great deal of New Zealand. The hotels were in good locations in relation to the towns visited and were of a good standard, with those in Christchurch, Dunedin and Auckland being by far the best. There were lots of local restaurants serving a variety of cuisines and mostly fast food, although evening meals in the hotels were generally good and not much more expensive. There are a lot of early starts and long travel days, but this is balanced by free time and optional trips. Of these the BBQ in Queenstown, the Dunedin train trip and the long journey to the northern tip of New Zealand were enjoyed by the people who took them. Chris the coach captain/tour director was outstanding and worked really hard to ensure everyone got the most out of the holiday. His knowledge of the country and its history was amazing. We were not always comfortable with the concept of driver and guide being the same person, especially when driving and commentating for example, but that seems to be the system in New Zealand and is unavoidable. We travelled with Singapore Airlines which gave the most direct route via Singapore, with 2 full days there each way. We travelled over the Christmas period, which gave some problems with places being open as well as some issues in hotels as there seemed to be reduced staffing levels at this time. Despite some wet days at the start, the weather was generally good with warm sunshine most days. We saw some lovely places, wonderful countryside and enjoyed the company of like minded people. Altogether a really good holiday.

Service rating : Very well organised, will definitely recommend company
Product : The hotels were mostly fantastic, the places we visited were first rate, with plenty to see and do