Southeast Asia Travel Agents & Reviews

Our trip with Zicasso’s travel company was wonderful. Our agent and his staff were on top of everything. They found child-friendly, knowledgeable, fun guides for us. Our agents planned interesting sights and delightful activities for us. They worked hard to arrange transportation pick-ups to protect us from the downpours of rain.

When an unexpected conflict developed one evening, the company was happy to change one of our tours to the following morning. We appreciated their flexibility and helpfulness! They aim to please!

I wish to thank Zicasso’s tour company for an unforgettable trip to Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia.

Their suggestions on tours within the larger trip, honed by my preferences, led to a variety of experiences: learning about the histories of these countries, experiencing their culture and religious beliefs, meeting a wide variety of people, and enjoying great food along the way.

I consider myself an experienced traveler, but found our travel company’s enveloping presence throughout the journey would provide comfort to the least experienced traveler. The company also gave this "old hand" a sense of confidence that little would go wrong along the way. At each point in the trip, the meet-ups were error-free and the guides selected were talented and knowledgeable ambassadors of the topic at hand.

Therefore, for anyone considering a trip to Asia, I can wholeheartedly recommend this tour company as your partner for a great journey.

Working with our Zicasso travel agent to plan our amazing trip to Thailand was a delight. We told him what our general ideas were (natural world and historic sites), and he proposed three appropriate itineraries. We picked the one that most interested us, then he modified it to meet our specific desires. He was readily available and very responsive to my communication, in spite of the time difference between the US and England.

For each component of our trip, our agent found absolutely amazing guides, including guides for birding, touring an elephant sanctuary, kayaking, and a cooking school. One of our last-minute requests was to have a bilingual guide with us for the entire trip. Our agent hired an amazing young man who was very knowledgeable about Thailand and educated us while helping us navigate a country with a language and alphabet that was baffling. He guided us through temples, shopping districts, menus, and transportation. He became one of the family by the end of our week together.

The trip was amazing, the accommodations were luxurious and unique, and the activities our agent planned were just what we wanted. We would not have changed a thing.

We need to thank Zicasso, because without them, we never would have discovered such a wonderful trip planner out of England. They were fantastic.

From start to finish (and during our journey), the director of sales at Zicasso’s travel agency delivered superb service.

We are two married couples, best friends for over 40 years, with diverse interests, tastes, and requirements, who have done several journeys (at least four to give) together with Zicasso vendors. We have always felt our selected travel vendors performed at and beyond expectations, and this 15-day Southeast Asia adventure (Vietnam and Thailand) did not disappoint.

Nine months before our trip, our travel agent agreed to a phone video conference with all of us and invested at least an hour in attentively listening to our expectations while making insightful comments, including some about regions to avoid (weather-related), as well as hidden gems not to be missed. We advised him that four- to five-star accommodations were essential, as well as private drivers and guides who could be flexible in real time. It's always our experience that the time allotted at various sights can be inadequate or overkill, and improvisation, either staying longer or exiting sooner, with an alternate plan, would be essential. Our accommodations were always excellent, as were our guides and drivers.

The pacing of the trip was rigorous, but that was because we had such a long "bucket list." None of my degree of absolute satisfaction should surprise previous Zicasso clients. Their claim to carefully vet travel vendors is genuine and well-founded, and ours was such a worthy vendor.

Here are the points I want prospective clients to embrace:

You could plan your own trip (and probably save some money), but likely make a lot of missteps and suffer many inefficiencies in a region of the world where you do not speak the language. We chose not to risk that, and whatever premium we might have paid was well worth it.

Unbeknownst to us, torrential rains and flooding occurred just as we were about to visit a particular city (Chiang Mai, Thailand). Our agent tracked us down at lunch, gave us the bad news, and even brought a video on his iPad to show the destruction and chaos. He had already taken the liberty to cancel plane flights, drivers, and hotels, and had ready alternative plans. Chiang Mai is known for its elephant sanctuary, and without missing a beat, he reserved a tour in a different region of Thailand at an equally suitable elephant sanctuary, and backed it up with a visit to the town/railroad made famous by the classic 1950s film, Bridge Over the River Kwai. That was a great initiative on his part. When we pointed out to him that the rain and flood were not his fault and any financial loss he might suffer from the unexpected and sudden change in plans should go on our bill, he would have none of it, stating that was not his concern, but salvaging our trip was his only endeavor. There are lots of vendors who can accomplish a canned trip or, in our case, a highly customized one, but it's the rare travel vendor who personally steps up and exhibits great initiative when the wheels start to come off the cart. All credit to our agent and his company.

At our initial interview, we made it clear to him that one of us is severely allergic to shrimp and even a misplaced utensil in a buffet tray could be dangerous. Every guide we had, every restaurant we went to, had been put on advance notice by our agent and, without even asking, we were reassured that our request to avoid shrimp was being carefully honored.

We had an amazing trip which was pretty much faultless. Everything was easy and very well organized, and any small thing that we wanted addressing throughout the holiday was actioned immediately. Our travel specialist was great and frequently checked in throughout the holiday.

Before the holiday, our travel specialist offered many ideas of what to do but worked really closely with me on preparation as I liked many ideas but there were particular things and hotels we wanted to go to, and these were all incorporated. Our travel specialist also helped with Visa preparation, etc.

On our last day before we left for the airport, our travel specialist called the hotel for a final check-in, which was lovely. Both my husband and I have high standards, and we came away from this trip thinking it was one of our favorites, and we travel a fair bit. Thanks to the travel company and, in particular, our travel specialist.

Overall, we had a great time. First, I want to thank our Zicasso travel consultant, who helped us plan an itinerary that met all of our needs. She was very prompt and incorporated our feedback.

Zicasso’s travel planner and her team did an excellent job of understanding the kind of vacation we wanted and gave it to us without cluttering it up with lots of obligations. We had the freedom to explore on our own terms, with enough support to make the most of our time in Japan. The information package got star marks for detailing everything we needed to know very clearly and for its suggestions.

Overall, Zicasso’s travel company did a pretty good job of planning the trip. The staff were very friendly and welcoming. The spacing of the events on the itinerary was well-balanced, with a good mix of activities and free time!

The South Korea portion of our trip was flawless, with excellent guides and events planned for each day. Our local tour guides knew to change the itinerary when they noticed there was a chance to optimize timing for certain events to avoid crowds or that we were doing too many activities that were similar, which was excellent!

One point of feedback: Key transfers were missed (eg, We were expected to find our own way out of Hakone to get to the train station to Tokyo, only to find out the night before that taxis were refusing to come out to our hotel for fares because it was too far, and the hotel didn’t offer any good solutions. We were very lucky that our wonderful tour guide for Hakone offered to drive us at the last minute, otherwise we would’ve missed the train and our subsequent booked teamLab Planets and food tour in Tokyo.)