"This is the 5th time I've traveled with…"

This is the 5th time I've traveled with Explorica. This time, whoever arranged travel from Utah to France did a horrible job. On a 10 day trip, we didn't even fly out until the afternoon of day 1. We landed late afternoon on day 2 and missed the entire morning. Very poorly planned. We looked into other flights on the same airlines and for the same price, they had one leave SLC many many hours sooner. Once we landed in Paris, there was some lady (this was only her 2nd day of work) who was trying to coordinate our group onto the transport bus to the hotel. Well she instructed the bus driver to go to another area of the airport, so that was a delay again. We wasted over an hour getting that fixed. We had people in our group standing there crying because they were so very very disappointed and they had to miss out on going to Versailles the next day once all the schedules were rearranged. Disaster. Explorica needs to reimburse them the money they paid for that excursion, if not, they stole that money in my opinion. We made each tour guide aware of this and communicated it to our travel agent with Explorica. All they can do is say, "I'm sorry" and shrug their shoulders. Not very impressive at all.
Then, Explorica manages to find every hotel that has broken down air conditioning units. Out of the 4 rooms we had, only 1 room had a/c and it was marginal at best. Very hot, uncomfortable. Hard to feel rested the next day when you've just spent all night sticking to the bed. You guys can do better.

"Even though our flight was delayed over…"

Even though our flight was delayed over night in Los Angeles, I just wish you guys added and extra day in Sydney.

"Most of my trip was canceled because I…"

Most of my trip was canceled because I caught COVID. Even though I had trip insurance, I couldn't file the claim because I couldn't get anyone at Explorica to give me the information I needed to finish filing. I couldn't even get anyone from Explorica to contact me, even though I contacted the person who was supposed to help me. It was bad enough I missed a trip I had planned for my entire life, but the lack of assistance afterwards made the situation even worse AND costs me thousands of dollars. I have to say that I will never use Explorica again if I have a choice. It's been a nightmare.

"Wonderful Guide!"

Our guide, Stefano, was literally the best I could have ever imagined!

"I had so much fun"

I had so much fun! I Ioved our tour directors Jean-Luc and Irene!

"It was a great trip"

It was a great trip, however I wished we had more time in Paris. Sometimes it felt too rush (Louvre, city tour). Also, I wished we had spent less time in the bus.

"A lot of time was spent riding in a…"

A lot of time was spent riding in a coach bus, and when we arrived at our destinations, specifically Stonehenge, I had 5 minutes in the gift shop and not enough time to even purchase a water in the cafeteria. Then it was on to 3 more hours on the bus. We arrived at Bath and had only and hour for lunch and souvenir shopping before our tour of the baths. There was no time to go to the other museums or relax and enjoy any of it. We got back on the bus and two bridges were closed, so it took over an hour to get out of bath, then we were on the bus 3 more hours to get to the Hard Rock Cafe. This was the situation for the entirety of the trip. Another example - we took a 3-4 hour train ride to London. When we arrived, the bus was not there to pick us up. We waited on the side of the road for over an hour for the bus. We were supposed to tour London, but went to the hotel (another hour) and were told to go to the Wembley Mall (and Wembley was not a nice area) to find something for dinner. We had went over 12 hours without a meal. And then did nothing in London after the train ride and waiting forever on the bus. That was extremely disappointing. We were late getting back from the Hard Rock Cafe due to the delay of getting out of Bath and had to be packed and downstairs at 3:00 am to head to the airport. I was up over 30 hours before getting on the plane. I saw some amazing things, but it was rushed. The trip consisted of riding on a bus and rushing through the sites we wanted to see, other than one day we got to spend in Edninburgh. Quite exhausting and disappointing!!

"Australia"

Our trip was plagued with canceled and delayed flights which is not Explorica’s fault; however, we lost an entire day and a half due to this. It was difficult to reach the emergency line for our Group leader.

My biggest complaint was our inability to pre-check for our flights. We did not have assigned seats and this left us waiting in ticketing lines for up to 2 hours to ensure that everyone made it through. This also dispersed the group throughout the plane causing students to become confused or lost on some short duration layovers.

I believe the shortened time in Sydney made it feel as though we were flying or traveling via bus as much as we were looking at and experiencing Australia.

We also experience a 16 hour layover in Los Angeles upon our return. Explorica arranged a tour of LA; however, everyone was exhausted from the 13+hour trip back from Brisbane. Many slept on the bus or were under energized to engage in such a tour.

Our guide did an amazing job attempting to get us to locations that we missed due to the cancelled flight. Lee’s personality and experiences outside of being a tour guide gave her the experience needed to handle such a diverse group of individuals.

There was one evening of eating that I do not believe was very well thought out. The group was served steaks cooked medium although they were more on the med-rare to rare side. Outside of this the other options met most the groups needs.

All in the trip was a valuable experience and like life there are always going to be mishaps along the way.

"Communication between guide and bus…"

Communication between guide and bus driver were poor.

"My rooming situation was not what they…"

My rooming situation was not what they told me it would me I was told that myself and my two children would be staying in a room for three when none of the rooms at the hotel we were staying at were meant for two. Both in Paris and Barcelona. They were not helpful at all on Explorica end as our tour guide was more than helpful but unable to resolve the issue. I Will Not be booking with this company in the future. And I would not recommend this company to anyone and I hope that the next school trip that I hope to attend doesn't go through this company.