Exoticca: Travelers’ App 4+

We just completed a 10 day trip to Ethiopia,
It was amazing. We were a little worried about safety but it was needless. The trip was well planned and great. Ethiopia touched our hearts and stirred our souls. The stone churches in Lalibela were awe inspiring and a must see in your life. The castles in Gondar and the tribes in Omo valley were
fascinating. Be prepare for heat in the south. Our tour guide, Chris, was the best guide we have had. His passion and understanding for the country was great. He made the trip wonderful. Everything went smoothly and everyone was friendly and accommodating. We didn’t want to leave! We did take an extra day and did a city tour of Addis Ababa. It was also great. Don’t miss this cosmopolitan and interesting city. Make sure to visit the museum. Lucy is there! It was a absolutely fantastic tour and time. Go to Ethiopia, you won’t regret it!

My family just returned from a trip throughout Peru. While our guides were amazing and knowledgeable, we were greeted with a new face daily. This became a problem because many times we didn’t know our schedules until the morning of. The most egregious of examples would be our arrival at Cuzco. Our guide dropped us off at around 5:00 pm and informed us we would know by 7:00 pm our plans for the next day (which was our bus and train transfer to Machu Picchu, the whole reason for the trip). We were informed at around 8:00 pm that there would be a meeting in the hotel lobby with our next guide at 9:00. Not a big deal but we did just get off the bus after spending 10 hours on it with stops. 9:30 came and went and the guide notified the front desk worker via text that we would need to be down in the lobby for our bus at 4:10 am, in 6 hours! Not a big deal for an adult but for the children on the trip this is a problem. We went back up to our room and fell asleep until 10:20 pm to which we were woken up by a telephone call to tell us we would actually need to get down to the lobby at 4:50am.

This really put a damper on a day that, while it turned out to be a wonderful life changing experience, could have been better by receiving proper communication and frankly proper effort put in by a company we paid a substantial amount of money to. We won’t be using this service in the future.

This trip was a total disappointment. Upon arrival in Istanbul, we were told by the transport company who was to take us to our hotel that Exoticca had not paid them & that transportation could not be provided. It was finally straightened out & we were eventually taken to the hotel. No one at the hotel to greet us, no one to talk about the upcoming tour & no apologies from Exoticca
The major problem with this tour was that it was run by Euroriente NOT Exoticca. This company is a huge provider of tours in Turkey & they are about quantity not quality.
Most of our time was spent on a tour bus. Food stops were very rarely at nice cafes to enjoy local cuisine. They were at gas station rest stops. We were continuously taken to places that tried to sell us goods…carpets, jewelry, leather goods, Turkish delights, ceramics. We got to our hotel at 7 in the evening & up on the bus by 7 am. We were at the Agean & Mediterranean and never stopped in a town to enjoy. Just a short tour of ruins and then back on the bus.
The best tour I took was thru Airbnb experience as I had an extra day in Istanbul
Save your money and do not take a tour of Turkey thru Exoticca. Our fellow passengers on this tour felt the same way & many of us had travelled with Exoticca to other destinations. Every one of us felt this tour was terrible and we would never travel with Exoticca again I would recommend a different travel company to Turkey.