The bad news: After 17 hours of air flights and airport transfers I arrived in Quito, but my luggage did not. Drat!
The good news: Quito-based Ecuadorian Adventure Life Manager Betty Jaramillo took my luggage information and returned to the airport the following day. She worked some kind of Ecuadoriana magic and retrieved my luggage. I was in the Otavalo Valley by then and she offered to have my luggage driven up there if I wished. Talk about service! I suspect I would not have been as successful, if at all, in the luggage recovery department! She was the recipient of my two dozen roses from Otavalo Valley as a thank you!
The bad news: Due to the combination of a 6 hour ''mechanical problem'' delay for a Tame flight that resulted in us missing our small plane flight into Kapawi Lodge due to rainy season bad weather (take a breath!), we missed our first night at the Lodge.
The good news: The silver lining was a night at another Lodge, engaging dinner conversation with our 20 something hosts about Ecuadorian politics and economy, and some great Ecuadorian beer! Our flight the next morning was great.
The bad news: When we were ready to leave Kapawi Lodge rainy season weather delayed our plane. We had to make an early flight to the Galapagos the next morning and we had a big repack to accomplish. A time crunch and the real possibility of missing our Galapagos sail was looming.
The good news: When the weather broke our small plane came. We were flown to Shell and then driven four hours back to Quito. (We had long since missed our connecting large plane flight to Quito so there was no point in flying us to the larger Macas airport.) We got to see the Avenue of the Volcanoes and the scenic Banos area on this drive. We would not have seen these incredible views without this ''detour''! Kudos to the Kapawi Lodge team for being incredibly proactive to get us to Quito at 9 p.m. in time to pack for our early morning flight to the Galapagos the following morning!
The agent had great response to questions and coordinated well to create an itinerary that met our expectations.
Bob Sunshine
1 day ago
Very responsive to all questions
Teresa Cardoso
2 days ago
Kelly and Rhenee were excellent to work with on planning our trip. The logistics all worked smoothly and everyone was friendly and on time. Our accommodations were very good, particularly the incredible Patagonia Camp in Torres del Paine! Our guides on every excursion were outstanding and made the hikes memorable! Overall we had a wonderful trip with incredible memories!
Scott Gibson
2 days ago
Adventure Life is definitely a first-class safari tour company, and our representative was Franny Friesz. First of all, she responded immediately after we contacted Adventure Life. We told Franny that we had never been on a safari, and she was more than eager to offer a mountain of information about the trip. She informed us fully about all the ups, downs, and all arounds! She even prepared a number of packages for us to review -- even after we made changes to the areas we wanted to explore. Friendly, helpful, professional, and extremely knowledgeable -- these words describe Franny, and what a wonderful trip she prepared! We couldn't have asked for better service than Franny of Adventure Life. We HIGHLY recommend her and her outstanding company! Bon Voyage!
Prima Burke
3 days ago
The staff at Adventure Life made planning my family's trip to the Galapagos Islands as easy as possible. They listened to what we were hoping to experience and made thoughtful suggestions about how to accomplish our vacation goals while meeting the needs of travelers ages 17-76! They patiently answered questions and follow up questions in the months leading up to the trip. They helped us trouble shoot and customize the trip in every way possible. The logistics involved in traveling from Boston to the Galapagos are innumerable. The Adventure Life staff helped us arrange every detail and the team they assembled in the Galapagos was tremendous. I have never done a trip this big before and after working with Adventure Life this time--would not hesitate one second in working with them again.