I used the Oriental Travel Company, (Visa section) for the first time this year to arrange a visa…read moreto travel to China for a holiday with my partner. The company is located in a good location for my work and is near both Charing Cross and Leicester Square for transport. The office is on the 3rd floor of a modern apartment building and feels reputable. The company offers different speeds of service and price, (see the website). In addition they can also arrange travel in China, internal flights and so forth, although I didn't use part of this service. The visa arrived on the day I wanted it. I picked it up from their office, (a service that is free), or included in the price they will courier your passport back to you. You can courier documents to them or drop them at the office. Staff were friendly and helpful and advised me on my first application what needed to be changed so that the application wasn't rejected. The main reason to use an agent is that the queue for the Chinese VISA section starts at 7.15am in the morning and at 8.30am will be a 2-3hr queue that stretches around the block. Therefore by paying a small premium you save lots of time and hassle.

I have used Oriental Travel a few times for my business trips to China and can highly recommend…read morethis company. Very efficient services and professional staff. Their office is a few minutes to mine so I normally drop off the application in person than using a courier. Have also used them to sort out the domestic flight & train tickets, car hire, hotel bookings and appoint a translator all went flawless. Took my family for a 12 day holiday to Beijing, Yangshuo and the Yangtze cruise earlier this year. They tailor-made an excellent itinerary in a very short notice. Ground arrangements were all first class. Wonderful guides and drivers, good selection of accommodation and meals. Great job!

I am using this company for 3 years now and I have recommended them in Church as well. Till now all…read moremy friends and family are happy with them. All the staff members are so helpful.

An awful experience. Bought tickets 2 weeks ago, no eticket issued, they issued itinerary and their…read morebooking confirmation and promised that the eticket would come in 24 to 48 hours, nothing came. Was told to be patient as it was 'slow.'Thought was very suspicious and kept asking for eticket. After 5 days they phoned to say my original flight was cancelled and I had to go on another one. I checked Air China's website and this wasn't true as flight was still available. Told Hyper Air it wasn't cancelled and they said it was now running and they'd put me back on original flight.They did exactly the same on day 6. I insisted on an eticket and they emailed me confirmation that I'd get one 'tomorrow.' It never arrived. Emailed agent to ask why they would tell me 2 flights were cancelled that weren't, ni response. Phoned China Airlines to check what was happening after 11 days who said they were going to cancel ticket after 3 days as not issued (paid for. )Phoned Hyper Air very upset and stressed, who gave excuse after excuse blaming the airline, even though they don't issue the ticket, the travel agent does when booked and ticket is actually paid for through them. Hyper Air insisted it had been paid for. Their manner was rude and dismissive, challenging me to keep being patient, hanging up on me. Eventually agent said he'd tell me the truth if I stopped phoning him and it was that they needed to sell 40 more tickets before my ticket could be issued. Hyper Air 'offered' to issue etickets that same day for my original flight for an extra £1200 or an additional £500 for a different airline (which they said I could pay the next week) or a refund. I was outraged to be asked for more money but I had to take the refund as the uncertainty was too much. Prices of original flights have gone up lots and I can't get as short a flight .Even when asking for a refund and when it would happen was told that the refund would be issued when it suited them and not me.I am in the process of making a complaint to Atol and have recorded Hyper Air agents confirming that original flights were cancelled by the airline when they weren't and offering etickets the same day as the originals I paid for, for £1200. Very, very rude staff telling me to stop bothering them and bullishly offering refunds when questioned about why Air China would say tickets haven't been issued, why they don't phone back or why I should pay more than original purchase. This has been a complete and utter nightmare. Just awful. As they had an Atol certificate I just trusted that what I paid for would be delivered, unless there was a genuine reason for a flight change. I have recorded some conversations

Leisure Pass Group are the folks that manage the London Pass (and the Paris Pass, Dublin Pass,…read moreetc). Basically you buy a specific # of days (1, 3, 6) and during that time you're free to do any/all activities on the Pass. You can only do each attraction one time though. We used the London Pass (6 days) on our recent trip and found that it saved money but not always time. For the most part, you couldn't skip lines or anything. That said, it was super easy to use - they have an app and you have a QR code - scan & done! In terms of value, you have to be strategic as its consecutive day use (a 6 day pass is good for 6 days in a row starting from 1st use) so save "free things" for non pass says. Having open access also allows you to pop in and check a thing out randomly with no headaches about paying extra or feeling obligated to get your $$ worth. Most of the "top" attractions are on the London Pass except for the Eye and Madam Tussauds. It does include things like the Shard, the Tower, Westminster Abbey etc. Definitely do the math on what you want to see for sure and make sure it justifies the price. And check online for discount codes - we saved 15% on the Pass and roughly £170 between the 2 of us (over and above the Pass price). For us, it ended up being an overall value and saved us a good amount of $$, plus we definitely did things we wouldn't have without the Pass (pay £30+ to go up the Shard? No way!) IMO, the Travelcard option isn't worth paying extra for as it really does not offer any benefits over getting an Oyster card. If there was more skip the line access, it would be 5-stars.

I booked a Round The World air ticket here last year as STA travel couldn't offer me what i wanted…read more It was really hassle free - i just emailed them with where i wanted to go and when, and they found the best deal and booked the flights for me. They then sent a really easy to understand itinerary and all i had to do was go and enjoy myself. The problems come if you want to change anything on the ticket later as you have to contact the airline yourself directly rather than have Global Village sort it for you. This wasn't always easy as i was in SE Asia and contacting airlines was inconvenient and expensive. Trying to reroute the ticket was even harder! I unexpectedly had to come back to the UK and didn't complete the RTW route. I contacted Global Village for assistance but they were unable and seemingly unwilling to help. It seemed to me that once the ticket is sold there is no after-sales care or service.

This past summer it was the first time my husband and daughter visited El Salvador. We spend…read moremonths planning our trip and very excited about it. Fortunately, we had an excellent travel agency who really took extra care in fulfilling all our needs, specially traveling with a baby. They gave several traveling options, with different airlines, different prices and different places to stop-over. We wanted to stay in Mexico for a couple of days, they took care of that and gave us loads of information on where to best spend our time with the few days we had. You can really tell they specialize in multi-stop and discount worldwide flights for a reason, because they are good at it. They also arrange hotels and insurance giving you what best suits your needs and budget.