Explorient and specifically Kervin Yu was recommended to us, (my husband and daughter), by a…read moreprofessor friend who lived in Japan while his parents were in the diplomatic corps as he was finishing high school. Our daughter was attending a weeklong conference in Tokyo with Google/YouTube and had asked us if we were interested in joining her, as she planned to do some more touring after her conference was over, over the Thanksgiving holidays in 2019. We jumped at the chance. We had ideas about some of the cities and activities we were interested in, however, we also had to take into account the use a rollator, as I was planning on a hip replacement early in 2020, and it was crucial that I rely on it. I had already booked the three of us in a brand new boutique hotel close to our daughter's Tokyo conference for the first week when she would be working and my husband and I would be visiting sites. Kervin seamlessly, incorporated the Tokyo week into our touring and included tours with our daughter whenever her schedule allowed. He paired us with private guides throughout the trip, who were knowledgeable and most enjoyable. From Tokyo, we visited Takayama, Shirakawa-go, Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima and back to Tokyo for our return home. Explorient worked with us when we preferred a different hotel in Kyoto, and all the activities and guides they provided based on our preferences were top notch. Ranging from rickshaw tours, boat tours, tea ceremonies, cooking lessons. foodie tours, sake tasting, shrines, temples, and museums visits, (just to name a few), as well as all our train travel including Shinkansen trips and luggage transfers were on time and without glitches. We look back on this holiday and on Explorient's expert guidance as one on our most if not the most enjoyable of all our vacations. We will not hesitate to call on Kervin Yu again in the future to provide us a most delightful experience; we highly recommend Explorient and Kervin. Vivian F. Berkeley, CA

We had an amazing trip that Kervin planned for us through Asia. We went to Indonesia, Singapore,…read moreand Thailand and Kervin planned the perfect trip for us. We are very well traveled so it was very difficult to find places or things that we haven't done and Kervin managed to exceed our expectations. The hotels were on point with what we told him we wanted. I can't wait to plan another Trip with him!

I definitely would recommend Michele for booking your travel! Where do I begin? I currently live in…read moreNew York, & contacted Michele from a recommendation of a friend living in Connecticut. My first impression - Michele is extremely friendly, diligent, and knowledgeable in her work. Though I live in New York, the entire process was so easy! She was always available when contacting for any questions. I was indecisive between choosing, Bahamas or Punta Cana, to book a trip. Michele gave feedback from her previous experiences because she had visited both places, which was very helpful in choosing a location. Also, she provided the pros and cons for both places. She did not push me to book immediately, and told me to take my time to think about which location I would choose, which I really appreciated. The next day, I contacted Michele and finally made my decision! She was completely organized when sending over the authorization form, and sent me all the information regarding my trip via email; the process was straightforward and easy. It was the best decision ever to choose Michele. Making all the plans for an overseas trip can be nerve-racking and challenging, but due to Michele's knowledgeable skills, planning my trip was the total opposite. I would definitely recommend her to anyone choosing to book their trip!

My family loves to travel and even though there are travel websites we could use we only trust…read moreMichele at relax and go travel. She adds the personal touch and has a great knowledge of many destinations. We recently used this service to book our first disney Cruise. We had a little issue with Disney and Michele was right on top of it. In less than 24 hours disney was on the phone with me due to Michele. We are forever grateful fo her and what she has done for us. We have only use this company to book our trips from Puerto Rico to Bermuda and my family highly recommends Michele at Relax and Go Travel. I wish we could give more stars.

I would highly recommend Susan at African Portfolio to design your trip. She did an excellent job…read moreplanning our honeymoon and first trip to Africa. The relationships they have with hotels/guides/transportation on the ground throughout Africa is excellent and our trip went off without a hitch. We had a friend use Susan as well so the excellent referral from them made our decision to book with African Portfolio an easy one.

My experience using Nawas International Travel has been nothing short of WONDERFUL. I have…read moretraveled on three different Catholic pilgrimages with them and each trip was more memorable than the last. The accommodations were better than expected, the tour guides were outstanding, knowledgeable and entertaining and the bus drivers were polite, attentive and incredibly skilled! No complaints here. My first experience in 2018 was to Italy (a trip of a lifetime) and our tour guide, Gloria, was terrific! Every part of that trip was meticulously planned and we toured some of the most amazing sites in Italy. We were also given ample opportunities to explore on our own. My second trip in 2022 was to Germany, Austria and Switzerland (including the Oberammergau Passion Play) which was delayed for two years due to the worldwide Covid pandemic. That was such a crazy time but it wasn't a problem for us to be patient. I'm so happy we had that trip to look forward to. Again, we had the most wonderful tour guide, Deborah. She was a delight! That trip so beautiful and memorable. Each scenic location took our breath away. I recently returned from another pilgrimage to Poland & the Czech Republic (2025). Once again... nothing but praise for Nawas! Our hotels were excellent, the food was amazing and our tour guide, Bogdan, was a hoot! Our tours were outstanding and, again, we were given plenty of time explore independently. Pure enjoyment! Nawas has always been responsive to emails and well organized. I have been on two other pilgrimages with another well-known Catholic travel company and was incredibly disappointed each time... mostly due to very negative experiences with the tour guides who showed no interest in the welfare of the pilgrims but instead herded us like cattle and YELLED at us if anyone was talking. Very unprofessional. It was clear neither guide enjoyed their jobs. Additionally, we were often taken past important sites on the tours rather than entering them and getting a full tour as we did with Nawas. Needless to say, I will NOT be traveling with that other tour company again (sorry, Peter). (IYKYK). I won't hesitate to participate in future pilgrimages with Nawas! Challenges may arise occasionally, but the key is to be patient and realize that you are paying to experience another culture. Don't expect things to be like home. Give thanks and enjoy your travels!

Nawas International Travel Agency - Let the buyer beware!!!…read moreOur Pilgrimage trip to France was canceled this year because, on the departure date, the pilots of our airline went on strike. The flight was canceled. Our church volunteer tour director was told by Nawas we needed to go to Newark Airport in case they could book us on another flight. The 30+ of us went on a large bus to the airport where we spent the next chaotic 4 hours going to a few different airlines (as told) while the tour director spent most of the time on the phone with Nawas for some definitive guidance. Nawas only communicated with her. There were no flights and we took the bus back to the church parking lot and went home. Nawas called us the next day at noon and said they had a confirmed flight with no information about time, point of departure, or airline. We said no and they hung up. I received a letter from the Vice President of Nawas a while later and it expressed regrets over the situation. However, his letter opened with Dear Traveler. I have a name and it is not Traveler. It spoke volumes about their lack of sincerity or personal concern. It seems their personal caring really stopped at cashing my check to pay for this trip. We did get refunds for the flights, but any other compensation was their offer of $500 toward our next trip with them. Really??? This trip turned into an emergency situation and Nawas chose not to send any information to each of us, only communicating with the, by now, harried tour director. I would not recommend using Nawas for any tour. Their brochures are pretty, colorful, and enticing but their actions in an emergency left us, literally, holding the bag(s) and, ultimately, no refunds for services paid for but not delivered.

WORST TRIP EVER! The trip we were on was arranged by the…read morechurch covering holy sites in Portugal , Spain and France. Payment was made well in advance however, upon getting to JFK airport we found out that our nonstop flight to Lisbon was non a connection in Germany! Those extra flight and plane change meant a busy bus vacation was now crammed down by loss of a half day of wasted flying! Our luxury coach bus had a toilet however we were not allowed to use it as they didn't want to pay for cleaning or charges to dump wastewater. That meant ever stop was a race to a toilet and most were not public so you needed to buy something to use the facilities. If you bought a beer at a tavern you then needed to look for another toilet that much sooner. The other pee stops were a concessions that turned out to be frauds. I bought a solid gold cross at a high price that turned out to be plated after a month of use. STAY AWAY FROM THIS TRAVEL AGENCY!!!

Part 2 to prior review:…read more On November 11 we headed to Inverness early in the morning. One person asked why we were leaving so early as Inverness was not that far and the tour guide just said that was the schedule he was given. We first stopped at a memorial with 3 soldier statues. When we stopped there the guide said that we were going to stop for 5 seconds! Then he said 5 minutes. We thought - what's the rush? Next we saw the locks and had lunch. We arrived at our hotel in Inverness at 1:00 p.m. However, only some of the rooms were ready. The tour guide worked with the hotel staff to get some people checked in. Unfortunately, they gave several younger people rooms and left the more elderly customers to wait for 2 hours until they could get into their room. On November 13 the guide said we were going to Braemar first. The tour bus driver said she did not know we were going there. The guide said it was the site of the Highland Games. He never explained what these were. I had to look up. We then went to see the ruins of St. Andrews and the North Sea. We were then told we were leaving for Edinburgh. I asked the guide if we were going to see St. Andrews Castle. He said he had not heard of St. Andrews Castle and that this was not on his agenda. He then looked at the agenda and saw that it was on there. They drove us to the castle and told us to get off for "2 seconds," take a picture and get back on. Again, why put this on the agenda and then allow us only "2 seconds" to see it? Originally we were supposed to visit Balmoral Castle, but were told before the trip that it was closed (presumably because the royal family was visiting). Given our experiences on this trip, I decided to check and found out that the royal family visited in late August and early September. The reason we did not see the Balmoral Castle (actually you can only see the grounds and go to the gift shop), is because in November they are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays in November. This was poor planning on the touring company's part. We were surprised the tour guide did not mention at all the large Cairn Gorms National Park we drove through on the way to Edinburgh. We would rather have heard about that then how much Queen Elizabeth hated Margaret Thatcher. On Tuesday we were given a new tour guide to take us to St. Giles Cathedral and Edinburgh Castle in a nice and warm bus. He was wonderful - showed up in a kilt, was very informative, was able to answer a lot of questions and made sure we saw everything on the agenda. We were taken to the airport on November 15. The woman and man who took us were very good - made sure we all got to where we needed to be. In summary, when we signed up for this trip, we did not know we would not see Balmoral Castle, the ferry to the Isle of Skye, the Clan Donald Center, with park and museum, etc., or that we would only be allowed "2 seconds" or "5 minutes" to see other things. My suggestion to NAWAS is to not put items on their agenda that we are not going to see in November. Due to all of the above, we will never use NAWAS again.

My boyfriend and I went for a mini vacation in Norwalk, CT and I booked the Sunset Harbor…read moreLighthouse Tour which we went on this past Sunday evening from 6:30-8:30, on 8/10/25. This tour was definitely a highlight of our trip! Captain John and Charlie were great and all the passengers aboard had a great time! We passed three lighthouses-Peck Ledge LH, Sheffield Island LH and Green's Ledge LH. Charlie, co-captain of Captain John, had just toured the inside of Green's Ledge LH the day before which is listed on Airbnb for $6,000! He went around the ship showing everyone the floor plan. It especially exciting to be on the Long Island Sound and to see the red and white towers from Northport, since I live on Long Island!! We were able to see several different viewpoints of the sunset and osprey nests as well. Definitely recommend to residents of Norwalk AND tourists alike!

Like a lot of other dork type middle age dudes I'm a sucker for a good lighthouse. Actually I've…read morebeen to a few clinkers which says that I'm apparently I'm also a sucker for a bad lighthouse as well but there's no need to worry about that at Sheffield because it's all good here. So if you want to come you've got two legal options. 1. Show up via kayak (or I suppose boat then taking a short swim) during hours when they are running tours and you will be met on the shore by a volunteer who will ask you to pay a few dollars for the privilege of taking the lighthouse tour/hanging out on the island. 2. Or, you come via the regularly scheduled boat that runs from the dock on North Water Street in Norwalk from late May until the end of September. There are various public & private decks for parking all around the area so it shouldn't be too hard to find a close space. I don't remember what the price is for option #1 but for option #2 the below currently apply: Adults: $22.00 - Children 12 & Under: $12.00 Senior / NSA Member $20.00 Active Military with ID $10.00 Children 3 & Under: $5.00 Family 4 Pack (2 Adults, 2 Children) $55.00 A few random facts: Boats depart weekends only every year over Memorial Day weekend and eventually go daily from July until Labor Day and then back to weekends only until the end of September. Check seaport.org for the current schedule and for special events such as their clambakes. Once you get to the island you get to take a brief tour of the lighthouse which was built in 1868 (downstairs only for now as the upstairs tower portion is being worked on and hopefully tours will be allowed there in the not to distant future once they get the stairs in better shape along with figuring out a way to dissipate the heat which we were told was well over 100 degrees the day we were there in August) and you can also walk through the nature trail via the Stewart B. McKinney Wildlife Refuge. If you are going to walk on the nature trail or along the beach that fronts Sheffield Island Harbor just know that things are "wild" and that you will get eaten alive by flies, mosquitoes and I wouldn't be shocked if the trees had lots of ticks. The lighthouse was relit in 2011 for the first time in 91 years. Why Sheffield Island? The island was named after Revolutionary War veteran Captain Robert Sheffield who bought the island in 1804. He married Temperance Doty, a Mayflower descendant and such started the current lineage of the island's name. The 47 acre island is private property that is primarily owned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with the Norwalk Seaport Association depending upon the website owning only three or four of those acres. You will be reminded a few times of where you can and cannot walk. Speaking of an area you can't walk by it would be the dilapidated house on the right near the dock. That house is still owned by the Stabell family who sold the island to the Norwalk Seaport Association in 1986 for 700K. I forget the exact story we were told but it's something along the lines of the "home" (more of a dilapidated shack) cannot be renovated because of Fish and Wildlife Service rules and if they raze the structure they lose the land so the shack stands as is. The island itself is around a mile and half from the dock in Norwalk and the boat is kept at a country club pace in both directions which equals about 40 minutes to make the trip in each direction. This is fine as one of the crew did a fairly good job or telling everyone about some of the various islands & lighthouses & birds in the area and about the local shellfish industry. Past that it's just sit back and relax on some of their picnic benches and have a picnic or don't do a damn thing except the enjoy the beautiful view. Either way it's awesome.