Central Java, Sulawesi and Flores
“We booked a month’s tour of Central Java, Sulawesi and Flores – We discussed plans direct with Febby Diana in Indonesia whom we found to be highly responsive, easy to communicate with and very understanding of our requirements. She made planning and booking a very easy process. Paying through the Travel Local website was simple.
We found her selection of hotels to be in accordance with our requests. The documentation received before departure was very informative and clear. Overseeing our trip was carried out by Diwan from the local agents. We communicated through WhatsApp (we had bought a local Indonesian SIM) We found Diwan to be exceptional in his care throughout our trip. He was very prompt in responding to messages and was helpful in adapting plans due to need to rebook flights and change hotels when local airlines cancelled flights or changed their schedules. He also checked us in for our flights and forwarded to us boarding passes. This was very helpful as all domestic flights must be checked in online with these only possible 12 hours in advance. We had 8 flights on Indonesian carriers, Wings, Lionair and Batik and despite warnings about reliability all our flights were on time
Before departing we were concerned about road safety and are pleased to say that all three drivers were very careful and we felt very safe, The vehicles were in good condition, spacious and comfortable which was important as some journeys were long on very twisty mountain roads sometimes of indifferent quality, we particularly liked our driver on Flores.
Throughout our trip we were accompanied by a local guide for each island. They were all highly experienced and knowledgeable about their areas. On several occasions their experience was able to ensure that we went on excursions at the right time of day for the best experience e,g, when to climb Mount Kelimutu – being older men possibly did mean that their English was not as good as younger generations, but it was never a hindrance. They were always happy to accommodate our changes to the schedule such as including the excellent Sangiran Early Man Site and Museum north of Solo on Java.
Overall, we had a wonderful trip and were very happy that we had booked through Local Travel’s designated agents in Indonesia. Dealing directly with local agents is quick, efficient and beneficial and payment through the security of the Travel Local platform gave a sense of added security. We shall use both again.”
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