Any travel agent can issue a ticket or book a cruise . . .
We create Travel Experiences . . . that extra effort is our hallmark!

Diane and  Jeanne went to Australia on January 18, 2010  and attended the Australian Open in Melbourne, flew to Cairns and from there onto Sydney.  Upon arrival into Cairns on January 23rd they learned that Cyclone Olga was threatening Cairns and the resort they were going to the next day (Green Island Resort) was being evacuated.   I did their booking through Down Under Answers in Bellevue, WA and their land operator is AOT Group Australia.  They were provided with a toll-free number to call AOT and AOT got to work immediately after hearing from them and rearranged their resorts and their tours so that they did not miss out on anything when they were in the Cairns/Palm Cove area.  My thanks to AOT for taking such good care of my clients during that very stressful time.  This is a beautiful example of why you want to have a team working for you if you encounter problems while traveling.  

Above:  Sandy and Robert in Cairns holding a sleepy koala bear.  Below: Celebrating Robert's 40th birthday on the Great Barrier Reef.

Chris,

Robert and I would like to thank you for planning, what turned out to be, an adventure of a lifetime.  We had such a great time.  We really appreciate all of the work that you put into our itinerary to ensure that our planned activities flowed smoothly.   Your attention to even the smallest of details helped to make this trip our best vacation yet.  I don't know what I would have done without you.  We look forward to working with you in the future on our next great adventure.  Thanks again for everything.  

Best regards,

Sandy and Robert

Sandy planned their trip to Australia as a surprise for Robert's birthday. They also celebrated Sandy's birthday while they were Down Under.   They visited Sydney, Ayers Rock, Cairns and Brisbane.   Holding a koala bear when they were in  Queensland was one of the highlights of Sandy's trip.  "It was like holding a six-month old baby".   Robert's highlight was spending his birthday on a live-aboard where they did 11 dives in three days.  The other highlight for him was Hartley's Crocodile Farm.   Some of their other experiences were:  a tour of Sydney, the Sydney Bridge Climb, a trip to the Blue Mountains, the Sound of Silence dinner at Ayers Rock, a visit to Tjapukai Culutural Park and a trip to Fraser Island.  

Manny and Peg went to Australia in April of 2007.  They visited Sydney, Melbourne, Alice Springs, Ayers Rock and Cairns.   Some of their experiences down under were:   the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney, they took the train from Sydney to Melbourne, went to Philip Island to see the little penguins, ate dinner in the Colonial Tramcar  restaurant whlile rambling through the streets of Melbourne, went to Alice Springs and took the bus to Ayers Rock where they visited Ayers Rock, the Olgas, went to Mt. Connor and rode a camel and enjoyed the Sound of Silence dinner in theh desert.  In Cairns they went to Kuranda and Tjapukai, went to the Great Barrier Reef and spent a day at Cape Tribulation and Daintree Rainforest.

Above:  Manny and friend at the Blue Mountains.  Upper right:  Peg and Manny experiencing a camel ride in the Northern Territory.  Bottom right:  In Queensland visiting Cape Tribulation.

Upper:   Becky at Arthur's Pass outside of Christchurch.   Below:  Becky and Carl with Mt. Tongariro in the background.

Kia Ora Christine,
The trip was wonderful and everything went smoothly.  We had some great hikes, accomodations were fine, and all of the tours were very good.  Thanks for all your help - we appreciate it so much.

Carl

Carl and Rebecca went to New Zealand in March of 2008.  Rebecca will be going to school in Christchurch for the next several months and her Dad, Carl, decided they should do some touring of the North and South Island before he left her in Christchurch, New Zealand.   They flew into Auckland on the North Island, rented a car and explored Auckland and then drove to Tongariro National Park where they did some hiking.  They then drove to Wellington and took the ferry across to the South Island, where they stayed in Nelson and did some hiking and sea kayaking.  They then flew to Queenstown and drove to Te Anau and then drove to Milford Sound where they took the Milford Sound cruise.  They then drove to Invercargill and flew to Stewart Island where they did more hiking and exploring.   After flying back to Invercargill, they drove to Dunedin where they took a wildlife tour and then drove to Christchurch where Rebecca will be going to school.   Before Carl left, they drove to Arthur's Pass where Rebecca (photo top left) had an encounter with the cheeky kea parrot!  

Dear Chris,

 We had the most wonderful Australia experience (it doesn't seem enough to call it a trip), and we feel we owe it all to you. From our viewpoint, as first-time Your Travel Source clients, one of the most important things you did is that you first took time to get to know us. By doing so, you were able to help us plan a trip that was completely customized to our interests, timeline and budget.  Your passion for Australia and her people is contagious, and that made the planning process so enjoyable. Since this was our first trip Down Under, we relied on your knowledge and suggestions; we could never have planned such a perfect itinerary without you.  We will be forever grateful and just want you to know it's such a pleasure working with you and Stevie.

 Sincerely,

Bill & Cindy

In September of 2007, we booked Bill and Cindy on a Princess cruise Los Angeles to Sydney which lasted for 32 days.  They visited Hawaii; Christmas Island; Bora Bora, Papeete, and Moorea in French Polynesia; the Cook Islands, Pago Pago, American Samoa; Suva, Fiji; Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Fjordland National Park in New Zealand.     When their ship arrived into Sydney they spent another 30 days touring Australia.   They spent time in Sydney, New South Wales; Melbourne, Victoria; Adelaide, South Australia;  Perth, Western Australia; Ayers Rock, Northern Territory; and Cairns and Brisbane in Queensland.  Accompanying them on their trip were their friends, "The Flat People" and they wrote a wonderful blog about their adventures which you can see on our website - www.yourtravelsource.com.  They were a joy to work with and their enthusiasm about their adventure really comes through in their blog - it's a great read!

Upper:  Bill and Cindy experiencing sunrise over Ayers Rock, Northern Territory.   Middle:   Getting ready to go on the train to Kuranda, a little town in the rainforest outside of Cairns, Queensland.  Bottom:  On Cape Tribulation beach in Northern Tropical Queensland.

Claire, Joni, Robert and friends at the Breakfast with the Birds in Port Douglas.  Check out their heads!

Chris,

I want to thank you for making our Australia vacation the vacation of a lifetime.  We  really appreciated your working to meet our desire for a  family-friendly vacation that didn't include lots of group tours - and helping us stay within our budget at the same time! Our accomodations were great throughout the trip.

And, from the Sydney Bridge Walk to the Blue Mountains Ecotour to the rain forest zip lining  to the wild cassowaries, sea turtles and crocodiles along the way, everything was perfect and effortless on our part.  I also want to thank you for ensuring that we got our money back from Down Under Answers for the 1 day-trip that was cancelled due to weather conditions, so that even after our trip, we had no hassles.  We took a risk when we found you on the internet but now we would never use another travel agent! 

Cheers. 

Joni, Robert and Claire

In November Joni, Robert and Claire went to Australia for two weeks.   They spent time in Sydney, Port Douglas, Cape Tribulation, spent time at Green Island Resort on the Great Barrier Reef and Cairns.  Some of the experiences that they had while there were:  a small group tour to the Blue Mountains, climbing the Sydney Harbout Bridge, going to the Taronga Zoo by ferry,  breakfast with the birds in Port Douglas,  took a trip on Cooper's Creek and saw crocodiles, swam with turtles and saw reef sharks and experienced the Cairns Zoo at night.   They also experienced a cyclone!