Friendly Planet Travel - Jenkintown, Pennsylvania

cameron F.

The first impression i had of this company I thought it would be good but about a year ago I had a talk with them by contacting them regarding a reservation that I made their service representative and reservations manager Kate sielsky is condescending and rude. She scolded me on the phone, almost as if she was trying to be insulting towards me, this company is low reputation and bad and I would advise not to be giving your precious money to these people most of these reviews that they write on here are fake reviews as well. Shame that they have a manager of their office that is so mean and disrespectful to prospecting clients

Marcos G.

If you are looking to book a group tour than friendly planet is the right place. Not only is everything extremely organized and thought out the local guides they partner with are extremely friendly and knowledgeable. We planned my 40th bday trip to Greece with a 3 night cruise to the Greek islands and I have to say it was absolutely amazing. Maria our tour guide was truly amazing. She was warm and welcoming from the moment we met her. She made everyone in our group feel welcome. Her amazing personality made it feel as if we had known her for years. Since we were celebrating my birthday, Maria assisted in making reservations for dinner at an amazing local restaurant in Athens called athinaikon. She made my special day feel that much more special. Throughout our stops on the cruise we also had some other amazing guides from our guide in Kusadasi Turkey Akeem (better known as the mustache guy), to Andrew in Santorini to Myrto our guide in Athens that guided us through the acropolis. Everyone was extremely knowledgeable, welcoming and made learning about the different sites fun and engaging. The only minor cretic I would mention would be that the cruise was a bit rushed with lots of stops in only 4 days. However, there are longer cruise options available so that also could have been a better choice on our part. The other cretic is that the food on the cruise could have been better in terms of quality however, not the fault of friendly planet. As mentioned, overall all our guides were spectacular. The one guide which seemed to lack energy to really engage the group was our guide in Crete. She is a wealth of knowledge however, her delivery wasn’t very engaging and felt more like a college lecture class rather than an interactive tour. Overall highly recommend friendly planet and if you are ever in Greece please ask for Maria!!

Judy G.

We've used Friendly Planet three times: for the Baltics, Colombia, and Scotland. Awesome guides, great itineraries, wonderful lodging, and nice balance between free time and guided activities. Hoping to do an FP trip to the Galapagos soon!

Sarah

We chose Friendly Planet for our Egypt trip and are beyond exceptionally pleased. We have made lifelong friends and cannot express our appreciation enough! Sam was our FP guide and handled all the details; we enjoyed without stress. Khalid was our Egyptologist, and his knowledge was astounding. Huge applause goes especially to Ali, our skilled driver, who maneuvered so smoothly through the city. I highly recommend Friendly Planet for your life-changing getaway!

Gail R.

From pre-booking to last drop off at the airport, our host and guides were amazing! Very attentive and knowledgeable and our host Remon had a big smile to greet us every time (even at midnight when we collected us at the airport). His energy and laugh were infectious and he takes great pride in his work. I normally book my own trips from start to finish so it was a little scary for me to hand this job over to someone else and then be on their schedule. But everything was great!
Our guides in Egypt and Jordan, while both different styles, were incredible. Ahmed, our Egyptologist, was so knowledgeable on all the historic places we visited. The pace was very quick and we packed a lot in over my 14 day trip. The food was good in Egypt and great in Jordan (we sampled a few different treats which elevated Jordan's score). Eot (the Weatherman in Jordan, named for his height) was a hoot. We loved him and his good nature and the pace was a little more laid back to close out our journey. Everyone was so friendly in our group.
All the hotels were 5 star! The Nile cruise was wonderful in that as with a cruise, you only unpack once while you are on board. So no moving hotels every day which was a bonus. While it's listed as 5 star I would say less but hey, there's a full sized bathroom so I am bumping to a 4 star. Thanks for such a great trip, totally recommend this company.

Loren C.

Just back from a Friendly Planet 10-day tour of Ireland. The sights selected were good for a first time visitor. Well thought out. The various tour guides were excellent. Hotels great. Why I doubt I'll use them again? Changes on our itinerary came the day we left for Ireland. There were several mistakes such as day of an event, etc. No times. Never knew when we were doing something or who was taking us until last moment. Fortunate one person on the tour might be notified or the driver called a London handler for direction. Nobody communicated with the rest of us. Shared a room with a friend and requested 2 beds. It was on itinerary, but twice, two different towns, we waited an hour+ while the hotel switched us from a single to double bed room. We were double-booked for a medieval castle banquet and a dinner a 90 minute drive
apart. Blew off the castle as dinner was at our hotel and the castle dinner was at 8:30pm. Wouldn't have gotten back to the hotel until midnight or later with 8:30 start. Friendly Planet/AC Tours changed the time to 5:30pm, but nobody told us or our driver until we were back on the road to the hotel. On a torrential rain day, we had all outdoor events planned. Couldn't do any. Rain is famously common. The guide had to scramble to find something for us to do. That they didn't have a preplanned bad weather itinerary is baffling to me. We pre-paid for things we didn't get - the midevial banquet, horse drawn carriage ride. And had to pay to see an estate house the day of the rainout. I went to an outlet mall and a TESCO supermarket. Could have gone to a grocery store & outlet mall at home. There were 4 of us on the trip. $6k a piece. They charge plenty. Expected more. A frustrating, value subtracting execution cluster often.

Wen M.

I just returned home from the Best of Egypt & Nile Cruise tour.  It was an all-around top-quality vacation! Our tour manager, Ramon, was a joy.  He's well-organized and attentive. He treated each one of us like a VIP.

What also made the entire experience incredibly special was Rabie, our full-time Egyptologist!  Rabie was very knowledgeable, as well as a funny and passionate storyteller.  We all felt very lucky to have Rabie connecting what we were seeing with the stories behind each historical site.

Both Ramon and Rabie made us want to come back for more!  This was my first time touring with Friendly Planet, and now I can say, without hesitation, that there will be many more journeys to come!

Terence K.

We took a few trips with Friendly Planet. They are a great tour company. Especially, we were stuck in Morocco during March, 2020, the global lockdown period, they took care of us to ensure we got back home safely and arranged a hotel in Casablanca. Highly recommended!