Day 4 of Singapore's Circuit Breaker and I have friends who are now freaking out about the latest measure where you can't drop off your kids with their grandparents anymore. I'm probably echoing what others have said, but man. It's only the second week of April but it already feels like a decade has passed in these short times. 

Writing this blog has in a way helped remind me that my trip was just a month ago and I still have much to be grateful about. 

When planning for this Okinawa itinerary, I came to the realization that I would need to hire a driver. If I had just stayed in Naha city, then ok, I could still just wing it with public transport. But there are so many other stuff outside of Naha that I was interested in, and to get there, I'd need a car. 

And with no idea where to look this time round, I wrote in to the Okinawa Tourism Multilingual Contact Center to ask for recommendations. Boy. I am so glad I wrote in. They not only responded with recommendations of 2 local travel agencies, a taxi company, they even emailed me a list of where to go since there was a flower festival going on! Loved the extra mile and the hospitality! 

Only 1 of the 2 travel agencies responded to my emails but I am so glad it all worked out with Jino Tours. I've to say this was one of the better experiences I had! I corresponded with a Luca Sartori who would reply my emails promptly and he was absolutely a delight to work with. He worked with my proposed itinerary, provided advice where he could and just made this planning a dream.

The only thing I did not expect was a daily change in our driver. No complaints though, just meant that we didn't have to make friends in a way, although we did come to know one of them better since he spent a seond day with us. Loved our ride though. We didn't ask for a guide and the drivers didn't speak English either. But they had an app installed in the car that would play an short introduction of our destination each time we reached. Wow. Its not a lot but its these little touches that show you that they are trying to make your time a good one. The drivers also spoke with us through a English-Japanese translation app they had installed on their phones, so communication was still good.

My mom loved the service and has already decided that when we eventually return to Okinawa to visit the Churaumi Aquarium, we getting Jino Tours to work with us again.

Week in Seoul: KTourStory

*Image taken from their website.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I decided to book a driver and car for Day 3 of the itinerary as the locations were all quite a distance away. Also, I had wanted to include a DMZ and JSA tour as well on Day 4. Unfortunately, DMZ tours can only be done if we joined an organised one from an approved tour agency. That factored into my decision to hire someone for a private Day 3 and 4 tour.

There were several operators on Klook and TripAdvisor that were organising similar tours, so I took a chance and emailed a few of them to enquire about a private tour for 3 pax. of the 3 who eventually replied, I decided to go with KTourStory for the following reasons:

1. Their quote was the most competitive and they were prompt in replying my emails. There was at least 1 operator who did not even reply even though it was advertised that they conducted private tours.
2. I did a quick scan of their social media presence. Ok, I know that can be moderated, but that quick scan led me to think that the company seemed legit and doing pretty ok.
3. Best part, the agency did not require any upfront payment! Instead, I was asked to pay the driver on the day of the tour itself! Yay! Score for me!

OK, I didn't know who I was emailing with, since the person signed off in Korean, but I received an email from them on the second day I was in Korea to say that we were unable to proceed with the DMZ tour because of African Swine Flu. Seriously! What's with all these diseases lately?!

I was disappointed that we couldn't do the DMZ tour (but ok, another reason for me to return next time), but I had already prepared my parents (and myself!) that the tour can be cancelled anytime. DMZ tours are notoriously unpredictable.

Instead, what I was really disappointed in, was that even though we had agreed on the itinerary in advance, including a Han River dinner cruise, the operator waited until the last minute to get the cruise tickets. And given my luck on this trip, that meant that the tickets were sold out. That was a real bummer! I was prepared to change out itinerary for the DMZ tour, but not being able to get on the dinner cruise was really a sore spot. If I had known, I would have gotten the tickets on my own. 

Since nothing on my initial Day 4's plan was coming through, I canned the second day with KTourStory and just settled for a day's private tour. For that 1-day itinerary (Garden of Morning Calm, Nami Island and Petite France), the total came up to 600,000 Korean Won. This was inclusive of toll fees, entrance tickets, car, driver and insurance. Meals were excluded.

I've already introduced you to Seo in the earlier post. But I didn't tell you that not only was he our driver and guide, he was also our photographer as well! Apparently that's part of the service as well! He came well prepared with his professional camera and his photography skills are quite good! The photos above and below were taken by him! Nice right?!

So during the day with us, he helped us to take some really lovely individual and family shots! My mom loved one of the couple shots with dad so much that it is now her phone's lock screen. Seo also guided my parents in them taking pictures on their phones! Really appreciated the extra service!

Ok, I didn't get his permission, so I'm not going to show his face here. Instead, I will share that I found that his interaction style really suited my family. My dad is more out-going while mom and I tend to be more reserved with strangers. Seo was able to adjust his interactions accordingly and engage me and my parents well. He seemed to know when to approach and when to back off. Mom found him to be a really respectful lad and I also appreciated his quiet but thoughtful consideration for my elderly parents. I observed him quietly keeping an eye out for them. And when my parents requested for a dinner drop-off after the end of our trip, Seo tried his best to get us there even though he was not familiar with it. 

Oh! I almost forgot to state. Seo texted me over Whatapp prior the trip and it was reassuring to have his contact number at the ready.

In addition, Seo also passed us each some Lotte discount coupons at the end of the tour. It was the agency's way of showing their appreciation for engaging their services. We had a set each and they were definitely handy! We used them that very night while shopping at Lotte!

All in, I had a good experience with Seo and KTourStory. I'm interested in bringing my parents to Busan one day, and I'd definitely shortlist KTourStory again if I'm considering a private tour again.

Tour operator

 KTourStory

Website: www.ktourstory.com

Contact Number: +82 10 9650 8388