5/5 Ainz 4 years ago on Google • 37 reviews
OVERALL:
Recently
completed
10
days
self
designed
tour
with
Genuine.
Genuine
has
done
an
excellent
job
to
help
us
plan,
provided
clean/great
air-cons/comfy
vehicle
and
excellent
driver/guide
during
our
trip
of
4
ladies
in
Sri
Lanka.
Highly
HIGHLY
recommend
Genuine!
BACKGROUND:
We
don’t
typically
follow
tours
and
do
our
trips
independently.
However
speaking
with
friends
originally
from
Sri
Lanka,
we
went
with
this
option
as
public
transport
is
not
the
most
efficient
way.
Our
trip
began
from
Negombo
and
headed
straight
to
Habarana
(covering
historical
Sigiriya
and
Polonnaruwa),
Nuwara
Eliya
(covering
multi
terrain
4
hours
round
trip
hike
in
Horton
Plains,
tea
plantations),
beautiful
train
ride
from
Nuwara
Eliya
to
Ella,
drove
passed
Udawalawa
en-route
to
Mirissa
(base
for
Galle
and
whale
watching)
before
our
final
leg
in
Colombo
via
gorgeous
coastal
way.
SELECTION:
Shortlisted
3
potential
tour
company
from
reviews
and
decided
with
Genuine
based
on
style
of
communication,
price,
services
on
offer
and
timing
of
payment.
Really
happy
with
our
choice
from
pre-trip
up
to
the
end
of
our
trip,
and
will
happily
recommend
Genuine
when
visiting
Sri
Lanka.
PRE-TRIP:
Pre-trip
comms
was
with
Sharon.
Sharon
was
prompt,
informative
and
managed
expectation
well.
We
have
a
list
of
places
to
visit
and
Sharon
provided
great
suggestions/options,
duration
of
drive/trip,
entrance
costs
etc
which
are
helpful
indeed.
Genuine
went
beyond
to
help
us
book
our
choice
of
cooking
class
and
getting
the
train
tix
(see
further
below).
DURING
TRIP:
We
were
greeted
promptly
and
warmly
by
our
driver/guide,
Chathu,
at
the
start
and
throughout
our
trip
(even
at
5am
in
the
morning
when
we
headed
to
Horton
Plains!).
In
addition,
Chathu
has
a
great
sense
of
humour,
witty,
informative,
friendly,
helpful,
poised,
passionate
and
a
man
with
great
network.
He
somehow
managed
to
give
me
a
surprise
birthday
celebration
with
my
3
other
trip
mates
and
guys
on
the
ground
(Nuwara
Elliya)
which
I
very
much
appreciate
:)
And
oh,
Chathu
is
a
foodie
too
which
is
another
plus
for
us
as
we
love
our
food.
Our
meal
highlight
is
Rasa
Bogun
and
Moonlight
at
Hikkaduwa
which
we
would
have
missed
out
if
Chathu
didn’t
take
us
there.
There
were
several
hiccups
during
the
trip
due
to
unforeseen
circumstances
e.g,
we
left
our
valuables
in
one
of
the
accom.
Chathu
dealt
with
them
so
well
and
with
poised.
Going
with
Genuine
also
means
access
to
other
high
quality
on
the
ground
services.
Our
guides
in
Sigiriya
(Kumare)
and
in
Polonnaruwa
(Ruan)
who
are
top
notch.
TRAIN
RIDE:
We
also
wanted
to
incorporate
train
ride
during
our
trip.
As
it
was
peak
season,
there
is
no
guarantee
that
we’ll
be
able
to
get
the
train
tix
as
we
were
told
that
it
may
sell
out
the
moment
tix
is
open
for
sale
(a
month
prior).
Thanks
to
Genuine’s
kind
effort
and
with
some
luck,
we
got
3rd
class
train
tix
at
the
time
slot
we
wanted.
Phew!!!!
Happy!!!
To
top
it
all,
3rd
class
was
as
good
as
we
like
it
to
be
-
with
reserved
seats,
fans,
comfy
seats,
open
window
(ease
taking
photos),
new
train
:)
FINALLY:
All
in
all,
we’ll
definitely
go
with
Genuine
and
our
‘mali’
(younger
brother),
Chathu,
in
our
next
visit
to
Sri
Lanka.
Thx
again
for
making
this
a
wonderful
trip
for
us!!
xoxo
Ainster
and
3
other
‘aka’
(older
sis).
P/S
we
also
learnt
bit
of
Singhalese
from
Chathu
:)
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