[quote=“stig”]Mother Teresa Travel is an agent that I’ve been using in Taiwan for quite a while.
I finally abandoned the ads, and stopped worrying about the best price. Teresa
always gives me the best price, and the times I’ve tested her, it turns out she
was the lowest. Also, her English is great and she understands the dilemma of the
Westerner in Taiwan, as I’ve also personally tested.
Wife, stepdaughter and I still wanna plan a CNY Holiday. (leaving the days after celebrating
Objectives: Beach - Sun - not toooo expensive and some (some) action to be found
No need for anoter banana boat trip, elephant safari or aligator wresttle. been there, seen that
Problem is that we can’t decide.
Langkawi, Kota Kinabalu - Koh Phi Pho, Borocay … :s
what about Cherating on the east coast of malaysia? 4 to 5 hours bus from kuala lumpur, nice golden soft sandy beach (there is a club med around), not overcrowded by tourists, water sports, fishing, and few other activities. but it’s the rainy season now.
[quote=“ceevee369”]Wife, stepdaughter and I still wanna plan a CNY Holiday. (leaving the days after celebrating
Objectives: Beach - Sun - not toooo expensive and some (some) action to be found
No need for anoter banana boat trip, elephant safari or aligator wresttle. been there, seen that
Problem is that we can’t decide.
Langkawi, Kota Kinabalu - Koh Phi Pho, Borocay … :s
My last two trips back to New Zealand, I used travel agents from this list and was pretty disappointed. One had such bad communication that the day before my flight I had to go out to the office and make sure they were still around, and get my “e-ticket” from them in person.
This trip I went through Zora at Martin Travel (http://www.martin.com.tw.). It was the best experience I have had booking tickets in my time in Taiwan (15 years). Fast communication, clear options provided, limitations and restrictions outlined without asking for them, sample flight plans provided so I could see what the options were, good price… it was a pleasure. My husband booked through his company flight through her too, and mentioned how “smart” she was. She lived in NZ for two years and has good English, too.
商務部 李佳穎 Zora Li電話：02-2568-3028#213傳真：02-2581-5150E-mail：zora@martin.com.tw
WHOSE Travel is the hero of the day for me right now. Yesterday evening, my family and I were checking in at the EVA counter prior to our flight only to be informed that our eldest daughter’s passport extension had expired! (Totally my fault, btw. ) So this morning I was at the Canadian Trade Office when it opened its doors, and arranged a temporary passport for her which we should be able to pick up on Monday. Getting on Monday night’s flight seemed to be the next obstacle - it was fully booked, and it looked like we might have to try flying standby, but with no guarantees of actually getting on the plane.
Fortunately, Dale at WHOSE spent all kinds of time today (with no extra remuneration!) making calls, until 10 minutes ago, when he informed me that he had persuaded EVA to give up two of their higher value seats to me and my daughter. This is absolutely the best news I could hope for under the circumstances, and I firmly believe that few other travel agents would go to the lengths that WHOSE did to make sure that we got on that flight.
I won’t completely relax until I’ve got Trudi’s passport in hand, and even then probably not until we’re reunited with my wife and baby daughter, but this is going to make my weekend a lot more anxious.
Thank you Dale and all the wonderful staff at WHOSE!
She may speak good english…but she is a horrid & above Interlink are rippers…the price they have on net is not the same when called to reserve. Plus, my fren had called for China visa…and she was like are you buying the flight ticket from us…if not then there is additional 500 NT$ surcharge (way to make money).
Yeah, Interlink screwed me a couple of times too, and I have strong suspicions that when they helped my wife apply for a passport, they ripped off her info for a fake Taibaozhen (either them or the office who issued the passport).
I used to use Interlink, but after agent Jeannie tacked on several thousand for a commission for herself, for me AND then a friend I brought there, I no longer use Interlink. Finally, Jeannie booked me a flight to Bangkok, but when I missed the flight, she did absolutely NOTHING and was uncooperative about taking a litte time to help reschedule with airlines, and I had to buy another ticket. Thanks to Interlink, I was stranded in Thailand for a week. That was cold.
My travel-savvy friend says NEVER go to a travel agent. Go directly through the Airlines.
[quote]Re: Great Travel Agent
by stig » 28 Sep 2009, 03:01
Mother Teresa Travel is an agent that I’ve been using in Taiwan for quite a while.
I finally abandoned the ads, and stopped worrying about the best price. Teresa
always gives me the best price, and the times I’ve tested her, it turns out she
was the lowest. Also, her English is great and she understands the dilemma of the
Westerner in Taiwan, as I’ve also personally tested.
Tried Mother Teresa Travel and was very pleased!
Excellent service! when i had those small questions (small but i would like to know the answer like “cost to change the flight”), she always got back to me.
attention to detail (this is a 1 month booking so can’t move flights past that).
English is fine.
Better service than you will get back in the States…
What is wrong with that? Why would an agency want to provide a visa service to someone who is not their customer? They are a private business, not a government office.
Reminds me of an incident at my old travel agency in San Francisco, which was located across the street from the Spanish consulate. People always used to come over to ask to use our copy machine to make copies for their visa, a request which my boss regularly denied (the expense of 10-20 copies a day would add up!). One day, one of the copy seekers yelled at my boss, something about giving terrible customer service. WTF, man, you are not our customer!
From personal experience from dozens of last minute reservations, motherteresatravel.com not only offers an email-free portal of communicating your needs to her, her phone number is also listed along with her fax. I usually call her directly. she’s always quite competitive, and if you know exactly what you want, she can find you the cheapest price.
If you don’t know exactly what you want and leave it up to her to guess, then she might not be able to give you the price your friend got elsewhere 2 years ago. I.E., the Round the world ticket , where you still need to give her a list of all your destinations and dates.
She has always done right by me, and I flew 100 times in 2006-2007. It’s worth the phone call! Teresa usually doesn’t answer her phone on Sundays, but it’s worth a shot if you are desperate, leave a message!
From personal experience from dozens of last minute reservations, motherteresatravel.com not only offers an email-free portal of communicating your needs to her, her phone number is also listed along with her fax. I usually call her directly. she’s always quite competitive, and if you know exactly what you want, she can find you the cheapest price.
If you don’t know exactly what you want and leave it up to her to guess, then she might not be able to give you the price your friend got elsewhere 2 years ago. I.E., the Round the world ticket , where you still need to give her a list of all your destinations and dates.
She has always done right by me, and I flew 100 times in 2006-2007. It’s worth the phone call! Teresa usually doesn’t answer her phone on Sundays, but it’s worth a shot if you are desperate, leave a message![/quote]
I just arrived here in Taipei and was looking for someone to book airline tickets through. This lady is located in Taiwan? Is she good for airtickets to the US?
@ Jinjunwei: MOtherteresatravel.com got me tickets to the USA many times. Let her know your priorities though, and if you want to pay wit a credit card, you’ll need to go into her office, or fax a credit card authoration form to her. I once scanned the form and emailed it to her, when a fax machine wasn’t convenient.
) So this morning I was at the Canadian Trade Office when it opened its doors, and arranged a temporary passport for her which we should be able to pick up on Monday. Getting on Monday night’s flight seemed to be the next obstacle - it was fully booked, and it looked like we might have to try flying standby, but with no guarantees of actually getting on the plane.
