Name: International Friends
Address: Kent Innovation Centre, Millennium Way, Broadstairs, Kent
Rating: 4.78

“Our guide was very knowledgeable about dates and names of Oxford residents but failed to keep our interest. It would have been nice if he’d used the time traveling to Oxford to tell us stories about student life and famous past students who attended.”

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“I think Cambridge was a great city to explore. Though, I think it was too expensive for what you got. 36£ for the bus drive and 1 hour guided Tour is pricey. Furthermore, I don’t think International Friends did so much to get us au pairs to meet each other. Luckily, I went with a friend but I can imagine that I was diffucult going on your own without knowing anyone. I would suggest some team building or some collaborative exercise maybe after the guided tour because 4 and a half hours were also a lot of spare time if you didn’t sail on the river. I think the team building could be a lot of fun as well. Maybe some kind of thing where you get a map per group and should find different things/ buildings in the city and answer some questions or something similar.”

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“Good bus ride. Nice guide but guiding tour was to short and i still don't know why we had to pay so much money because in the end we had 4 hours freetime which was too long. Everyone was bored after 3 hours.”

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“Andrew, the International Friend staff was very helpful. However, things could have been better organised. Such as transportation back to the station in the last day.”

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“Me esperaba más tiempo con la guía para que nos llevase a lugares para estar dentro, como algún museo o alguna zona de la Universidad ya que es tan prestigiosa y no pudimos ver nada de ella más que la parte de fuera.”

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“It wasn't a guided tour per se. Mostly just transportation to/from the studio. We were advised against the audio tour, but it would have been really handy. Also, the driver of the bus was horrible. Always late back to the bus, and his driving skills left a lot to be desired - scared quite a few of us. Tour guide was knowledgable and nice, though.”

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“Driver could not find us. Her sign did not identify International Friends or our name for the first 30 minutes at cruise terminal in Southampton. She was pleasant but not too familiar with London city. Relied on her GPS and got us to our destination.”

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“Wonderful guide, BUT ... delay leaving port caused arrival at Stonehenge w/about 30 other buses. 1.2 hour wait in line, no time for visitor center or food. Windsor was great, but completely rushed. Not worth it after first line, then 2nd security line. Chose St. George church over castle apartments. No time to explore Windsor. Had to be back to bus "to avoid London traffic", Then drop off was 2.5 hours. Could have been much better planned. Too much waiting, not worth the cost. Great people with good intentions. Would try again with Int'l Friends but not this tour.”

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“Our driver Bob was great and we appreciated his good driving and cheerful attitude. But the coordination at Heathrow left a lot to be desired. The contact person for Intl. Friends was not properly identified. No badge. No attempt to locate the persons for the van. We didn't know who was supposed to be helping us. We had to be persistent to find our driver. Definitely need to work on coordination.”

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“The visit in Oxford could be improved.”

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“It was a good trip, and I am glad we got to see Oxford. However, I felt like for the price we paid (100 Pounds, 148 dollars for me), I should have also been given admission into some of the rooms/schools in Oxford. Half the sites were closed so we didn't even get to explore as much, AND we had to pay extra to get into the Christ Church (and we would have had to pay extra to go into the Hogwarts Castle inspiration school too). Additionally, I felt rushed at the Harry Potter studio. I wish we were given more time to spend; maybe 4 hours instead of 3.5? It really would help as there are lines for the interactive exhibits, so many picture opportunities, gift shops to explore, and we have to allocate time to eat something. Seeing as this would be many people's first and last times to visit the studio (as it is quite an expensive tourist attraction), having the time to actually read through all the exhibits would have been nice. Lastly, our tour guide was a tad bit touchy and abrupt with some of the passengers. He was friendly enough, but I could do without the jokingly "pushes and nudges" or "slaps on the back". Overall, I enjoyed Oxford itself and loved the Harry Potter Studio (as I am a big fan), but I would appreciate a bit more professionalism and a smoother, fuller itinerary.”

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“I did the Stonehenge and Bath-Tour and our bus broke when we wanted to leave Stonehenge. Although it was nobodies falt and the tour guides tried hard to make the best out of the situation, it was still quite annoying. We had to rush the guided tour through Bath and had an hour less freetime before we left Bath to go back to London. We also arrived quite late in London. So I didnt really saw much of Bath, which is a bit sad, because its seemed to be very beautiful !”

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“I am not a fan of large bus tours, which is what this tour was. We did the Harry Potter studios and Oxford tour. I think the most annoying piece was how often people were late to the bus. It was almost each stop, and not just 2 minutes late, often 10 minutes late. It is very rude to make everyone wait on you when the time was given. It was never really condoned, and so people kept doing it. Otherwise, the tour was fine.”

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“The trip was well organised although it was a little expensive given the fact that most of the ticket costs to castles had to be borne by the travellers themselves. Guided part of the trip also was only to 2 places with most of the time having to be on our own.”

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“We booked this trip after arriving back to Southampton from a Baltic Sea cruise. We had three stops and then Heathrow to fly out the same day, that night. We called on Salisbury at the Cathedral, Stonehenge and Windson Castle. The locations were great but the timing was all wrong. We stopped at Salisbury first of all for about an hour and a half. This could have been an hour no more. We then went to Stonehenge and stopped for 2 hours which was far too long. This too should have been an hour and that's it. Once you've seen the rocks there is a small gift shop and cafeteria. We then finished with Windson Castle which was the biggest of the three sites and we had only an hour and a half. We needed three to make it worthwhile but instead by the time we queued and actually got into the castle we had wasted 30 minutes and then had to more or less run though the castle to see something before the hike back to the coach behind the train station which was 15 minutes away. Great locations just poor timing between sites which was disappointing and a waste of everyones money.”

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“Mostly well organised and the guide and bus driver were friendly and nice. A bit disappointing that the guide hadn't even read or watched all the Harry Potter books/movies, seeing as this was a Harry Potter tour. The guides should be huge fans, in my opinion. I also expected that the trip to Oxford would involve being taken inside certain buildings, rather than shown where they are and told we can pay extra to see inside. Harry Potter studios was great and the 3 hours of free time we got there was enough time to see everything. All up, this experience didn't quite meet my expectations, but I had a good time nonetheless.”

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“I specially selected a tour without Blenheim Palace, and on the day I found it was included. Not happy”

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Dear Maria, Thank you for taking the time to write a review - I was however a little surprised to read your comment. I can see from your booking that you booked this tour through our site directly - our website page, which you would have made this booking from, states that we go to Blenheim Palace as part of this trip. The website states this no less than five times across two different tabs of the booking page, the below is copied and pasted from our website. Given that it is mentioned so very many times across the website, I am unsure why you would not expect to visit Blenheim Palace, especially when the very name of the tour is Cotswolds, Country Pub Lunch & Blenheim Palace. Despite your misunderstanding, I hope you enjoyed the tour with us and enjoyed your included entry to Blenheim Palace. I would politely suggest thoroughly reading and fully understanding the inclusions of a tour before making a booking, to avoid disappointment on your future travels. "Header of the page; Cotswolds, Country Pub Lunch & Blenheim Palace Tour summary; Discover the beautiful Cotswold Hills and magnificent Blenheim Palace. Enjoy a two course lunch in an historic pub. Experience off the beaten track exploration with a knowledgeable guide. Maximum 16 people per tour Visit the villages of Burford, Bibury , Bourton on the Water and Stow on the Wold Enjoy a delicious two course lunch in a thousand year old tavern Entry to Blenheim Palace & Gardens" Kind regards, International Friends.

“Harry Potter Studio was great but I don't expect the tour guide cannot even pronounce HerMooney. Just wonder a Harry Potter tour with a guide does not seem qualify for the tour. I didn't enjoy Oxford as expected.”

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“Was told to look for someone holding up a sign with International Friends and our name, instead some one was walking around with their cell phone with our name and they did not come where we were standing. Was not left off in front of our hotel, instead left off across the street down the block”

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Dear Mr Davenport, Thank you for taking the time to write a review. I have spoken to your driver and have surmised the following information; Unfortunately at the time of your drop off, the road outside your hotel was very busy, so the driver was unable to pull in safely. The driver was concerned about adding more time on to your journey and as such he dropped you off opposite your hotel, just across the road in the nearest parking bay. I am very sorry for any inconvenience that may have been caused here. Please be assured, in normal circumstances we are able to offer a door to door service, but only when it is safe and legal to do so. Unfortunately on the day and time in question the road was so busy, it would not have been safe for the driver to pull in, as such he dropped you off in the safest and closest location to your hotel. Many of our drivers now have ipads to display our passenger names on, all of our drivers have an International Friends board for the same purpose. The driver has been spoken to about this, and the importance of bringing their ipads or branded signs has been emphasised. I am sorry for any confusion this may have caused you on the day of your tour and stress this is not what we expect from any of our suppliers. I am sorry you feel you only had a 3* experience with us; I do hope my comments help to clarify the situation for you. Kind regards, International Friends

“The coach was very old. Seats are not working. The tour guy walking too fast without looking for if everyone was following.”

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Dear Mr & Mrs Liang, Thank you for taking the time to write a review. The coach used on the day of your tour was built in 2017. We have raised this with our coach supplier as a matter of urgency, and can confirm that unfortunately 3 of the seat belts on the bus were faulty on that day, but I must stress that they did fasten safely. I am sorry for the inconvenience here, we have since discovered that this was due to a small issue with the buckle, which has now been rectified. On this tour in particular, we had sold 40 seats on a 59 seater coach, and we would have of course assisted you in moving seats if you had informed us you were concerned about the belts. This tour does involve a moderate amount of walking, which is done with the group. I have spoken with the guide on the day of your tour and can confirm that he did try to keep a good balance with regards to the walking speed, and regularly stopped the group to make sure everyone was together. I am very sorry to read your comments, but I do feel we delivered a great tour on this date. Kind regards, International Friends


Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Own Driver
On-time Delivery	100%
Accurate And Undamaged Orders	Greater than 92%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Email, Telephone
Queries Resolved In	2 - 3 Hours

International Friends Reviews