We saw quite a bit on this trip, but so many things were scheduled right down to the minute. It would have been nice to have a little bit of free time at some of the sites, even if it was just half an hour to shop for a minute or grab a drink. There were so many temples and shrines that it was a bit overwhelming. I absolutely did not like the overnight at the monastery. It was so difficult to sleep on a mat on the floor when you are old and the food was not that good. It was a relief to get to a rest stop the next morning to get some food and coffee. The tour was conducted in English and Spanish and then we had so many different tour guides coming on and off (Japan) and people joining and leaving the tour at various times. I do have to say that the tour guides worked their butts off wrangling all the people around, and they all had an immense knowledge of history and traditions. It was disappointing that we did not get to do the ferry from Busan to Japan. We had to fly which took time away from exploring Busan. It would have been nice to have more than half a day there. There were also many changes on the first day as to going to the DMZ. We specifically chose this tour for those sites and we ended up going to neither. The substitutions were ok though, but it is not what we signed up for. The english guide is not listed below, but I would rate her five stars on both language and satisfaction (Sohey Ahn). The bus drivers were all excellent.

The trip was wonderful and well organized but the only issue was that it was a very large group comprising of around 5 buses going to same places. The places we visited was very interesting. Very often it resulted in crowding and long waiting times specially in the morning for breakfast. In Seoul, I was the only English speaking person and was assigned an individual guide Mr Simon to translate in English. Mr Simon has been very helpful and attentive. He immediately made the necessary arrangements with regards to foods when i informed him that i has some food restrictions. he ensured that my foods met my requirements.He even took me to the pharmacy to help me buying some cough medicine as I caught the flu during the trip. The English speaking guides in Japan were also very nice and helpful and providing all relevant information. They also made the necessary arrangements regarding my food restrictions, telling me which food I could eat and which food I could not. And Pablo was like meeting an old friend as we met during my last trip in 2024.