Custom Tours was an investment in a “once in a lifetime” vacation to a truly magical country. Robert provided us with accommodations, restaurants, as well as sites and activities that consistently exceeded our expectations. His knowledge of the country, that he is quite proud of, allowed us to see more, do more, and compress more into the time that we were in New Zealand.
We have never done a group tour let alone a personal guided tour on previous vacations so we were somewhat apprehensive in advance of our trip. Rather quickly we realized that we hit it off with Robert and that the personal guided tour was a good decision. I agree with other customers that state “I wish there where Roberts in the rest of the world”. Robert is flexible, willing to do what you want to do, give you the space to enjoy, and then step in and arrange activities that he knows will be memorable.
Driving in New Zealand is hard, as most roads are two lanes, (bridges are one), and the sites are so fantastic that making time is very difficult. Having Robert do the driving allowed us to sit back and enjoy the ride! Our time in the Marlborough and Otago wine districts was great as Robert did the driving and we enjoyed the tastings. His love and knowledge of the great Pinot Noirs of New Zealand got us to the right vineyards and assured that each dinner was capped off with a great wine selection.
Going through the held mail upon our return we found a National Geographic Traveler magazine, which ironically rated the South island of New Zealand number 3 out of 135 worldwide destinations. It was obvious to us had the authors of this article retained Robert, New Zealand would have been number 1!
