Asia Transpacific Journeys - ATJ - Boulder, Colorado

Sheila Reiser-Okun

We recently returned from a private tour to New Zealand, Tasmania (Australia) and Sri Lanka, planned by ATJ. (We went to the Four Seasons in the Maldives on our own at the end of this trip).The trip was fabulous! We travel extensively and this trip we now call "our trip of a lifetime". We planned it with Jen Boyd through emails and phone calls to determine exactly what we wanted to include and experience. We wanted the trip thoroughly planned ahead of time, so as not to waste a minute of our vacation time figuring our what to do next and the necessary logistics. Of course in our plan there was time for spontaneous activity.
Jen did an outstanding job! Every detail of our itinerary was well-planned and the tour went like clockwork. Any issue that came up, we could contact Jen by email or phone that moment and she handled it immediately. We felt taken care of at all times.
We will definitely plan more trips with Jen at ATJ in the future!

Alexis B

Superb planning and execution made our first visit to Thailand an extraordinary experience! What sets ATJ apart for me is that they don’t do “canned” itineraries. They give expert advice -- and don’t seem to get tired of however many questions you might have -- but they also listen to what the client wants and build these preferences into the planning. The result is a customized journey with no ugly surprises, and yet one that is filled with the thrill of discovery. Outstanding on every level!

Rich Dana

Jen Boyd was an incredible travel representative, and created the most memorable trip. Her advice on locations to visit, personalized tours and the accommodations she arranged were far beyond our expectations. I would recommend her to anyone considering traveling to the far east.

Reid Cooper

Over the years, my wife and I have had the opportunity to work with many Indian nationals in our professions. We thoroughly enjoyed the people and the culture so we decide to visit India. After doing a considerable amount of research we selected ATJs “Treasures of India” tour. We had very high expectations for this tour and each and every one of our expectations was exceeded. The itinerary was pleasantly aggressive and diverse. The tour guide was articulate, knowledgeable, personable and entertaining. The tour leader was professional and locally well connected. Imagine drifting down the Ganges at sunrise in a wooden row boat with a small (6 people) tour group with a native flute player on the bow of the boat playing Hindu religious tunes as you watch multiple cremations and associated rites being performed on the steps of the Ganges in Varanasi. Actually having front row seats to a colorful and musical night performance of the Hindu Arti rite conducted by 7 Hindu priest before thousands of devotees. Or visiting a beautiful and ornate 10th century Jain Temple, a 16th century palace/fort or watching the Taj Mahal emerge from the morning fog from your luxury hotel balcony. Or visiting world renowned local artist producing hand made silk carpets, designer silk scarfs, dhurries, pottery, jewelry, miniature painting, etc. Wandering through the Pushkar Fair that is a combination of family entertainment, religious event and the annual horse and camel trading event. If your idea of a vacation is lying on the beach with an umbrella drink, this is probably not the tour package for you. If you would like to explore and be literally immersed in the culture and history of Northern India, do yourself a favor and sign up for this tour.

Rob Boas

We recently returned from a truly magical trip to Papua New Guinea that was arranged for us by ATJ. We visited local tribesmen (and women!) in remote villages in three different regions of PNG and were always greeted warmly and treated to demonstrations and presentations by the locals, fully decked out in their traditional attire and face/body make-up. The highlight of the whole trip, though, was the "Tumbuna Sing-Sing," a festival held near Mt. Hagen that involved dance performances by 11 different tribes from all over the country. There were only about 25-30 guests watching the Sing-Sing so there were plenty of opportunities to get great photos. We were even able to photograph the performers while they got dressed and applied their elaborate make-up. Amazing!

Joe McGreevy

ATJ helped us plan our honeymoon in December 2017. I came to ATJ with a general plan of what we wanted to do (Thailand), and its expert agent (Katie Landgraf) put together an amazing 10-day package. It would not have been possible for me to have booked the accommodations we experienced if I had called the hotels each myself. ATJ clearly used some relationships that we would use again.

We did not book our airfare through ATJ, but that's only because I bought the flights when I was working with a different agency. The other agency (who will remain nameless) was terrible about getting back to me. Only about six months out from the trip, the other agency stopped responding to my calls. We had a complete itinerary and everything. I called ATJ the next day (somewhat frantically) and within three/four days, Katie had put together a new itinerary and we were off to the races. Katie used the flights I previously booked and planned around those. It was seamless. She's punctual and responsive. She also made the recommendation to Koh Yao Noi, which was insane. I hope we go back there multiple times.

This should also be noted. We really wanted to see elephants on our trip. Unfortunately, Katie informed us that there were no ethical elephant sanctuaries in southern Thailand. Because ATJ would only schedule activities with ethical elephant sanctuaries, we were out of luck. My wife and I did some research and found what we thought was an ethical facility in Phuket. We notified Katie and she did some research on the facility (Phuket Elephant Sanctuary). It turned out that it was a very new, ethical facility and she immediately had it put on ATJ's approved list. She then updated our itinerary with PES. Pretty much ideal customer service.

Maybe the best part of the planning, though, was the travel once we arrived in Thailand. This planning was all ATJ. We arrived at 2:00 AM on a Saturday. The airport was packed, but we had a driver with a sign and our names on it. He waited more than 45 minutes past when we were supposed to arrive even though we never contacted him. He was a manager (potentially owner) of the company, spoke great English, and explained our travel while in Thailand. For the next ten days, we were taxied around several islands, two cities, sooooo many boats, and there were zero problems. Every single time we were supposed to be picked up, there was a driver waiting for us (usually 15 minutes ahead of time). When our flights changed on the way out and we needed to get to the airport early, they accommodated us. Needless to say, we were impressed ATJ picked such a great internal travel company to shuttle us around.

The trip was so awesome I almost forgot to explain how great ATJ was before the trip. ATJ sends you a lot of cool stuff about the places you're going. They send it all in a nice leather-bound notebook with a couple of leather passport holders and four luggage tags. All unexpected, all pretty nice quality. The information ATJ provided included recommendations on vaccinations, visas, currency, local customs, weather, you name it. You literally don't have to do any more research after ATJ sends you your final packet.

I've recommended them to several friends and family members, and should we return to Asia (we will), we'll be calling ATJ.

Helene Funk

We were very fortunate to have Bradley Latham of ATJ plan our recent “trip of a lifetime” to Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. Everything, from the planning, the sites, the guides, the accommodations, the local travel arrangements, to the post trip debriefing was handled with the utmost professionalism. Throughout, Bradley was attentive and responsive to our interests and physical limitations. When we had one visa hiccup (our fault!!), ATJ’s in-country contacts sorted things out immediately. It was a perfect trip. We had wonderful experiences, saw so much, learned a lot, and also did it all stress-free. We’d travel again with ATJ in a heartbeat.

silverio foresi

Our travel specialist at ATJ, Rebecca, put together for us a truly memorable 3-weeks trip to Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. We made the decision to travel at the very last minute, and for a period conflicting with Chinese new year. However ATJ/Rebecca expertly helped us stay clear of the worst of crowding. The accommodations were excellent, regardless of the price point. In fact a particularly pleasant surprise was the Azerai in Hue, Vietnam, which was superb even if at a significantly lower cost per night than most of our other hotels. Our local guides were attentive and informative - even when their English was not that easy to follow. We particularly enjoyed a guided tour of Luang Prabang with a very knowledgeable and smart architect intimately involved with the UNESCO designation process. (His English, was flawless, if detectably French-accented 😉 We did have an issue with our first driver in Vietnam. ATJ and their local team made sure this issue was prevented with other drivers. as a way of apology ATJ treated us to much appreciated treatments in the most amazing spa in HoiAn. On the balancing side, communication was imperfect in two instances. In Hanoi we expected our day-hotel to be of higher standards (as per the final travel plan description); similarly the night train from Hanoi to Sapa was unexpectedly subpar. Both issues were not bad per se, only surprising given the high standards of the rest of the trip. Our trip was otherwise well planned - and special. On balance we would recommend ATJ and Rebecca for trips as spectacular as the one we experienced. Definitely a trip to remember.