
I returned near end September from a tremendously enjoyable 11-day solo self drive vacation to Iceland (11th day is actually early morning departure from Iceland), all thanks and appreciation to Fayyaz Travels!
In all my family and personal overseas vacations, I always did extensive research followed by bookings of the accommodations, attractions and transport logistics. However due to a last minute change of plans from a self drive vacation in earthquake prone Hokkaido to my dream self drive vacation in Iceland, I decided to engage a local reputed travel agency that specialises in personalised and customised travel. In April, after I booked my return Singapore-Frankfurt-Reykjavik tickets on Singapore Airlines and Icelandair, I contacted Tailwinds Travel, Chan Brothers and Fayyaz Travels, and only Miko from Fayyaz Travels persevered. After receiving the planning fee, Miko spent a lot of his time and energy crafting a 10-day self drive itinerary (10th day is departure from Iceland) that (1) takes me to attractions all around Iceland accessible on the Ring Road, including the renowned Diamond Circle and Golden Circle routes, with the occasional detours (2) puts me in 3-star hotels with private bathroom (3) hopefully fulfils my wish list of seeing the Northern Lights (September to March is the aurora viewing season), whale watching and hiking on a glacier (4) meets my intended budget. I extended the car rental for one more day (i.e. 11 days) to meet my original departure date, to which I did a simple itinerary of driving to attractions on the less travelled yet breathtaking Silver Circle route and Reykjanes Peninsula.
Upon receiving payment for the package, Miko then coordinated with the Iceland Ground Team on “locking” the detailed itinerary, hotel bookings and car rental. Based on my request, Miko also included a refund package for Notice of Cancellation of Tour. About 3 weeks before departure, Miko kindly arranged a Teams telecon for pre-departure queries that I may have, of which I queried about the use of credit cards without the 4 digit pin code. On the same day, Miko created a WhatsApp group chat comprising me, him and Dean (from the Iceland Ground team) so that I am in constant contact with them throughout my Iceland trip. The WhatsApp chat group is so important and re-assuring for me!
During the planning, Miko wrote “…The stop points that I’ve chosen are not only beautiful but also some of the safest and most convenient along the Ring Road. I want you to have an amazing experience without any stress, and I genuinely think this plan strikes the right balance.” Indeed, this was ever so true! Throughout my self drive in a Hyundai i10 manual car, I safely visited some of the most spectacular natural wonders of Mother Nature/Earth in the Land of Fire and Ice - waterfalls, geysers, mountains, lakes, canyons, coastal cliffs, hexagonal rocks, glacier (yes I hiked Falljökull Glacier), lava cave (yes I took a tour at Vidgelmir Cave) etc and of course the Northern Lights on only one of the ten nights in which I captured on my DSLR camera on a tripod using 15 seconds exposure (most of the hotels are outside the light polluted cities) as well as beautiful man- made attractions (e.g. Haligrimskirkja Church)
I can never thank Miko, Dean and Fayyaz Travels for my extremely memorable once-in-a-lifetime Iceland adventure! To this end, I definitely recommend Fayyaz Travels to anyone seeking personalised and stress-free vacation as this travel agency has shown excellent professionalism, service, knowledge and dedication.