"Just a note to thank you and tell you it was a pleasure doing business with you. Everyone there was very helpful and a joy to deal with. Because of your great work, I was able to relax as everything you scheduled when smoothly and on time. Thank you again. I would highly recommend your services to anyone!"

Gregg Fehr

"I want to share my appreciation for the excellent travel service and trip coordination for my trip to Moscow from March 3 through March 7, 2005. The efforts of your organization provided a comfortable environment for myself, an American that does not speak Russian, to enjoy an exposure to the Russian customs and social settings. The Sretenskaya Hotel personnel were extremely pleasant and willing to ensure my brief stay was without incident. During the entire trip, I was able to communicate in English. The hotel restaurant's menu and signs were in Russian and English. Thank you for providing an excellent customized tour. I will use the Russian National Group for future trips to Russia. Please feel free to use my name for reference purposes to new travellers.

Sincerely,"

Patrick Walsh,
Kaleva, Michigan.

We arrived back from our trip on Thursday, May 22. You outdid yourself in planning our trip. The first miracle you performed was with the weather. Believe it or not while it was cloudy and rainy in New York, we had 17 days of bright blue skies and sunshine. The only day it rained was the day we traveled from Moscow to Stockholm and we didn't care. Some days were cool and some were almost hot but all of our photographs look like beautiful postcards with the blue sky in the background. Thank you so much for picking those days for us to travel.
The second miracle was the fountains at Peterhof. The day we were there they were doing maintenance work on the fountains to get them ready for the 300th birthday celebration and they were all turned on for us to see.
The third miracle was the Amber Room in Catherine's Palace which was just about completed and also fully open on the day we were there.
Our guides were excellent, very knowledgeable and very nice to be with. Our driver in St. Petersburg had a very good car and was an excellent driver. We had more problems with the cars and drivers in Moscow. The first driver who picked us up at the train was terrible as was his van, and the second car for our first day of touring had a bad smell of gasoline but after that they seemed to get it together and the drivers and the cars were fine.
The only other problem was that a driver did not come to pick us up at 3:30 at the Hotel National for our trip to the airport on May 17. The office thought the pickup was scheduled for 6:30 at the time our flight was scheduled to depart. I guess they couldn't read too well but we should have confirmed it the day before. As far as the itinerary, we loved everything. It was one of the most exciting trips we have ever taken and we have done a lot of traveling. On one day when we were at the Hermitage, we saw an entire dress rehearsal for the Victory Day celebration complete with a military band and lots of military groups and no crowds. One of the minor problems we encountered was that lunch was not programmed into the schedule and some days the guides did not seem to want to stop for lunch or it wasn't convenient so on several days we got back to the hotel at 3:00 or 3:30 not having had lunch. We loved both hotels and the buffet breakfasts were amazing. All of the people we met were friendly and welcoming. Thank you again for everything you did to make our trip so memorable. Please keep in touch.

Best regards,"
Mona

"You arranged a great trip for us. It went off without a hitch. The business class service on Aeroflot is among the best I have ever had on an airline -better even than first class in the old days on US airlines and better than first class on several of the European carriers we've flown. Our lunch on the flight from St. Petersburg to Moscow was served on Royal Dalton china and I'm attaching photos of my entree and dessert on the Moscow JFK flight. The service on the boat was very good, particularly with its being the first sailing of the season. Thanks too, for suggesting the large cabin. You are our favorite travel agent.

Cordially,"
Monte Brown

"My wife Rubie and I booked the above cruise through you and we had a delightful trip, thanks to you and the information provided prior to the trip.
We had a good flight on Aeroflot from JFK to the large Moscow airport, and the only problem of the entire trip occurred here. As we were warned, going through customs was a hassle, and this was so, but more than this, after arrival the security people were painstakingly going through our large luggage, and though we had three hours to take the shuttle to the other terminal for our flight to St. Petersburg, it turned out that we were given possession of our luggage just in time to take a $60.00 cab and get to the domestic terminal just as it was boarding passengers for ST. Petersburg.
From then on it was smooth sailing! We were met in St Petersburg with a cab driver holding up a sign with our name who took us to the River ship that had a large sign saying "DR Zhivago" in English lettering. This was helpful, as a sister ship apparently leased to Vantage Tours was sailing the same route and we were berthed near each other on several occasions. Our ship did not have a full complement of passengers, so we had plenty of room in the passenger facilities. We had about 100 passengers from Italy; three from Spain and 10 English speaking, including ourselves. For our group of 10 we had our own English speaking guide and small van or bus for the tours.
Needless to say we had good interaction with our Russian guides, and appreciated their assistance. We have traveled extensively around the world, and this was one of our most memorable trips. We are interested in taking the River Trip next year from Moscow to the Black Sea. Please advise if your Russian Tourist Bureau is planning such trips.
Again, thank you for your help on the phone, and by Email for our trip recently completed. Sincerely Yours,"
W. D. Wilcox

"My wife and I thank you for the safe return of our passports with the Russian visas duly stamped therein. We appreciate your help.

Sincerely,"
Devraj Sharma

"I want to thank you you for helping me to obtain my Russian visa for my trip to Ulan-Ude. You were a big help and did it with humor and courtesy. I will probably be going to Russia again this summer and again will need your services.

Thanks again."
AL Ames

I received my Passport with the visa and thank you so much for all ur help. If i ever need ur services in the future, i will not hesitate to use ur agency again. Thank You Again.

Regards"
David Brooks

"Sondra Stallard and Patricia King returned from their trip last week and early the next morning stopped by my office to tell me what a GREAT time they had in Russia. They absolutely loved the personalized service and everything went off without a hitch. We don't send a lot of clients to Russia on FIT trips but you will certainly be the first one I call when we do. Thank you for making their trip such a success.

Best,"
Rochelle

"I wanted to let you know that our trip was wonderful. Everything was extremely well organized by you and carried out thoroughly in Russia.. It was a very informative, educational, cultural and fun trip.

Thanks for everything."

Sid Mitchell
President & CEO

"We are home from our Russian trip. It was a wonderful experience and your planning worked well. The hotels were very comfortable and convenient. In St. Petersburg the restaurant next door took good care of us when we wanted to eat locally. All the food we had in Russia was delicious. Our guides were well informed and very friendly and helpful. So we thank you for your help in planning this tour. My suggestions: If we were to go back, I would have liked to have seen the homes of the various authors and musicians which are available to tourists. And, although we are not complaining about the music because we did enjoy it, if you could have gotten copies of the music schedules earlier, we might have even gone a week later to have heard the Shostakovich performances. The only problem I personally had was I broke my wrist when I fell in the hotel. Not their fault. Not Russia's fault. My fault. The guide was very helpful. The hospital situation was a site we would have missed otherwise! All I have to do is get better now. A reminder of our trip got several weeks. Best regards,"
Muriel Weyl

WINOGRAD TRAVEL
DIVISION OF WINOGRAD WORLD VENTURES
2184 Kennedy Boulevard, Jersey City, New Jersey 07305
TEL.(201) 433 4433, FAX (201) 433 9191 Back in May of this year I first contacted you regarding arranging a private car with driver and English speaking tour guide for myself and my husband who is a quadriplegic, severely impaired and wheelchair-bound, for St. Petersburg for July 22nd & 23rd of this year. You very patiently and professionally explained the various sites available for us to visit and worked out a schedule for us to visit all of the highlights of St. Petersburg during our stay. You sent me a detailed itinerary and advised me that our car and driver would meet us at our cruise ship at a pre-arranged time. Off we went...
I am writing to thank you for all of your hard work and effort on our behalf and to tell you what a wonderful job you did for us and to advise you of the terrific job done by your representatives in St. Petersburg! Our guide, the charming Kaurova, Marina, was delightful and extremely knowledgeable and her command of the English language was vast and excellent. Marina is a wonderful guide and she worked very hard to ensure that my husband, although disabled, was able to see as much as possible during our time with her. Our driver, Sergei, was friendly and helpful and courteous and a very good driver also...
I cannot say enough positive things about you, Marina, Sergei and our wonderful tours in St. Petersburg. On this month long trip to Europe we visited over ten cities and St. Petersburg was our favorite city. It is only due to your wonderful skills and those of Marina Kaurova and Sergei our driver were we able to have such a fantastic time in the beautiful city of St. Peterburg!
Please do not hesitate to contact me or have your office contact me at any time with any questions. I have been a travel agent for thirty years and manager for over twenty and I will not hesitate to use your services or recommend them to my clients and other agents.
Thanks again for helping to make our trip so very successful!"

Johanna Viksne.
Agency Manager

"Dear RNG:

My daughter and I just returned from our 11-day excursion to Moscow, Vladimir, Suzdal and St. Petersburg. We had an absolutely marvelous time!! As we were the only 2 people who signed up for this particular tour, we had our own private guide and drivers for the entire trip. Our guides were excellent, especially Miss Olga on the Moscow/Golden Ring legs. She was professional, friendly and exceedingly knowledgable on all aspects of Russian history and culture. We would not have had as enjoyable a trip without her assistance!! The weather was great and the itinerary was comprehensive. Thank you for making this once in a lifetime trip a memory my daughter and I will always treasure."

Andrew S. Lanzing

Bradenton, Florida