14 Day Northern Thailand Adventure

First off, let me say that this trip and its activities are pretty amazing! The itinerary is solid, packed full with awesome activities and excursions. My favorite days were definitely the visit to the elephant sanctuary as well as the ziplining (which was way more extensive and exhilarating than I expected!). The timing of most of the events were great, plenty of time to relax and explore without too much downtime. The guides did a decent job, aside from once not informing us of an itinerary change or having any strong first aid experience/advice (which a few of us on tour did need, especially when it comes to the trek to the hill tribe, which is certainly challenging and, while definitely not impossible, does come with the risks of injury.)

Those things being said, if you're a person of color, like myself, I wouldn't say this tour is really for you. Luckily I brought a friend who is also a person of color but otherwise, this tour, outside of its great excursions and breathtaking views, is really an exercise in tolerating a lot of white tourism: a lot of people wearing dreads, sporting pointless tribal jewelry or tattoos, or worse, tattoos from your religion that they don't even follow. As a Buddhist as well, it does get a bit frustrating watching people treat your religion more like a commodity and a fleeting trend rather than with the respect it deserves. Especially during the Pai chill day, where we visited a pool bar, was probably the worse offender. If you can find something else to do that day, I highly recommend it.

Even outside of being a minority, I was also hoping to experience more of the rich cultural history and Buddhist traditions that Thailand has to offer and I was left feeling a little empty, especially during the night spent with the hill tribe. We didn't really get to meet any of the people there or see and hear anything about their way of life; which really defeated the point. Many of the places we went to didn't come with a lot of historical information to go with it.

So if you wanted to come on this tour to learn a wealth of history and to have respect for and be around people who have a respect for an ancient culture and religion, this isn't the tour for you. And, while I did luck out with a few choice group members, it mostly likely won't include people who are looking for anything more than nights out clubbing and some choice Instagram pictures.

I had so much fun with the legendary Mickey and Andy in the trip. It was my 3rd TruTravel trip and this 14 day Thailand was even better than the others. The tour provide so much value for the tour. Go on the tour, you will not be disapointed !

Awesome Tour, great activitis mixed with enough time to chill. I had so many good experiences and the tourguides have been soo friendly.
I would count them as new friends and it is sad to leave them because we had so much fun together. From the arrival at the airport till the end of the tour they were so helpful if there have been questions or problems. I felt very safe with them and recommend them to everyone!
After the two weeks it feels like traveling with a family! The activities have been well balanced between culture, action and chilltime. In the action parts sometimes I had to come out of my comfort zone but I’m fine because that was the goal for that journey! My highlights have been the night at the hill tribe, the elephant sanctuary, the ziplining and the canyon water park, which was a great end for the tour! I would do this trip a nother time!

Overall a very organised tour, from pick up at the airport Andy was waiting for me to last day. Couldn’t fault anything , Mickey and Andy were brilliant , very good tour guides. Every activity was great fun and organised well.
I really enjoyed the elephant day and the water park at Grand Canyon the best.
I was very impressed with everything being organised for us , taxi, transport even where to go for dinner!! And we were also allowed to opt out of activities if we wanted to without a fuss.

The trekking was hard as was very mountainous but was worth it , the hill tribe stay brought us al closer together as a group.

Mickey was brilliant , made the tour so fun. He told us where best to go for laundry, massages etc. Which was so helpful.

Andy was great too, especially when Mickey left.

A really awesome experience with heaps of diverse activities and great tour guides, the incredible Mickey and Andy! Got really lucky with a group of brilliant people who were mostly in their early twenties, but a bunch of older people i could relate to.
Just make sure you know that this is an adventure tour! So there is some quite vigorous hiking involved - some of the group werent prepared for the physical exertion. But there is plenty of relaxation on offer, but most of the accomodation arent classy - and the beds can be very hard. So sleeping pills a must.
The night train is very uncomfortable, but if you get into the adventure of everything, then its really great. The drive to Pai has like 700 curves and it will make you sick so make sure to pack nausea medications.
overall, it was fantastic value for money! and ive made some great friends.

Mickey and intern Andy were great tour guides around northern Thailand. Mickey was a very positive tour guide who kept the group motivated and happy. The tour itself is good value for money as it is all organised for you and has lots of included activities! The accommodation has been pretty basic but wasn't expecting much more than this. A particular highlight was the elephant Sanctuary, which was a once in a life time experience! I felt safe throughout the trip and everything was well organised by Mickey. There was a lot of walking involved, especially with the temples so you have to have a reasonably good fitness level for the trip! I unfortunately didn't gel brilliantly with the people on my trip and I do think there is quite a mix of characters in the trip so you want to be a very confident person to fit in. Obviously this was no fault of Trutravels though!

Mickey and Andy have made the whole experience amazing. Mickey is so fun and funny and I couldn’t of asked for a better tour guide who made me feel so welcome and safe during my tour. He always made sure everyone was happy and if we was happy then he was happy.Both Mickey and Andy helped with any questions I had to ask and always made sure everyone was having fun. Andy has been amazing aswell. Again any questions or concerns we had he always made sure we was okay. We had Art for 5 days aswell who’s a really nice person and made sure we was all okay and made our short stop in pai fun.
Overall I’ve really enjoyed the experience and how everything has been planned. If you have any of the tour guides I’ve had you will have the most amazing time and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done.

The 14 Day Northern Thailand tour was an incredible time. My husband and I made some wonderful memories and were sad that it had to end. Our tour guides Art and Pompom were wonderful and very knowledgeable about all the areas we visited and constantly had a smile on their faces. They really made the group feel like a family. Our favorite days were the zipline, elephant sanctuary, and the jungle trek and the waterfalls were magical. I highly recommend this tour to both couples and single travellers. My husband and I never felt forced to do anything we didn't want to. We got to spend our nights doing what we wanted to do. The tour guides also helped us plan some extra activities outside of the groups. You'll have a spectacular time and hopefully you'll be ad lucky as us and end up with both Art and Pompom as your guides.