Galiwonders - Agencia de Viajes Camino de Santiago — Attraction in Pontevedra

Galiwonders Review 2

A business is only as good as it treats its clients. Are they anything beyond a $€ symbol? If no, then they build a wall of policies and hide behind them. If yes, then policies have a place but they are mindful of the fact that the client is not protected by any such policies. Galiwonders is of the former variety.

We live in the US and were going to be in Italy riding motorcycles before heading to the Camino, and had some luggage. But Galiwonders (GW) have a strict POLICY of 17kg/person for baggage. Extra bag €8/day, calculated precisely. Fair enough, we did our best to reduce it but were reluctant to eliminate riding security such as helmets. So I requested the hotel near the airport of arrival and departure to store our extra luggage for 8 days while we did the Camino. Going by my interactions w GW I expected them to say no, or at least charge me. But they were agreeable for no extra charge and helped me book a taxi from the airport. I felt like a valued customer. No POLICY quoted to me.

We were scheduled to get to our Camino starting location on September 11th from Italy, but I broke my wrist on September 10th and needed realignment followed by a closed cast. I wouldn’t have been allowed to fly after that due to risks associated with pressure changes, and letting it go untreated till after the Camino was going to cause permanent damage. So, I had no choice but to cancel my Camino walk which had taken months of planning and prep. We flew back home on 11th, and by 12th evening had realignment and a splint on my arm. It’s my right wrist and I’m right-handed. Typing this review w my left hand is tough but this is important.

I told Giulia of the situation right away, and she responded next morning after the weekend saying there would be no refund. I requested consideration like a credit instead of refund due to medical emergency, and the boss Chiara responded saying no, you should have bought insurance. Meaning - it’s not my problem. For all their fancy looking website and the fun photos and intros of the team, the business philosophy misses the customer relations mark by a mile!

In a similar situation on my first trip to Rome, my son got sick the day before our tour to Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius and we were not able to go. I requested a refund AFTER the tour was over and they agreed to it. I gave them a 5-star rating even though I have no idea how the actual tour was.

I’m angry w GW but at the same time hopeful that they will try to improve on their customer service standards. I won’t be recommending them to anyone. They can buy some drinks with my money while they figure out the losses incurred from trading...

Overall they provide virtually zero support after you book your basic trip. The deal killer for me was that we discovered one of the hotels where we were booked had bedbugs. We reported this to Galiwonders and their response was just take all of our clothing and luggage to a laundromat the next day.

That sort of response is totally unacceptable and completely impractical when you're hiking the Camino. Their luggage service picks up your bags at 8:00 am and they are dropped at your next hotel. After 15+ miles of hiking I'm not interested in finding a laundromat. Plus, they risk contaminating all other travelers luggage in the transport vehicle, and transferring the bed bugs to their next hotel partner.

They chose to stand firmly behind their policy of no changes after you begin your trip. We booked a different hotel and they refuse to reimburse us. They choose policy over customer service.

Unfortunately the bedbug issue was only one of their shortcomings. After we booked our Camino trip we inquired about transportation before, after, and even during one leg of the Camino that we chose to bypass. They don't provide any additional services. Instead they pointed us to a lame website that provided numerous incorrect travel options. Google travel works better.

That seems to be their general level of customer service, pointing you to independent third party websites that don't appear to be very well vetted. I pointed out that their referrals were broken and their answer was just a shrug, too bad.

They also advertise on their site about afternoon/evening trips that you can take along the Camino. Each time we inquired about them they pushed us off, saying we'll book those later, until later never came.

Having never hiked the Camino we booked one of their standard packages with the preplanned route and stops. In retrospect it would have been nice to discuss some of these options in greater detail, adjusting the trip and destinations to better suit our desires, but they don't seem to do that.

We were booked at several hotels that were far off the Camino and required being picked up by a hotel shuttle. One such hotel picked us up and backtracked nearly our entire day's travel. The other downside of hotels off the route is that you're somewhat captive. You can't easily get back into town to explore and you're limited to their shuttle times to begin and end your hiking day.

If you are happy with their canned packages and nothing goes wrong you'll probably be OK, but their are better...

This being my first Camino, I had no basis to compare GaliWonders with other Camino tour companies. However, overall, my GaliWonders Camino Portugues - from Valenca, Portugal to Santiago de Compostela, Spain- a self-guided tour was very good.

The two staff - Mercedes and Chiara - were patient and prompt in replying to our group's (all first-timers) questions from start to finish.

The accommodations they picked were centrally located, very clean and sufficiently stocked with towels and toiletries. Some left us with instructions how to check-in when we arrived late. Unfortunately, some kitchen staff were rude, i.e. did not allow us to fill our drinking bottles with cold potable water from their pitchers. Some hotels did not have elevators. With 6 people in our group (mostly seniors) and after walking 20 kms on average each day, a carry-on luggage and backpack to bring to our rooms, elevator would have been a big help. Some stairways were very narrow and winding. One room was in the third floor (attic) with very low head clearance.

The meals offered at hotels were balanced-diet, had generous serving and avariety of beverages. The designated cafeterias/restaurants were easy to find and the "budget" per meal was reasonable.

Although GaliWonders recommended that we should all have internet access and download the Buen Camino de Santiago Compostela app before the pilgrimage, we decided one member in our group with internet connection 24/7 would suffice. However, when we got separated, we had to refer to the travel kit which came in handy. The WALKING NOTES was a little bit hard to read on the cellphone under the bright sun. A darker FONT would have been better.

From my very supportive Camino family (fellow Caminantes), to the beautiful scenery, the people I met along the way, the various churches I visited, even the inclement weather and rough terrain we encountered during my first Camino - all of these make me want to do another 100 KM Camino in the near future, alone or with a small group, perhaps from Sarria. I will definitely consider GaliWonders self-guided tours again. If alone, I'll do a more relaxed Camino with shorter stages, e.g. 10 to 12 km per day, get 24/7 internet connection and try clean albergues along the way.

Thank you GaliWonders for this very positive 1st Camino experience. Till my next...