Don't eat 'Chocolate'

St. Petersburg, Petrograd, Leningrad or simply "Peter" is a wonderful city on the Neva. The architecture of the historical part of the city takes you to a world that is imbued with an alluring majestic aura. And since I have never visited this city, I decided that I couldn’t wait any longer and bought a tour from the Chocolate travel agency.

I like to travel often and always choose bus tours: on the bus you can dream, listen to your favorite music, see a lot of interesting and surprising things. But, unfortunately, this trip was not like that. The whole bus listened to “chanson” and watched “Matchmakers”, while at stops the drivers took off their T-shirts, as if they were on vacation in Kirilovka, and cursed obscenely while checking the bus. I was surprised as soon as I approached the bus (VN - 7337-SM) and I was met by an untidy young man in sportswear and said that our seats were taken and I would have to transfer to free others. It was our "accompanying" from the travel agency - Gennady. On previous European bus tours, neat drivers in shirts, trousers and shoes met me, picked up my suitcase, and the group leader gave me a route guide and a printed program for my entire stay abroad. We received a guidebook from Chocolate, but at the end of the road. It was a booklet with maps and all kinds of ways to get around the city with street indications. The program changed "on the go", we never received it in printed form.

During the trip, technical stops were in 3-4 hours, while our attendant and drivers chose the most “skillful places”, stopping right on the highway where cars drive and only a person who does not respect himself can go to the toilet in such an environment. After the remark, the "accompanying" Gennady replied: "What's wrong with that! Drink less water, that's all! Tea and coffee was designed for those who were the first to grab it, so I constantly lacked and had to buy for my own money, although this was included in the service of the travel agency.

Tour organization is terrible. The program developed every day 2-3 times in different versions. The start time of program and optional excursions changed, because of which my bus neighbor and I almost missed visiting St. Isaac's Cathedral. Approaching the bus at the appointed time, we realized that something was wrong. There were only drivers who smoked in the cabin and did not tell us anything. After a five-minute wait, we approached the drivers and asked where everyone was. To which they replied: “Ha…. So they went on a tour! A complete organizational mess! It's good that I, an adult, quickly got my bearings, and a child, a schoolboy, would have waited a long time near the bus.

The slogan "Contact us and you will have a chocolate vacation!" sounds like a joke.

I advise everyone who dreams of visiting the city on the Neva to do without "Chocolate", otherwise the impressions of the northern capital of Russia will be completely spoiled!

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