Baltson

Positive experience: From August 4 to 9, 2022, I was on a tour called 'Discovering Ossetia' with my son, which in the travel bureau 'Travel Store' is named 'All Ossetia'. The route is very interesting. I enjoyed the walking tour of Vladikavkaz, which was conducted by our guide Ruslan. The Alans' evening with dance performances, musicians, and singers from Ossetia was excellent. I also liked the national food. The trip to the mountains 'Three Gorges', led by guide Zarina, was great. We visited the mountains in North and South Ossetia and spent two days in Tskhinval. It was interesting to compare the nature and lifestyle of the related people on both sides of the border. Yesterday and today we were on the 'Mountain Digoria' tour. Oh, what nature! But we were completely disappointed and even upset by the so-called guide David Tuvaev. 'So-called' because he didn’t even introduce himself at the beginning of our trip. And when we asked who he was, he didn’t answer. He sat in the third row among other tourists. We thought there was no guide. The driver Vladimir is a real ace; he drove the minibus excellently on the serpentine road in the rain and fog. At the stop, we finally realized that the person sitting among other tourists was our guide David. Apparently, there was no microphone in the car, and he sat among the tourists. This didn’t improve the sound quality since we received almost no accompanying information either to or from our destination. Two days of travel and no information! This was the first time we encountered such a situation! The only topic David mastered and talked about was how and where he drank with friends, how many boxes of wine they bought from which winemaker, where his beehives were. We asked him to talk about the areas we were passing through and to speak louder so everyone could hear. All in vain. David never mentioned how long the next stop would last; we had to ask. In the 'Mother's Museum,' Nana, he locked my son in, and everyone sat in the car and scolded him for delaying the vehicle. Then David came out and returned with my son a minute later. People were irritated, and David didn’t say that my son wasn’t at fault since David himself left him locked in the house. He didn’t even apologize! In the evening we arrived at the hotel. He didn’t give any instructions or regulations. I asked, where are we, in the village? He smirked, 'Yes!' We asked when we would go on the excursion in the morning. The answer was, 'around nine or ten.' Then he said, 'at 10.' In the morning we didn’t see him at all. There were no instructions. Suddenly, a tourist from our group approached and said that we needed to gather our things and turn in the room keys. We started packing. My son came out of the hotel at 10:01. There was no one at the entrance to the hotel! In the distance, a guy waved to him, and he ran in the direction where the group with David had gone. I left the hotel at 10:02. No one! Mountains all around, which way, which path to take to the promised waterfalls—it was unknown! Guide David hadn’t seen me since the night before, didn’t wait for us for a minute, didn’t ask if we were going on the excursion or not, or why there were 2 missing tourists from 13 people! He just abandoned the tourists and left! He didn’t give us his personal phone number. It was impossible to contact him! I have never encountered such irresponsible behavior in my life, despite traveling my whole life, including with the 'Travel Store' tour company. He didn’t warn when lunch would be. He didn’t tell us when we were leaving! When we returned, he didn’t inquire why I hadn’t attended the excursion! I was left alone, abandoned by the guide. Instead of the paid excursion, I wandered around the hotel, afraid of getting lost in an unfamiliar place! The voucher indicated the start time of the excursion at 9:00, not 10:00, as David said. He overslept the excursion time. The voucher stated that lunch would be at 13:00. He moved lunchtime to an hour later, to 14:00, although tourists warned him they were rushing to the airport. When I asked David after lunch why he hadn’t counted the tourists in the morning and hadn’t found out why two tourists were absent from the excursion, and why he hadn’t waited even for a second, David replied that he was not obligated to wait for anyone! He also lied and claimed he waited for 5 minutes. That is untrue! I left exactly at 10:02, and found no one! This is not a tour guide! Rude and a liar! Ugh! Knows nothing!