China Golden Triangle Cities & Yangtze River Cruise

I will tell you handing over thousands of dollars to a company (even with great reviewers online without a fried’s recommendation) requires a lot of faith and a little hope and crazy! Call me crazy! We saw the great trip advisor reviews and went for it! Got our visas through a broker in Houston and we were off! I was not sure until we arrived and saw our names on the paper at the airport with the guide waiting for us that this was even real. Now they communicated on email and my wife called a few times, therefore that helped to minimize the anxiety! The trip was fantastic. Hotels were great; the first could have been better (The Great Wall Hotel Beijing ) but we are splitting hairs! Most were 5 stars by trip advisors standards! We did the Bejing tour, the Great Wall, Tian'anmen Square, Chinese Kung Fu Show at the Red Theatre. (B+L), Tara Cotta Warriors, Yangtze River Cruise Tour, Three Gorges Dam, and a great tour of Shanghai. I am skipping some of the details of side visits, calligraphy, family visits, and also tai chi at the park! If you have interest in the details; they are online. The guides were also professional and English speaking. They knew how to take the fast path queues, the tour buses clean and ample room, the pace was just right (a little walking but nothing too intense)! The intro China flights and trains were fine. I would suggest they book the seats before hand (for flights) and ask people their preferences. (We got stuck on a 2 hour flight in middle seats (both of us)!! Trains were bullet, very clean, modern and new. One train suggestion is that for the 7.5 hour train (even in 1st class) from Yichang - Shanghai was not that pleasant! If there is a flight between the two cities that would have taken 1.5 hours; they should have planned it that way! Last criticism; when the folks have to go back from hotel to airport, plan it in their trip; charge them the xtra few dollars but make it all inclusive. A GREAT trip like that should not have the stress of figuring out that little bit of transport. It’s a small thing and our hotel scheduled it but it took a bit of translation! The NET is I would GO BACK again next year as China has so much to see that we only scratched the surface! I would go back with Travel China Guide tours! Apologies for the long diatribe but there was so much greatness that it could not be appropriately captured in a few sentences. You may ask why I put so much detail in this review; because others did it for me and am just paying it forward! 10 pictures to choose is also tough out of thousands but will pick a few!

Travel China Guide is very organized. However, I had a few issues: 1. On arrival in Beijing my guide Kevin was not waiting for me. Yet one hour prior to arrival I emailed and sent a We chat of my imminent arrival. You can imagine my panic as I had prepaid for this trip. Thankfully I rechecked and he was there. 2. Great Wall Hotel is sold as 5 stars. This hotel is a 3.5 star and NOT central. I told Wendy this from reviews and she was sold out on the fact that it is a 5 star. Besides the General Hotel, there is no pool. No space at breakfast as it is so busy. 3. Tours were good in Beijing and Kevin did his part there. So no complaints. 4. Xi’an was good all round..... from the Hotel (Sheraton)to the guide and the general all round organization. Driver was a bit rude. 5. Guilin was good. Hotel(Sheraton) was good. No complaints. However...... if time is tight I suggest give Guilin a skip and do Chengdu.....something I really regret as I did not do Chengdu and the Pandas. 6. As a tourist insist on 1st Class tickets for trains. Food is NOT good. I suggest buy something to eat and don’t rely on what’s available. Besides very expensive. 7. Chongqing is departure city for cruise. This city is massive..... a real eye opener. 8. We did the cruise on President 8. This was an absolute disappointment. 2 single HARD uncomfortable beds. No double beds. Everything is an upsell. Immediately when you enter they want to upsell you to upper rooms. Don’t fall for this. Also..... upsell to an exclusive dining area..... which I took and absolutely regret. The drinks in this package is only whilst you dine. You pay for WiFi. You pay for use of the pool. You pay to watch movies in the cinema. There is no English TV channels. Evening Entertainment...... which I was really looking forward to...... is dismal. Food through out the cruise caters for Chinese...... no western! All in all a very sad experience. I have done numerous cruises as well as the Nile cruise. This was the worst of worse. 9. We had an excellent guide in Yichang . This guy went out of his way and even saw us off when we were seated in our train coach. Well done to him. 10. Shangai was excellent. Excellent hotel. Crowne plaza. The guide Rachel was also excellent. As for Shangai..... what a city!!! Some tips for Travel China guide The trip is very tiring..... too much walking. Allow free time to relax , do some shopping and spend time at the pool. Thank you

Tina was our travel guide in Beijing. It was quite an experience to see Tina at work, guiding a group of 17 people, through the crowds of Beijing, answering questions, lots of questions with enthusiasm, giving us the energy we needed during such tour. She did it with elegance. Her strong communication skills made us enjoy the tour even more. Our time in Beijing coincided with a high level summit. That made Tina’s job difficult because some roads were closed due to high security measures. Her ability to change things on the fly helped a lot. She needed to make quick decisions and come up with alternatives to get us back on track. She did it. She is a very pleasant an unbelievably efficient travel guide.