Review for Grand Tour of China
Our tour.was made special by our guide David He, he ensured our hotel bookings, plane and train trips ran smoothly, resolved every problem without any fuss.
The information given by him were always clear, informative and good humoured.
When a couple of the guests fell ill he made sure they had medicine to take, David also made sure that the guests who had certain dietary requirements were well looked after.
The actual tour itself went very well, but we felt there were too many “optional” extras. If these optional extras were “so good” as expressed by the local guides, why were they not included in the tours., we would have been quite happy to have gone to them had they been included.
With tips and optional extras this added another approximately £500 of hidden costs. We would have preferred it if “all inclusive” meant all inclusive.
We would recommend this tour to people, but warn them about the optional extras. We were also lucky with the people in our group, we all happen to get on.
Oct 21, 2024
Review for A China Experience
An excellent holiday made brilliant by the quality of the 4 tour guides.
The only black mark was the unethical behaviour of British Airway who sell more tickets than they have seats resulting in passengers being told that they are not guaranteed a seat despite having paid for the flight months in advance and an additional 180 GBP for seat selection.
Oct 20, 2024
Review for A China Experience
Wendy Wu - A China experience with Hong Kong in focus extension beforehand October 2024.
An amazing holiday, in which I briefly visited four large cities and saw the highlights of each - Hong Kong, Shanghai, Xi'an and Beijing.
Good hotel choices, great food (western palette, nothing odd - which was a relief, in fact many dishes were suitable for vegetarians).
Just long enough at each site, it's as much as can be achieved in 12 days.
Thanks must go to national guide Gary and local guides Troy, Eileen and Jade - as well as the rest of the tour group, who made the whole experience enjoyable.
Oct 20, 2024
Review for A China Experience
Excellant holiday, however could have been one to two days longer with same itinary, to allow some free and rest time
Oct 20, 2024
Review for Grand Tour of China
This review is about you Feefo. I spent a least an hour filling in a review for the above holiday last week, checking that all was written well and accurate like I am doing now as I type slowly.
When I pressed the submit button your system told me that I had been timed out. Well that was very unacceptable and a complete waste of my time as returning to the link meant that all of typing and effort disappeared and I would have had to start again. This I was not prepared for you so I laboriously retyped what I could remember and sent by email to Wendy Wu by email. Get you system better organised so that slowness is not penalised or a choice to SAVE what has already been typed or WARNING that timing out was possible.
Oct 18, 2024
Booking Experience for Ancient Empires of China & Japan
Friendly, prompt replies, all queries answered quickly and efficiently.
Oct 18, 2024
Review for Magnificent China
I would highly recommend this trip to an amazing country. We benefitted from an excellent national guide and good local guides and saw all the main sights.
Oct 17, 2024
Review for Grand Tour of China
We had been to Hong Kong & Beijing before, but the Grand Tour was a whole new level of understanding of China. The trip organisation by Wendy Wu was faultless & our national guide, David He, was exceptional, showing patience & understanding where needed plus a great knowledge of China. He worked hard to satisfy Gluten / Veggy food needs – not always easy with this style of meal service. Local guides in each town were also really good. Hotels varied from good to great, with priority usually being location. The Yangshuo hotel, for example, was a bit older but we stepped straight out onto West St, and breakfast was simple but had an exceptional view. There is a lot of travel involved with 3 each internal flights & trains, but Chinese trains & airports put the UK to shame! Overall the food was at least good sometimes great. Breakfast did not always include a wide ‘Western’ selection but then we were foreigners in China - How many foreign breakfast options do UK hotels have? Bus management was brilliant – a snap of the electronic fingers & it was there. We had not done a ‘follow the flag’ holiday or used Wendy Wu before. We will definitely do both again. Thanks again David.
If you are considering a long trip in China for the first time – lessons we learned:
> Grand tour lunch & dinner is 26 days of Chinese food, with set dishes, off a lazy susan except for a few packed lunches & the Yangtze cruise. Some of the dishes may not be to your taste – be flexible.
> You will need to handle your luggage – journeys involve suitcases + escalators + airports & stations
> Out walking at night in China - this is the safest I have ever felt either at home or travelling.
> Don’t think too hard about the tip pot, it just works, saving time & hassle.
> Alipay attached to your UK credit card is super quick & easy to use if you have an active phone.
> Install Wechat to contact family in case you cannot get Whatsapp to work – basically the same (Family will also have to install).
> VPN’s did not reliably work. But they do have 30 day money back warranty. I tried Express / Nord
> If your phone accepts e-sim, get one. Ours gave us access to Western websites with no VPN and always worked.
> You may be sharing China with lots of domestic tourists – check when their major holidays are.
> The Yangtze cruise was great & we are happy we did not upgrade either room or meal options. Upgraders were equally happy with their choice - do not worry about it.
Totally recommended.
Paul & Tracy
Oct 13, 2024