Hi Jessie,
What a great tour! Thank you for organizing! Everything worked smoothly and we enjoyed the sites, food and our guides.
Almost all the meals were exceptional as was the ambience of most restaurants. Hard to pick one meal as the best - but maybe the Peking duck. We liked all of the restaurants a lot except for the buffet lunch at the tourist hotel in Xi’an - I’d recommend pulling this off the list. The guides did a good job of ensuring that I was safe with my peanut allergy. Selection was great, but always too much food - we felt guilty we couldn’t finish everything.
All the drivers were professional and had nice cars. The driver in Beijing seemed the friendliest and most professional, but maybe that was because we were with them longer. The guide and driver coordinated nicely to drop us off and pick us up in different locations. The driver in Xi’an and Huangshan seemed to know a little English, while the other drivers did not.
All of the hotels were very good. Minor issues - hotel in Datong had a very hard mattress, which made it hard to sleep as we are used to much softer mattresses. Also, the breakfast in Huangshan wasn't as good as the others.
Our favorite guide was Allen, our guide in Datong/Pingyao, who was very friendly, knowledgeable and open. Alen was very knowledgeable and provided a lot of insight into the history of various sites. In addition, Allen was very open to discussing all aspect of Chinese culture, economy, etc, which is fascinating to someone who has never been to China before. In addition, Allen is also fairly fluent in Spanish, so my wife, who knows Spanish, was able to converse with him in Spanish, in addition to English. Allen also provided excellent very cheap recommendations for meals when we were on our own. Overall, Allen was an excellent guide and I hope you continue to work with him.
Overall, the tour was great. There were multiple complicated logistics (4 in-country flights) as well as numerous drives. The guides and drivers in each city coordinated nicely to make everything run smoothly. In addition, the guides ensured that I did not experience any problems from my severe peanut allergy - I felt very safe with them.
Whenever we are in China next, we are sure to use your service.
Thanks again!
Tour Title: China Ancient Cities Sojourn
Tour Dates:Apr 05,2011 - Apr 18,2011