If you have never traveled with a tour group before you will not know what I am talking about, but I will soon inform you. It is a set everything, set menu, set hotel, set airlines, set touring, set everything. Some people would think that is stifling, others like I would say why waste the time to reinvent the wheel. I admit there were somethings that I would have totally done without [i.e. the irritating single man, the bad food buffet, the irritating single woman, the bad dinner, the irritating couple, the bad breakfast], but I say there is so much in favor of group touring.
Going to China was my first international experience. I knew before I left that I may never be able to either financially or physically go back to China and so this was my once in a lifetime shot and I really didn't want to take the time to research everything that I knew nothing about and get where I knew where nothing was. If that makes any sense. Let me put it this way. The first day in China we went to the Temple of Heaven (Wow), Tinnamen Square (sokay, but wow), Forbidden City (triple wow), Summer Palace (forever wow), Silk Factory (interesting, but not as wow as I thought it would be, Olympic Park (wow, but for future wow, wows). Now truly who in their right mind would be able to research, locate it, time it right and do all of that in one day on their own. On my own I would still be in Beijing after a week while all the other people were seeing other things. Leave it to professionals.
The other best thing about tour groups was meeting new people. I met the sweetest people and ended up becoming hopefully lifelong friends. They were those that sat along with me in awe everyday as I did. I know if I had been on my own I would have had to interact more with the locals and I know that would have been really interesting and fun, but in such a short space of time they would have just been temporary acquaintences of mine and me of theirs. Those on tour with me interacted everyday, we got into deep discussions, and laughed hard and long. That is what I will always remember more than those in passing. I now have comrads that I can share my China experiences with.
I dreamed of going to China for many years. For a long time I was financially unable to go around the next corner just to camp and so when opportunity knocked I jumped. I hesitated to think I might never be able to do it again or go this far but I was going to at least do it this time.
As I narrate my adventure, and yes, can you really call a guided tour an adventure, you bet. I truly lived in a bubble for 16 days with 14 other people, but the sites, the smells, the loud noises, they were all ours just for those 16 days, I hope you remember that this was my first tour and it was an all inclusive awe.........
Going to China was my first international experience. I knew before I left that I may never be able to either financially or physically go back to China and so this was my once in a lifetime shot and I really didn't want to take the time to research everything that I knew nothing about and get where I knew where nothing was. If that makes any sense. Let me put it this way. The first day in China we went to the Temple of Heaven (Wow), Tinnamen Square (sokay, but wow), Forbidden City (triple wow), Summer Palace (forever wow), Silk Factory (interesting, but not as wow as I thought it would be, Olympic Park (wow, but for future wow, wows). Now truly who in their right mind would be able to research, locate it, time it right and do all of that in one day on their own. On my own I would still be in Beijing after a week while all the other people were seeing other things. Leave it to professionals.
The other best thing about tour groups was meeting new people. I met the sweetest people and ended up becoming hopefully lifelong friends. They were those that sat along with me in awe everyday as I did. I know if I had been on my own I would have had to interact more with the locals and I know that would have been really interesting and fun, but in such a short space of time they would have just been temporary acquaintences of mine and me of theirs. Those on tour with me interacted everyday, we got into deep discussions, and laughed hard and long. That is what I will always remember more than those in passing. I now have comrads that I can share my China experiences with.
I dreamed of going to China for many years. For a long time I was financially unable to go around the next corner just to camp and so when opportunity knocked I jumped. I hesitated to think I might never be able to do it again or go this far but I was going to at least do it this time.
As I narrate my adventure, and yes, can you really call a guided tour an adventure, you bet. I truly lived in a bubble for 16 days with 14 other people, but the sites, the smells, the loud noises, they were all ours just for those 16 days, I hope you remember that this was my first tour and it was an all inclusive awe.........
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