Sam Rausa

I'd appreciate receiving recommendations on reputable travel agencies that book tours to China. Thanks.

Susan

Message: Hi, we are going on a 22 day Panorama trip with Laurus Travel.(They have shorter trips.) The maximum number of people is 20 except on two trips which they specify.<BR>We chose this Canadian company because; they limit the group size, they go down stream on the Yangtze River, include items that other companies charge extra for and for us they went to two places that were on our must do list - Dali and Lijiang. Lijiang is a UNESCO Cultural city and has a culture unique to that area as with Dali. For the cost of the trip we found it a "great buy" and have an excellent reputation. Transportation in China is expensive and we are going to many places. The contact person I have consistently spoken with is Julius. I have found him to be knowledgeable, friendly and very responsive. http://www.laurustravel.com <BR>If you have any questions please write me.

Mel

Hi Susan,<BR>Thank you for the tip. I checked their BBB records and also spoke to a former customer of theirs. We are convinced this is the company we want to travel with. We will book with Laurus but my wife wants to take the 22-day trip while I want to return after 18 days. Would you be able to post a report here once you come back? Really appreciate your help.<BR><BR>Melvin Babiuk

nancy

I traveled with China Focus (they're in San Francisco) on a 9 day tour and it was terrific. Excellent service, great siteseeing. Friends traveled the following year on their 22 (?) trip that included the Yangzse. I would not hesitate to go with them again. It's hard to beat their price so you might want to check them out. They do have a website.

Susan

Yes, we will post a report. Is there anything special you would be interested in knowing?<BR><BR>Susan

mel

Yes, Susan. We'd like to hear your comments on Yunnan in particular. <BR><BR>Nancy, we know about China Focus but but it's not our cup of tea. A good price is important to us, so are small group size and fewer shopping stops. We also read the profiles of their tour leaders and were really impressed. We would go with Laurus, hopfully it won't let us down.<BR><BR>Mel

Randee

We are going on a trip to China the beginning of June with Laurus Travel. They are located in Canada and have great intineraries and great value. They have been a pleasure to work with.<BR>

Ruth Brenner

We went to China with Laurus Travel in April and spent 20 days there. The fact the entire trip went so smoothly still amazed us. It's definitely a dream vacation. Now that we were so spoiled by Laurus, we may have trouble finding an equally good company when we want to go elsewhere! Too bad Laurus only sends people to China and Mongolia. If you compare the itineraries of Laurus with many other companies', you'd realize the former's are much better crafted, showing the intelligence and knowledge of the people behind the scene. And that's part of the reason we decided to go with Laurus.<BR><BR>Ruth

llandaff

We returned home from Laurus' 22 day Panorama trip today, and would thoroughly recommend it.<BR><BR>While we considered China Focus as well as Laurus there is a major difference between the two companies. Laurus limits group size to 20 members, whilst CF tours can have more than twice that many participants. Personally, I think this is critical.<BR><BR>Re: Yunnan Province. Don't miss it! This was our favorite part of the trip. Far more laid back, less tourist groups (although not for long, I fear) and incredibly beautiful countryside and friendly people. It's well worth the extra 4 days.<BR><BR>Will try to write a full report soon, but my track record on trip reports is poor. <BR><BR>Write to me at [email protected] for further details.

sandy

We had compared many travel companies and decided on Laurus, mainly because of their small group size and they happened to go exactly where we wanted to go. However, the date we wanted/needed ended up not having enough participants and was cancelled. We were impressed with how promptly our money was returned.<BR><BR>We had to scramble around and finally settled on China Focus, mainly because they let us extend out stay after the tour.<BR><BR>We were extremely pleased with our CF tour (12-day Historic China), the tour participants (33) were nice, the guides were excellent, the hotels VERY good, the food good, we were impressed!<BR><BR>We always had big buses so having 33 people didn't seem like too many. We always had room to spread out.<BR><BR>We'll try Laurus again someday and probably CF, too.<BR><BR>Have a great trip,<BR>Sandy

carol

I traveled to China last year with Pacific Delight and was very happy with the trip. The group was not too big -- about 20.

ruth

I forgot to mention yesterday that we had Dr. Wang, a Canadian educated PhD, as our tour leader. He's an expert on Chinese language and culture and we benefited greatly from his knowledge and expertise. He gave a few free lectures on the cruise ship intended for our group but attended by almost everyone passenger on the ship who understood English. In my humble opinion, this is another fact that makes Laurus Travel truly stand out from the crowd. Dr. Wang said Laurus Travel has several guys like him working as freelance tour leaders. You can him or someone like him if you book one of their extended trips. Good luck.<BR>

jpm

About group size, I just returned from the same trip that Maureen went on. There were 51 people in the initial group but this was divided between in to two groups. Each group had its own 44 passenger bus so we had plenty of room. And each group was essentially its own tour - we did see each other at meals and in the hotels.<BR><BR>Now, let me say this was the first tour I have ever been on. I think a large group can be a positive thing. With too few people anyone persons personality quirks will quickly become overbearing. A large group can help diffuse the tensions that arise.<BR><BR>Of course too large of a group can have problems as well - I thought our group of 26 people was perfect. We had all types - the video guy who saw the entire three weeks through a camera lens, the lady who always had to be the very first in line, our ex-school teachers who continually learned us a thing or two, the guy who is so animated about everything he even managed to karate chop a bowl of soup in two while discussing the exciting subject of the interstate system, the smartest truck driver I've ever met, the clean freaks ;-) and the guy who was always popping photos of people without them knowing! <BR><BR>By the end of three week everyone knew everyone. I came away from the trip with a bus load of new friends who are all as crazy about travelling as I am.<BR><BR>I don't really know what point I'm trying to make so I'll shut up....but not yet.<BR><BR>I would highly recommend China Focus. There are a few things I would change if I was in charge, probably wouldn't make it better, just different. <BR>

asialover

Sam, I have travelled twice with Pacific Delight and highly recommend them. Everything was great -- hotels were terrific, guides friendly, knowledgable and spoke fluent English, and I feel their packages are a very reasonable and downright cheap way to go to China. I've taken their 8-day Beijing and 8-day Shanghai packages, absolutely loved both! Shanghai is so great that I think about going back many times. I just booked another trip to Hong Kong with Pacific Delight this week, can't wait! Have a wonderful time.

Maureen Murphy

Sam,<BR>We researched every company for months out of California and found <BR>CHINA FOCUS TOURS to be the best for the money.<BR>We just returned from a 22 day tour last Saturday with china focus and will recommend them even more. We have only superlatives to describe every aspect of the tour. $2495 for 22 days for EVERYTHING is the deal of the century!<BR>Good Luck.<BR>

Maureen Murphy

I was curious and checked Laurus Tours and for the 22 day trip they show $3750. We had 25 with China Focus Tours and after 22 days, you'll be looking for new faces and personalities. I hope you are as pleased with your tour as we have been with ours. Guess you already booked the more expensive tour. Have fun. china is the experience of a lifetime!

Maureen Murphy

Jon,<BR>Just read your response about the tour we were on. You wrote it about very well....I chuckled when you spoke of 'video Phil"......<BR>It was a great trip...I guess I wonder why others want to spend a thousand more for what we got. <BR>China Focus will be putting us on their payroll....it was a great trip.<BR>Maureen<BR>***Hey, why aren't you working?????<BR>Thanks for telling me about Fodors...this is quicker with responses that Frommers.

Mitch

As a retired UAL employee stationed in Tokyo, I traveled all over Asia and thought I knew the travel trade there well enough until I saw Maureen’s postings. Fearing that I might have missed a super bargain that Maureen so strongly endorses, I went to China Focus’ website and it turned out what she said is far from the complete truth. The tour we booked with Laurus is very different than the one she took with China Focus. Maureen's tour spent a LOT OF TIME in one small area of China, a trick frequently used by tour companies in order to lower price. It is not true to say I paid $1000 more for the same vacation as yours because you didn't go to Yunnan Province. You went downstream on Yangtze cruise but look at Laurus’ web site. Our itinerary includes Dazu but yours did not, as far as I can see from the itinerary posted on their web site. China Focus and Laurus both seem to be good companies, appealing to different types of customers. It is OK to praise one company but it may be unwise to underestimate the intelligence of other travelers. <BR><BR>You flew to China on Air China, Laurus uses United, at least that's what we have on our invoice. That makes difference as well. Talking about airlines, it costs a lot of money to fly around in China because the government there artificially inflates airfare to keep the inefficient airlines afloat, a fact Maureen may not be aware if. Since you didn’t fly as much as we will, your tour price is supposed to be much cheaper.<BR>

jpm

Well, to come to Maureen's defense, Mitch obviously didn't check out the 22-day itinerary very well that China Focus offers. <BR><BR>We spent 4 nights 3 days going Up the Yangze River, not down. The trip was on Air China - which by the way was all on brand new aircraft and much better service than I received on United getting to and from San Francisco. We had 4 internal flights that all went smoothly and on time. No we didn't go to the Yunan province but we didn't stay in one "small" area - I believe we covered a very good cross section of the country (try seeing every section of the USA in 22 days and you'll find yourself on a bus or plane more than actually site seeing). In fact there is very little difference in the two itineraries offered by CF and Laurus - you went to a few cities we didn't, and we went to a few cities you didn't - more alike than different.<BR><BR>I don't think Maureen was "under estimating the intellengce of other travellers", rather she was letting travellers know what a wonderful company and a great deal that is offered by China Focus - take it or leave it. <BR><BR>

jpm

Well, I guess there is one major difference in the two trips - Laurus is $1000 USD more! Yikes. That must hit that Canadian pocketbook fairly hard!