My husband, Buddy, and I, and our two nieces took one of our best tours ever, the 16-night “China, Tibet and the Yangtze River,” with Uniworld (17323 Ventura Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 91316; 800/733-7820), Aug. 19-Sept. 5, 2006.
Including fights New Orleans-Chicago-Beijing, with return from Shanghai, plus all meals, insurance and visa, the price was $5,600 per person. (2007 prices start at $4,888 from Los Angeles.)
Dusty and Margi Miller took two trips to China in 2006 with Pacific Holidays (12 West 32nd St., Sixth Fl., New York, NY 10001; 800/355-8025, www.pacific holidaysinc.com).
To celebrate their 10th anniversary as a company, Orient Odyssey (1385 Gulf Rd., Ste. 203, Point Roberts, WA 98281; 800/637-5778, www.orientodyssey.com) offered a 10-day trip for September ’06 that I could not resist. It was to Guizhou Province in southeastern China, and the price was $1,430 from Vancouver, B.C. (In 2007, Orient Odyssey offers this trip as a 12-day itinerary for $1,990 from Los Angeles or New York.)
I was quite surprised at the modern Beijing. There are skyscrapers everywhere. The city will host the 2008 Summer Olympics, so there is construction everywhere too.
Jeff Garrett, owner of JMG Tibet Tours (6001 Falls Cir. Dr., Ste. 301, Lauderhill, FL 33319; 866/548-4238, www.jmgtibettours.com), does an amazing job of coordinating all travel plans and keeping expenses down. I can’t say enough about the wonderful job that he did making my April 5-23, 2007, trip such a success. The cost of the tour, not including international airfare, was $2,895.
The tour was very well organized. Group members came and went, with up to 16 at times.
I traveled to Vietnam several years ago with an eco-friendly small-group tour company, Peregrine Travel (Melbourne, Australia; visit www.peregrineadventures.com. Book in the U.S. through Adventure Center, 1311 63rd St., Ste. 200, Emeryville, CA 94608; 800/227-8747, www. adventurecenter.com). In November ’06 I took their 12-day “Burma Unveiled” tour. The tour price was $1,375 plus $20 for the tips kitty and $1,100 for round-trip airfare from San Francisco to Yangon on Singapore Air.
If the thought of rain and fog has kept you from visiting Scotland in October, you may be missing a unique opportunity. During our 14-day Scottish odyssey, Oct. 9-23, 2006, only two days were dampened by wet weather.
My friend Pat Powers and I would like to bring to your attention what we believe to be a great bargain.
I took a trip to Egypt with Explore, booked through Adventure Center (1311 63rd St., Ste. 200, Emeryville, CA 94608; 800/227-8747), in December ’06-January ’07. Adventure Center is a broker listing hundreds of trips run by other operators. Explore is a British company specializing in low-cost small-group tours.
Our family of four took a 10-day trip to Egypt, Nov. 16-27, 2006. We booked it with Prem Sharma of Somak Safaris (2700 East Imperial Highway, Ste. N, Brea, CA 92821; 714/985-3456, www.somaksafaris.com). (We had also traveled through Somak in 2004, to Tanzania.)