Tour proposals have been received and I have tried to get them priced out in a way that everyone in our party can tell what is going on and to account for some activities that part of us are doing but not all. Getting these done was a huge pain in the ass! Mostly due to the time difference followed closely by the language barrier. I did my best to speak plainly with formal English–that was only in 2 cases. The other two I had an english-speaking intermediary who communicated with a tour company in China. Lord only knows what went down in those conversations. I still have one proposal that I need the prices confirmed to verify that they match changes I have made. For example, everyone will stay at the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel, but not all will have park tickets. One day 4 adults will go take a tour while everyone else goes to the park. Of the rooms we get 1 party wants Club level and that was added as a supplement per day fee. When I go to the hotel website directly though, the cost doesn’t match up with this supplement–which makes me think it is not an add on but rather the total price of the room at the club level.
Just little things that have been making me crazy–at 4 in the morning when I get the reply emails in from halfway around the world!
One plan is available here:
17 July 2018 Quote for Diane Neal (3)_Redacted
and another here:
https://my.odysseytours.net/sales/tour/248202/1f73d79bb#tab1
Overall looks pretty good except it doesn’t include things like cable car to the top of the Great Wall (meaning I have to wait in line to buy 10 tickets. If you have ever tried to queue for something outside of western Europe or the US you know what a shit show this can be). What it does include are various activities that sound fun (learn to make terracotta! visit the famous pub street! see a silk factory! visit a ceramics factory!), but I suspect are really more like herding cattle to go buy stuff from said factory. I’d like to avoid the pub street in Beijing only because it is described a place for tourists to go and “lie fallow” for the afternoon. I am not traveling 6,000 miles to lie fallow outside of my own house thank you very much! Gotta love some of the translations though. That is one of the better ones.
Time to make a decision and get this show kicked into high gear. We are 90 days out from our trip! Oh my gerd!
Shanghai or Bust 