China family adventure holiday

COUNTRY:
China
LOCATION:
Great Wall of China, Terracotta Warriors
DEPARTURES:
CHECK AVAILABILITY2013: 30 Jun, 7 Jul, 28 Jul, 11 Aug, 22 Sep, 22 Dec, 29 Dec
2014: 5 Jan, 12 Jan, 6 Apr, 13 Apr, 20 Apr, 29 Jun, 6 Jul, 20 Jul, 27 Jul, 3 Aug, 10 Aug, 21 Sep, 28 Sep, 21 Dec, 28 Dec
PRICE:
From £1445 - £1789 (14 days) excluding flights
VOUCHERS:
Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday
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China family adventure holiday

China family adventure holiday

Small group family holiday
This is a 'small group family adventure' - typically you will join several other families and travel in a group of approx. 16 people. The trips are great value and a great way for you and your children to meet new people! While itineraries are pre-planned there is some flexibility and you'll have plenty of time to yourselves. Please check with the operator to confirm the minimum age for this trip

How China family adventure holiday makes a difference

This trip provides a wonderful opportunity for your kids to discover the unique cultures of China, to celebrate and respect cultural differences, and to learn to travel responsibly and respectfully. This trip takes in major highlights of China, but ensures that our small group treads lightly and leaves only their footprints on this remarkable and spectacular country.

While travelling in China we encourage all travellers to learn about and show respect for cultural differences. Small groups assist this process and allow for greater interaction with local people. In true style we travel by local transport to enable travellers to experience cultures at first hand, offering greater opportunity for cross-cultural understanding. This can mean anything from public bus, trolley bus, tram or subway. We also have the opportunity to explore on bikes and on foot and travel overland on all our basix trips. Your leader and the local guides we use along the way will help to break down your interactions with local people.

When taking trains we travel 2nd or 3rd class (hard sleeper in China) which is the way the majority of locals travel - this gives us maximum chance to meet and share stories, food, games and the journey with local travellers.

There are a number of other basic ways in which we trie to minimise travellers' impacts such as implementing waste reduction practices. Reusing plastic bags, water bottles and using our own set of chopsticks (instead of disposable ones). At the end of our journey travellers may donate any unwanted clothing, medicine and bandages, which are distributed to appropriate local charities. Encouraging use of “tea flasks” for drinking water (or tea, like the locals do!) so as not to purchase multiple plastic bottles. Safe drinking water available in all our accommodation and transport. Any bottles that are purchased are given to the community of waste collectors who rely on this for an income.

Food left over after group meals is collected and boxed up to be left where homeless/street people might easily find it and take it without them having to go through garbage for a meal.

We include informal local language lessons to give our travellers a head start into understanding the culture and communicating with the people we meet along the way.

All suppliers issued with RT recommendations in their local language and leaders and groups act as “ambassadors” for spreading the RT message beyond just our travellers but also trying to involve the local tourism industry.

Our tour leaders are all Chinese locals.

China family adventure holiday

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The story of the provider of China family adventure holiday

This company started in 1989 with a passion to get travellers off the beaten track. It was started by best friends who wanted to develop a style of travel that was all together different; wanting travellers to become a part of a country - and not just tourists looking in. Wanting them to have fun, meet people, learn things, explore, and do stuff they could never do at home, to travel by anything and everything, and stay anywhere and everywhere! Fast forward two decades and they now travel to more than 110 countries and offers over 800 itineraries however their philosophy on travel is unchanged. Their core purpose is to enrich people's lives by creating unique, interactive travel experiences. Providing fun, affordable and sustainable travel adventures that are beneficial to local communities.

Holiday provider no: 10

China family adventure holiday

Reviewed 30 Mar 2008 by Karen Jennings4 star rating

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?


The trip to the local market in Yangshou, the bike ride through the country side and of course the terracotta soldiers and the Great Wall. The guides in each city were excellent, and the group guide Lucy was just tremendous - excellent ambassador for both the tour operator and China! The kids really enjoyed it and got to see some things that exposed them how other people live just to survive.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?


Travel light, partake in as many of the activities as possible and take all of the opportunities to experience the real China. The local currency amount is per person and this was not clear in the joining instructions and meant that we had to have unexpected expenditure and a lengthy trip to the Bank of China to get USDs when the guide actually converted them to Chinese currency

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?


We met lots of local people and learned about their lifestyle. We were very conscious of the environment - as we are normally and ensured that we made a minimal impact on the areas that we visited, other than having some very memorable experiences. Things are some cheap in China, and at times the bargaining becomes a bit of a game, when in reality you are haggling over 50p - which is far more important to the locals than to you - need to keep reminding yourself of that !

4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?


It was a great trip - well worth it - highly recommended - family all enjoyed it. The food was great, people very nice and friendly, just the usual be careful warnings when travelling in large cities anywhere in the world. Lucy the guide was just delightful, helpful, flexible and accommodating. Excellent leader!

Reviewed 05 Aug 2006 by Ann Galli5 star rating

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?


It is hard to identify a specific moment that was a favorite. Every day had an amazing new experience. If I had to pick one, it would be climbing the Great Wall of China, and taking the slide down, but that only slightly edges out every other day we had. Rafting down the Yulong river is a very close second.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?


We had 2 teens and a 10 year old with us, and this was a great, adventure filled vacation for them. While kids younger than 10 could do this, you wouldn't be able to do some of the more adventurous thing that the teenagers enjoyed so much (like biking in Yangshou countryside and dipping in the cave mud baths, bike racing around the city wall in Xi'an, or even crossing the street in Xi' an! The kids did more than "see" another country, they "lived" in another country for 2 weeks). Also, pack as lightly as you can, your luggage gets heavy after a while and you can get laundry done for you on the road, but if you visit during the rainy season bring a light raincoat. Wheeled suitcases a must. Also, stay flexible... in a group sometimes going with the flow ends up better than you can imagine!

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?


Yes, absolutely. Other than Beijing we stayed in locally owned hotels, and our guide was excellent at identifying locally owned restaurants that guaranteed a true local meal, and true local experiences. On that note, we had the best guide in all of China.

4. Any other comments?


Simply the best holiday our family has ever been on... could go on at length but you get the picture!
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Holiday Reviews

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Date Prices (Adult,pp) Basis Status  
30 Jun 2013 £ 1445 ex flights Departure Guaranteed Click here to enquire about or book the 30 Jun 2013 departure
07 Jul 2013 £ 1445 ex flights 7 spaces left Click here to enquire about or book the 07 Jul 2013 departure
28 Jul 2013 £ 1699 ex flights 7 spaces left Click here to enquire about or book the 28 Jul 2013 departure
11 Aug 2013 £ 1699 ex flights Departure Guaranteed Click here to enquire about or book the 11 Aug 2013 departure
22 Sep 2013 £ 1699 ex flights Departure Guaranteed Click here to enquire about or book the 22 Sep 2013 departure
22 Dec 2013 £ 1699 ex flights Departure Guaranteed Click here to enquire about or book the 22 Dec 2013 departure
29 Dec 2013 £ 1699 ex flights Departure Guaranteed Click here to enquire about or book the 29 Dec 2013 departure
05 Jan 2014 £ 1789 ex flights Available Click here to enquire about or book the 05 Jan 2014 departure
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