Vantage Travel China

[Billybob62]

Has anyone taken the Vantage Travel China tour? They use the Queen East on the Yangtze River. Any comments pro or con? They have also added Tibet to one of their trips; anybody done Tibet? Thanks for any advice.:) :)

[npphotog]

Hi BillyBob - Vantage Travel uses the Victoria cruise lines for the Yangtze part of the tour. We are signed up for the May 8th, 2007 China/Yangtze trip. Going with Vantage because we did the Holland to Hungary river cruise last year and pleased with that company. You can get to the Victoria cruise lines on the internet and email them requesting a brochure of the ships. We are scheduled for the Victoria Star. They call it one of their premire ships and has balconies for each room. Vantage site has the May 8th trip sold out. We have been practicing with chop sticks...haha. Willard

[cmthomas]

Billybob, we did the China trip with Viking in 2005 and visited Tibet, also known as The Roof of the World. It is certainly different than China proper and is quite exciting. I did a journal on the trip including some photos that you can find at http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/cmthomas/. If you chose to look at it I would suggest that you click the link on the first page following the words "Read from the first entry" or they will be having you read it from the most recent entry back. Don't know why they do that.

 

Lhasa is very high altitude so you should read up on altitude sickness and be prepared for a very slow pace. I would also inquire if they hotel that they are using has supplemental oxygen available in the rooms. Even with that caveat I would still recommend it as it is beyond description to stand on the roof of the Potala Palace and realize where you are.

 

Clarence:)

[LewiLewi]

Hi,

We're thinking about a trip to China in the fall. We've heard that a lot of people come home with serious upper respiratory infections...bronchitis, pneumonia. Anyone know if this is so?

[cmthomas]

I don't think that respiratory problems are a result of where you travel as much as the fact that getting there requires long periods of being confined to the inside of an airplane with several hundred other people in close proximity and all of the germs that they are carrying are being recycled in the air that you breathe. We traveled non-stop from New York to Tokyo, made a quick change of plane and flew more hours to Beijing. It seemed to take forever!

 

Possibly we were lucky but after 22 days on the road and two trans-Pacific crossings we did not even develop a cold. In recent years we have been taking Airborne when we travel and my wife attributes it to that. Airborne is simply mega-doses of vitamins that you can buy over the counter. I think that there are now some other brands competing with Airborne.

 

I have not read of any outbreaks of infections but you might want to check the CDC web site to see if any have been listed. Hand washing on a frequent basis is also a good idea while traveling.

 

If you are interested in seeing China I would not let that stop you as it is an experience of a lifetime that you will find most interesting and enjoyable.

 

Clarence:)

[Debbierpof]

Billybob62 -- Sorry to interfere in your China tour thread, but I was looking for info on Tunisia and noticed that you had posted questions earlier last year. Did you finally sail to Tunisia? I would appreciate any info you can provide me. We have a group of about 10 that will be going in July (Costa Concordia) and we like to tour on our own. You can reach me at my e-mail: debbierpof@comcast.net. Thanks! Debbie