Experience with Odysseys Unlimited?

[Mysteryreader]

We have just about decided on a Sept China tour with Odysseys Unlimited. Does anyone have any experience with O/U, China or elsewhere?

 

M/R

[Mysteryreader]

CC is such a wealth of travel info, I tapped into its archives to see if I could find anything on Odysseys Unlimited tours. In hopes of getting first-hand info, I started this thread which wasn't very productive. But with the intention of possibly helping others who may be looking for the same info in the future, now that we're back home (and thoroughly jet-lagged) I'm going to answer my own question.

 

We took the China in Depth tour lving LAX on 9/8/08. O/U is revising this tour for 2009, but our general experience with O/U should still be valid.

 

We were impressed with O/U on every topic. The tour director Vickie Zhang was friendly, knowledgeable, helpful, and very open about China and its culture and present-day conditions. When the Beijing local guide told her that the members of our group were not shoppers, she contacted O/U and told them she was eliminating all the future shopping stops on the tour. When we asked for addl time in museums, she rearranged the daily schedule.

 

The hotels were excellent. The food was varied and good. Our fellow tourists (11 on the tour) were all nice, and we got along very well. The local guides were friendly and informative. There was free time built into the schedule for some exploring on our own. B/c we were there during the Paralympics, our Yangtze R cruise was prohibited from going through the dam locks, but the traffic in Beijing as well as the much reduced air pollution more than compensated.

 

This was our first time using a tour co. O/U has set a very high bar. We now have a much better idea what we want in a tour, e.g., gratuities and most meals included. The next time we look for a tour O/U will be the first co we'll look at.

 

BTW, one of our group is an experienced tourist. She provided info about how the services available through Grand Circle and Overseas Adventure Travel have declined in value in recent yrs.

 

If anyone wants specific info, I'll be glad to answer questions.

 

M/R

[Jeep61]

We are trying to decide whether the Odysseys Unlimited China in Depth is the correct one for us so I'd love some additional information about your experiences. We are thinking of going in April 2009. Any comments? BTW - we are scheduled to do the Xpedition to Galapagos in April 2010 so hopefully our travel tastes are similar to yours. Can we connect directly by email rather than via CC? Thanks for your help.

[trixi]

DH and I are thinking of going to China summer of '09. DH is very concerned about the food. He is a meat and potatoes kind of guy. Vegetables are not a staple of his diet. He does go to Chinese restaurants and likes beef, chicken, duck, lamb. I think he should just bring a jar of peanut butter but he has a silly idea that he should have more than that.

 

I would appreciate information on what your meals were like. I would like to assure him that he won't starve as the Great Wall is calling me and a couple of weeks outside of his comfort food zone should not dictate our travel. I am looking forward to the new and different.

 

Barbara