More Travel Tips!..
To Tour or Not to Tour: "
This past March when we were in India, we met up with our friends Julian and Becca. They had just finished a 3 week Intrepid Travel Tour of parts of India that we never made it to and they loved every minute of it. They were energized and inspired to continue travelling through India for a couple more months on their own and they had gained some valuable insight into the culture and history.
Julian and Becca Loving India
They had this love for the country that we lost during our 3 months in India and it made us think that maybe we should take a tour sometime.
We have never been the best planners. We end up doing most of our research once we enter a country. I think that we miss out on a lot of things this way. While we have an awesome time seeing the world, we always find out about other amazing place to see after we have left. We don’t do this on purpose, it is just the way our travels always seem to work out.
China will be Different
For several years we have tried to make it to China. While we were in Burma we had plans to cross into China overland. Burma was a wonderful country, but a bit of a difficult travel (especially when we tried to avoid government buses and hotels). At the time Internet access there was impossible, we couldn’t book tickets ahead of time and there were no ATM’s or places to cash our travellers cheques.
Shwedegon Pagoda, Myanmar
We started to run out of money quickly and nobody could give us an answer as to whether we could get a Chinese Visa in Mandalay. We were in Yangon at the time and it wasn’t possible there, but maybe we could in Mandalay. They weren’t sure and there was no way of contacting the embassy. This was 2004 and the country had a long way to go to expand its communications. We couldn’t even be sure if we could cross the border as we heard rumours that it was closed.
Burma ended up being more expensive than we anticipated. It was holiday time and buses were always packed. We ended up paying triple the price for everything. We were going through our cash quickly with no way of replenishing. We decided that we couldn’t take the chance of waiting for a visa that might never come through. What if we ran out of money?
So we flew to Bali instead, China would be there another time.
This past Spring, we were planning on going to China right after trekking in Nepal. Instead, we won a flight to France with Air France and China was put on hold again.
On our way to France instead of China.
While France was fabulous, we wondered if we would ever make it to China?
In November it will finally happen.
This time we are following Julian and Becca’s lead and taking an Intrepid Tour to ease ourselves into the country. China is one of those places that we have put off for so long and we have heard so many stories about how difficult it is to travel, I think that a tour will be just the ticket to make us love the country the way that Julian and Becca loved India after their tour.
We will have insight and knowledge about China and afterwards, we will have the confidence to continue on our own. We have gotten to know the people at the Toronto Store through our Toronto Travel Tribe meetings and they are fabulous. We like Intrepid’s Passion to get people off the beaten path and to inspire adventure. They encourage you to try activities on your own and to eat out on your own. All meals and tours are not included because they want you to go out and explore the country independently while having the comfort of knowing that you will have your accommodations and itinerary taken care of.
It will be an entirely new experience for us and we are definitely looking forward to it. China has been on our list for years. We have made the mistake of putting it at the end of our extended travels. We won’t make the same mistake again, we are starting with China and we are determined to love every minute of it.
- Recommended Reading Lost on Planet China: One Man’s Attempt to Understand the World’s Most Mystifying Nation
Are you an independent traveller that has taken a tour? What were your experiences. Do you prefer organized tours over travelling independently or do you like to mix it up? Share your thoughts we’d love to know.
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