Fiona T
Ireland
- Reviewed on January 4, 2025
We travelled to Hunan province in May 2024 for 8 days. Many of the prepackaged trips I could find online didn't cover everything we wanted to see. Then I found China discovery. Rita organised a personalised itinerary with a private english speaking guide and driver for us. Rita also looked after all hotel and activity bookings and made suggestions on adjustments to enhance our trip. When you are trying to organise a trip to the other side of the world, it is really valuable having someone like Rita to navigate you through it. Once we arrived in Hunan, everything ran like clockwork. Our guide (David) was amazing. As independent travellers, originally we had thought that we may not enjoy having a guide with us throughout the trip but how wrong were we. David was so knowledgeable about the area and knew when to engage with us and also when to give us some space. He quickly understood that we liked to get away from the crowds and brought us to quieter areas of the national parks and also incorporated some more active elements to each day (we like to hike). On one occasion we spotted an attraction that we hadn't included in our itinerary and David made the arrangements on the spot for us to include it. This was the big advantage of having a personalised trip, we could adjust it as we went along depending on how the weather was, how we were feeling and whether we saw something else we wanted to see or do. To be honest, unless you speak Chinese, you will really miss out on so much in this area without a guide. Actually aside from missing out, you will find it very difficult to navigate Hunan without someone with you that speaks the language. No english is spoken or understood anywhere and all signs are in Chinese. China is an amazing country and the best way to maximise your time there is to have local support. China discovery was that local support for us and because of them we had such an amazing time and we cannot wait to explore more of China with them in the future. For anyone a bit nervous of using a local travel agent rather than one from your home country, please don't have any fears. I did a lot of research prior to booking with China discovery and everything was very positive. From my first interaction the service level was exceptional. Also by booking with a local agent, we ended up with a personalised tour for a very good price. Thank you Rita and David for such an amazing trip.
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Besides the origin feedback telling their satisfaction about their travel, some customers also nicely shared their travel stories in details. You can read their stories and seek for more inspiration.
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“Only You” - Couple’s Resounding 69 Days Private China JourneyElie & Marie has successfully enjoyed their wonderful and romantic 10 week couple's private vacation and experienced a lot of interesting things in 32 destinations around vast China!
- Elie (Belgium)
- (69 Days) 2019.09.04~2019.11.11
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North American English Teachers’ China Trips to Visit Their Students off InternetWe customized three big group China trips for tens of VIPKid English teachers and their family members to visit Xian, Shanghai, etc. from Beijing and meet their students off Internet in China in 2019!
- VIPKid Teachers (USA/Canada)
- (9-21 Days) 2019
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Winston's Couple Tour to 9 Cities around China plus Yangtze CruiseWinston and his wife have traveled to many world places during the past 21 years and experienced the best vacation this time to explore China's west and east, north and south parts!
- Winston (USA)
- (22 Days) 2019.05.17~2019.6.07
- Beijing - Xian - Lhasa - Chengdu - Guilin - Longsheng - Yangshuo - Chongqing - Yangtze River Cruise - Yichang - Shanghai - Suzhou - Beijing
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Warm People, Warm the World - Annual Tibet Trip for Love SharingJack and their partners would get back to Tibet from the distant USA every year, and until now, they’ve visited Tibet for 6 times. Every time, they had wonderful time enjoying the highlights of Tibet, and helped the blind, brought them hope of life and encouraged them.
- Jack (USA)
- (6 Times) 2013~2019
- Tibet
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Rachel Grant’s Panda Volunteer Experience in DujiangyanThe distinctive black and white animal is a national treasure in China and one of the rarest, most endangered bears in the world. A one-on-one encounter with a giant panda is a bucket list highlight and a must-do when you are in China. The time I spent witnessing such human dedication is truly eye-opening...
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Returning Hometown to Regain Adopted Daughter's ConfidenceLawson's Family had an amazing family China tour with their two adopted daughters from China and touchingly helped their adopted ethnic little girl regain confidence.
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