Vera Zhao's Homepage - COT Travel Consultant

	· Home · Contact us · Search

dd

Hi Vera,

We had a great time!! Thank you!

We will definitely share our great experience with Odyssey with our friends & family!

Sincerely,
Nina Vitenson
(July 8th, 2011)

dd

Hi Vera,

We are back to Lithuania from great trip in China. It was incredible trip and it will definitely will stay for long in our memories. :)

I want to thank your agency for great job! Please pass special thanks to Libby (Huangshan) - great dose of positiveness and knowledge of your country, Fei (Guilin) - excellent sense of humor and perfect response to our spontaneous wishes, Andy (Beijing) - great flexibility and very professional attitude to work. I can continue further, but if shortly - your local guides did incredible work for us and we will remember this trip for long.

As I promised before, I will definitely recommend China Odyssey Tours to further student groups and all people that are planning to go to China. ;)

Thank you one more time.

Cheers, ;)
Arunas
(May 31st, 2011)

dd

Hi Vera,

We are back to Lithuania from great trip in China. It was incredible trip and it will definitely will stay for long in our memories. :)

I want to thank your agency for great job! Please pass special thanks to Libby (Huangshan) - great dose of positiveness and knowledge of your country, Fei (Guilin) - excellent sense of humor and perfect response to our spontaneous wishes, Andy (Beijing) - great flexibility and very professional attitude to work. I can continue further, but if shortly - your local guides did incredible work for us and we will remember this trip for long.

As I promised before, I will definitely recommend China Odyssey Tours to further student groups and all people that are planning to go to China. ;)

Thank you one more time.

Cheers, ;)
Arunas
(May 31st, 2011)

dd

Hi Vera,

Delicious Peking Roast Duck Banquet

I am back to work and very busy with catching up the arrears of work.

I like to thank you for all the arrangements you did for our trip to china. Every thing went on very well as per the plan. Thank God it did not rain any of the days. In Shanghai it rained at the beginning of the first day but stopped after an hour.

We enjoyed our trip very well. The tour guides were very good especially Cherry in Shanghai went out of the way to help us. It was a bit cold and the food was good and too much for us. It is good that you did not arrange dinner except Peking Duck Banquet.

Thanks again!

Arun
(April 29th, 2010)

dd

Hi Vera,

Ancient City Wall of Xian

We just got back Friday night and are slowly recovering from the jet lag (it actually takes a day per hour for full recovery).

I am happy to say that our experience in Beijing and Xian and the service provided by your agency was excellent. The guides were courteous, punctual and helpful.

My only suggestion is with respect to the evaluation form that the guides asked us to complete for them at the end of the service. The evaluation should be confidential and should be mailed or emailed directly to you. This change in the process will provide you with a more accurate evaluation.

Regards,

Ira
(April 12th, 2010)

dd

Hi Vera,

Marika and Jan at the Victoria Peak,
Hong Kong

Yes, we had a wonderfull time in China and think often about it. A pity that it takes us almost 2 days to get there otherwise we certainly would be back soon!

We had a blog on worldnomads but it is written in dutch and portuguese. On the right site there is a photogallery of our China Tour with about 170 pictures, feel free to use them.

http://journals.worldnomads.com/marikajanwillem/

We`re very satisfied with China Odyssey Tours. When you book in advance with a company at the other side of the world you get off the plane wondering if there really is a guide to pick you up and luckily every time the guides and drivers were there for us (sometimes having waited a long time because of plane delays). The program was fine just as we planned and fortunately we were not obliged to shop at each sight and the guides were all willing to flex the schedules bit if requested and possible. All in all we can warmly recomend this travel agency to anyone going to China.

Marika and Jan Willem Salomons from Brazil
(July 15th, 2009)

dd

Dear Vera

I wanted to thank you very much for arranging our tour to Chengdu and Guilin and especially for dealing so calmly with my mistake over dates!

We had a wonderful time. Our tour guides were extremely nice and helpful and we enjoyed everything they suggested. The organisation was perfect and we were very impressed with the service that you provided.

We would be very happy to recommend China Odyssey Tours!

Best wishes
Miranda Brooman-White
(May 5th, 2009)

dd

Dear Mrs Vera:

It is a real pleasure to tell you that we are very satisfied about the tour you arranged for us: the organization was excellent, and the guide, Robin, a very qualifided one. We enjoyed his knowledge as well as his human relationship, patient, calm and supporting. The driver was also very good.

We also appreciate your kind invitation to visit you at your office.

We will give, indeed, the address of your Company to friends who will be interested in visiting China.

Your sincerely
Michael and Tamar Majlin
(July 17th, 2008)

dd

Hi Vera,

Yao Lady with Terraces Behind

Good to hear from you.

We had a very positive and fantastic experience touring China with China Odyssey Tours. Our guides/drivers were very knowledgeable, punctual, patient, hard working and flexible. We liked most the flexibility we had (as opposed to touring with a large group). At very short notice we were able to change plans or even while on the road, we could make a stop or a detour if something interested us. Our detour from the itinerary to visit the Great Mosque in Xian and The Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces in Longseng was definitely the highpoints of the trip.

The Great Wall marathon was a fascinating experience. There were 1137 runners from 40 countries around the world. It was a very tough race but the landscape/scenery made it very worthwhile. We have our medals proudly displayed.

Enjoy the summer and remember to visit us when you are in Houston.
Thanks again for all your assistance.

Regards,
Anasuya Hesse
(June 2nd, 2008)

dd

Dear Vera,

We are at the Forbidden City

I hope you are doing well. : )

And on behalf of all our group, I would like to thank you a lot for such a nice organization of our trip. It was really over all expectations!!!!

And please forward the best regards and many thanks for all our guides - with their help we learned a lot about your country and had such a good time!!

I have visited a lot of countries, but to be honest - this trip it was one of my best ones, if not the best.

Thanks once more and in case you will need any recomendations - all of us are ready to share our impressions and to be the ambassadors of your company. : )

Best regards from Vilnius,
Vaiva
(November 27th, 2007)

dd

Hi Vera,

We're back in Singapore. China was wonderful! We hope to vist again someday.

Our Beijing guide, Michael was exceptional. He made our visit & stay very special. When we return to the US, we will email you again. Just wanted to acknowledge your email and stay THANKS for all the work you did and especially THANKS for assigning such a fantastic tour guide like Michael for us.

Best regards,

Randy & Cathy
(November 16th, 2007)

dd

Hello Vera,

This is Charles Pinkham. I hope you are doing well. Quick note - I have been having problems with my computer which, unfortunately, holds all of my pictures from my trip. I hope to have this fixed soon and have a web album up for your use.

My experience with your company was excellent - it not only met but exceeded all expectations.

Therefore, my question to you is, do you have similar packages for any countries other than China? I will be taking trips in February and May as well, but I want to see other countries. Is this something you do, and, if not, is there a company similar to yours that you can recommend? I would really like to see Thailand, and then one of either Vietnam, Japan, Mongolia, or any others you may suggest as a "must see".

Thanks for your help.

Charles (November 8th, 2007)

dd

Hi Vera,

I am back in USA. I am very happy the way you organized my tour to Xi'an. It was perfect.

The tour guide contacted me in Beijing Hotel a night before and pick me up the next day to take me to the airport with nice car speak very good English. In Xian I waited a little to meet the tour guide with the driver. We visited all the sites I wanted to see. It was a very interesting day with a good lunch in a nice restaurant by the Terra Cotta Warriors which is an amazing site. The Bell Tower has a musical program with the bells which was very interesting. The Wild goose Pagoda and the park is very nice and I also walk on the City Wall which has a great view. I have a lots of picture taken. I will send for you later when I process them.

Thank you to organize this tour so great, you really did a good job with it. (You can publish my comments if you want).

Sincerely,
Erika O'Lall
(November 8th, 2007)

dd

Hi Vera,

I hope you are all well. We had a wonderful vacation arranged and accompanied by you over our Christmas and New Year vacation. All of us were impressed with China in many different ways. The history, scenery, economic development were all on massively impressive scale. We were struck by and friendliness of the all the people we met. Opri has announced that she would like to live in China and I hope one day both Risto and Opri will be able to find time to study in China at some point in their education.

Thank you all for making our time in China so memorable and enjoyable.

Best wishes for the Chinese New Year.

Chris Tuula Risto and Opri Martin
Helsinki Finland (Jan. 21, 2006)

dd

Dear Vera,

Our trip was absolutely wonderful and I would happily recommend your services to anyone interested in seeing the real China. I am so grateful to have seen so much of what China is like today and I'm glad we went when we did. I think being one of the few Westerners everywhere we went was a real benefit. And guess what, I've never been a very adventuresome eater but in China I learned to eat and enjoy a lot of new dishes. I would never have tried them here, but I had no choice there, and I'm really glad now.

Sally and I would love to host you anytime you want to come to America. We could definitely show you the sights around Oregon and even some in Washington and California. I know you would enjoy it.

Enough for now.

Dave
USA (Jan. 11, 2006)

dd

Dear China Vera,

Thank you for your good wishes, and I likewise hope that you and yours have a most joyous holiday season !! I have been travelling again on business and just returned from Paris and Vienna. BUT … Europe doesn't compare to the extraordinary sites, sounds and learnings that I experienced on the Yunnan Province trip that you so thoughtfully planned for me. Everything worked out exceedingly well, and I had the opportunity to do and see many things at just the NY pace to which I am accustomed.

I am most grateful to you and your outstanding staff of professional guides. The journey was an exciting joy from start to finish, and one of the highlights for me of the year 2006. I look forward to travelling with China Odyssey Tours again.

With appreciation and warmest best wishes,

NY Vera
New York, USA (Dec. 23, 2006)

dd

Dear Vera,

Thank you so much for keeping in touch and for your kind greetings. I wanted to reply to you much earlier but after our vacation in China my professional life was very busy with plenty of travel so I did not have time.

Martin and I would like to thank you very warmly for everything that you did to make our stay in China so memorable. Everything, up to the very little detail, went very well and was organised in a most efficient and professional manner. All hotels, guides, tours and other arrangements went as planned, everybody we met was extremely friendly, helpful and welcoming.

It was very nice meeting you as well in Guilin – we have recommended Chinaoddyssey to all our friends. Hope you will have a lot of business through that!

Since I travel a lot for work I frequently review hotels and I added my reviews of some of the hotels we stayed in China to the following website:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/MemberProfile?uid=7548419AF3695D94B578F74570F09BA0&c=c&public=1

It may well be that I come to Beijing again in spring for a congress – perhaps I will be in touch for a hotel reservation then.

I wish you all of the very best and a good start into the new year 2007!

Warmest regards,

Habib from Germany
(Dec. 21, 2006)

dd

Dear Vera,

Just a quick note to say that we made it to Hong Kong without any problems and have been relaxing for the last five or six days. We'll head back to the states on Friday this week.

Our trip to China was just about perfect. I couldn't have asked for anything better. Everyone was so nice and helpful and I believe that I had a chance to see lots of the "real" China, not just tourist sights. I especially enjoyed our drives through the country and the trip up the Yangtze because it gave me a chance to see how everyday Chinese people live and work. And speaking of work, you better not move to Lijiang because there, the women do most of the work. According to Susan, or local guide, the men's job is to think, do art, play Majong, and drink beer. The women do everything else. A great place to be a man, I think. I guess we were very fortunate in our timing at Huangshan because we had clear blue skies on the mountain and it was absolutely beautiful.

When we get home and have a chance to download our 1200 or 1300 pictures, we'll be sending you some. I'm sure you don't have enough pictures of China, ha ha. Well, thanks again for setting up this incredible journey for us. I'll certainly never forget it.

Dave Cutting From USA
(Dec. 20, 2006)

dd

Dear Vera,

We are at home since now one week but a part of our mind is alwways in China. You are responsible of this fact because the trip you have built for us was very nice, as well for the almost perfect organization as for the choice of subjects to see and enjoy. It was a pleasure to try to understand the complexity of this country with so many people so different and all very pleasant. So you know, I have only one idea, stay more time; enough to understand a little more chinese people.

Thank you very much dear Vera. Our best wishes for the new year. We hope sincerly to keep in touch with you and one day to see you again in Guillin and maybe in our small island Guadeloupe, why not? Our best wishes to Susan, our aristocratic guide and to all others who have done our trip so interesting for the knowledge of their country. And a special thought to Aileen who has been so helpful in Kunming.

Liliane and Marcel from France
(Dec. 12, 2006)

dd

Hello Vera,

We took an upriver cruise on the Victoria Prince. We purchased the cruise from China Odyssey Tours.

First of all service provided by Vera Zhao was very good indeed. Vera was prompt, to the point & very helpful in our decision making process. Vera made excellent arrangements. We had no difficulty what so ever. This was the first time that we went on a cruise without a written ticket.

I might add that there were some American groups that had trouble on the ship because their travel agent had not sent money to the cruise company.

We will most certainly contact Vera again for our next trip. We will also recommend Vera & China Odyssey Tours to our friends.

We authorize China Odyssey to use our comments. We will be happy to speak to any future clients in regard to our experience with China Odyssey.

Best regards

Harry from Hong Kong
(Nov. 06, 2006)

dd

Vera

Many thanks for your note - I started to send you a note on Tuesday but ran out of time before having to go away with work for a few days.

The trip was excellent - thankyou very much for all the arrangements - they all worked very well. A special thankyou for your patience in dealing with the frequent changes at the end. The help you provided over the phone when I was asking details of further possible changes in Beijing was really helpful too.

I have completed the questionnaire that you sent with the confirmation letter. We would like to make special mention of the guide in Lijian (Anne). While each of the guides were very good Anne in particular made us feel very comfortable and went out of her way to show us around the old town. This was totally unexpected as it was quite late at night after she had met us at the airport but it helped make the trip that much more special - we would be grateful if you would pass on our comments to her employer - when we thanked her as we were leaving she would only say that "it was her job"

Thankyou again for your help - if we come back to China you can be sure we will be in touch!

Ian Smith from North Sydney, Australia
(Oct. 13, 2006)

dd

Hello Vera,

I would like to thank you for helping us set up a very smooth trip. We have had excellent response from you and was easy setting up this trip. We encountered no problems on this trip. Our tour guide, Eric was at the airport waiting for us. He was very helpful and was willing to make changes to our itinerary as requested. He was also very thoughtful and considerate toward my mother, who is 80 years old. When we were at Ocean Park, he thought of routes to take to shorten her walk.

Eric was also very knowledgable about facts in Hong Kong. He also suggested and helped us set up a day tour to China. We all enjoyed our trip in HOng Kong very much!

I would definitely refer you/your company to anyone who is looking for a tour in China/Hong Kong. You have done an excellent job for us.

Thank you for asking for feedback, as this demonstrates that you are serious in providing great customer service!

Take care and perhaps we'll contact you again soon for another trip!

Linda Fung and her family from USA
(Oct. 11, 2006)

dd

Vera,

we are back from our wonderful trip to China. It was very nice meeting you in Guilin. I just want to express my thanks for the wonderful trip that you organized. I was very impressed with your quick communication and response to all my emails. The itinerary was great and the tour guides, drivers, hotels and planned activities were all superb! We will hold such fond memories of our trip to China and all the wonderful people we met along the way. I cannot express enough my sincere thanks in having been provided the opportunity to visit such an interesting and wonderful country and your help in making this possible.

Julie
From Seattle, USA (Oct. 01, 2006)

dd

The travel photos taken by Joseph M Lance III

After many years of wishing and procrastinating, I finally decided to make a trip to China. I had been to Taiwan and Hong Kong years earlier, but I wanted to see what I considered the "real" China. I contacted many travel services in China and outside China before finally deciding to trust and rely on China Odyssey Tours of Guilin, China. The reason I chose them out of the many travel companies was because of Ms. Vera Zhao who was my contact and who became my agent. She replied quickly to my inquiries, and I felt like I was working with a friend rather than working through a distant and unfamiliar company. She assured me her company could meet my travel needs, and she was true to her word. I had a wonderful trip.

Joseph M. Lance III from San Diego, USA
(Sep. 14, 2006)

dd

Dear Vera,

Jean Descles and her friends touring
Temple of Heaven, Beijing

How can I thank you? This Beijing trip, was very interresting, all was perfect.

1 of all the good welcome at Beijing airport. What some french peoples can expect much more as a perfect Chinese guide able to speak a very good French language.

In fact, Dianne our women guide, (that she never visits France) was at the airport to pick us up with a large and comfortable bus for six peoples.Immediatly, the contact was been confident and friendly. After start our way to Beijing, Dianne, start to explained what will be the travel programm. First surprise, we had a lunch included in the trip package..When I already sign the contract with China Odyssey it was non mentionned and it was a good surprise to having a lunch in a very nice Chinese restaurant.During all the trip, all the visit we always were flexible to take a time to visit each previous nice places. All the visits were very interresting, with a lot of explannation of our guide Dianne. Always mixed with some historical story and some joke, the atmosphere of the trip was been very cool and friendly.It was a real cultural exchange, between us and our guide.

Dear Vera, congratulations for this nice and perfect organisation. Next time I will not hesitate to contact you again.

Best regards

Jean-Louis Descles
From France and now work in Shanghai (Sep. 04, 2006)

dd

Dear Vera,

This trip has convinced us that this is the best way to truly see learn about the place you are visiting--if you work with an excellent agency such as yours. And it is your guide that makes a trip successful and ours was wonderful. I will happily recommend China Odyssey Tours to anyone planning a trip to China and would certainly book a tour with your agency again.

Thank you and especially Jessica and Mr. More for making our trip both memorable and enjoyable. Please feel free to use us as a reference and if a potential client would like to contact us we would be happy to let them know how wonderful our experience was and to highly recommend they use your company. (908-359-8148).

Regards

Jane and Bill Georgs
USA (Sep. 02, 2006)

dd

Hi vera,

Ted & Shinae at the Three Gorges Dam

When I first contacted your company through internet, I did not know your company any better. It was at a great risk to do a business with an unknown travel agency, particularly in China. However, after I communicated with you a couple of times through e-mail, we became friendly very quickly. You showed me your honesty and sincerity and I knew you love your job very much!

Now I am glad that I have trusted you and everything went very well and we were very pleased. At every airport, your assigned travel agent was there waiting for us even though the airplane was delayed and guided us very pleasant professional manner. One agent at Xian even wrote down on the paper the dynasties of China chronologically, so we understood better. At Yichang, your agent paid part of fee for carrying our baggages, saying that your company allows fee for two baggages. It is an honesty that counts. She did not have to tell me that. At Shanhai, I asked your agent to take us to the train station at the end of tour, because we wanted to go to Suzhou. He took us to the train station and waited until the departing time and even came inside of the train with us to make sure we had seats.

Vera, I thank you very much for your arrangement and for your professionalism in dealing with my tour.

Actually, whenever we arrived at new places, I was a bit worried if somebody is there to pick us up or not.

But, sure, your agent was there everytime, waiting for us! You made me very happy.

Ted & Shinae Park
From USA (Aug. 24, 2006)

dd

Hello Vera!

Good that everything solved out at last with the tourmoney that we sended over. The trip was fantastic and very interesting! Fancy boat, good food and excelent company at the dinner table (something that may vary but we were lucky:).

I have recommended the trip to a lot of travelers that we met on the rest of our trip and also to my friends home in Sweden where I am now. Everybody that we came in contact with were very professional, serviceminded and nice.

Jonas Huld
Sweden (Aug. 01, 2006)

dd

Hi Vera,

The travel photos taken by Jeffrey
James Urban

As I wrote in my individual evaluation sheets for each city, i really had an excellent time in china in every city. It was truly a magnificent trip! my only regret is that i didn't stay longer! :-)

Contracting companies for foreign travel over the internet always makes me a little bit nervous, but your company was truly excellent in every way. All of the drivers and local guides were really knowledgable and friendly. One very pleasant surprise was the fact that your drivers (in all cities) seemed to have arrangements with the local sites that allowed them to park very, very close to the interesting sites (most tour buses would be 3-5km away!). That was great, especially in the hot weather.

I'm normally a very critical person with many negative views, but this portion(Beijing) of the trip was really perfect. Your guide and driver really were exceptional and very helpful! I had a very positive experience. The Shanghai experience was great. I had a wonderful time! The guide and driver were really outstanding. they made extra efforts to make my visit here fun and educational. They both did an excellent job! Also, most of my conversations (with drivers and guides) were more like what I would share with friends than what I was expecting from a "formal" tour guide...this was yet another positive feature. And they were flexible also, in the few instances in which i wanted to deviate from the plans a little bit. Just outstanding all around.

Jeffrey James Urban
New York, USA (Jul. 17, 2006)

dd

Hi Vera,

The travel photos taken by Paty
and Marcela Campillays

We only have to thank you for this wonderful trip and for your patience after all the changes we made until we got the final itinerary. Everything was great (but the delays of the flights, although that has nothing to do with you).

In every city the guide was waiting for us. They are all great, nice and know their country very well. Thanks to everyone of them specially to Lily (Guilin) and Tony (Beijing). I think they understand exactly what we wanted and were very helpful in everything, without mentioning their excellent English, and to Tessie who waited for us almost 8 hours at the airport in Kunming!!!

It's difficult to summarize 15 days of travelling throughout China. Every place we visited was amazing, the cities and the countryside, specially Longshen county, Huangshan and Guilin, every place just incredible! (We also stayed in Beijing, Xian, Kunming, Lijiang and Shanghai).

The hotels were very good located and provided a very good service, specially Guanzhou Hotel in Beijing.

This is the first time that with my sister use an agency (and also first time via internet) and I only have to say that everything was very well organized. We will surely recommend you and your agency to everyone.

Paty and Marcela
Chile(Jul. 13, 2006)

dd

Hi Vera,

Neil and I had a wonderful trip and found China to be more than we expected. The south, especially Guilin, was our favorite area. We also really enjoyed the Yangtze trip. Your help during our trip made us feel relaxed and without a worry. If we are able to come back, we would definitely head for the south and the southwest. Almost all of our guides were knowledgeable and very attentive to any requests and questions we had. All were very enthusiastic and proud of China. I would suggest (for American travelers) they stay in four star hotels rather than three star. We would have liked to be more centrally located in Beijing and Xian. We like to walk around by ourselves at night and in the mornings. Overall our trip was truly remarkable and we enjoyed all the places we visited. Again thank you for your help. Your agency is very easy to work with.

Peggy & Neil
From UTAH, USA (Jul. 04, 2006)

dd

Dear Vera,

We really enjoyed our two week trip! All the tour guides were very informative and helpful. Forrest, our tour guide, in Xian was excellent. He was helpful in suggesting which restaurants to eat at outside the hotel and when we wanted to go to a massage parlor he took us to his recommended place and even waited for us while we were getting our body/foot massage and had a taxi waiting for us to take us back to our hotel. Romy, our guide in Chongqing, took us to a hot pot restaurant since we wanted to eat local food before taking us to our Cruise ship. The Yangtze Cruise was wonderful and the food very good. In Wuhan, our guide-I think his name was Jack-wanted us to have some memory of Wuhan since he was supposed to take us directly to the airport from the ship. We had some extra time so he took us to the rock museum. Jasmine in Hangzhou was also very knowledgeable and helpful. Jenny our guide in Shanghai, I thought, was excellent. Her suggestions on where and what to do at night was very helpful. She is also very well-informed about the city.

Your recommendation of Tongli instead of Zhouzhuang is a good one. It is less crowded and had a more authentic feel of the old water towns.

I have travelled with Pacific Delight tours in 2004 in Beijing and 2005 in Shanghai, but I must say that I enjoyed my trip with your company the most. I was a little bit worried about making all the connecting airplane flights and train trip between the cities, but everything was well organized and went fine. In fact there were a couple flights that were slightly delayed. When we got to the airport, though, our tour guide was there waiting for us. In fact, I think it was Forrest who had to wait almost an hour and a half for our delayed flight.

thanks for a trouble-free and wonderful trip!

Best regards,

Steven A. Nomura
Washington, USA (Jul. 01, 2006)

dd

Dear Vera,

Linda and I had a wonderful trip with your company. We love China. The sites and hotels you selected were ideal and the itinerary accomplished Linda's photographic goals. She took over 2500 pictures and is still going through them.

Your guides were all excellent. In general, with the exception of Angela, their English was acceptable but slightly difficult to understand. They more then made up for that in enthusiasm and going the extra mile to meet and exceed our needs. For example, Violet went our of her way to arrange a personal Cormorant fishing tour not once but twice. They all gave us sound advice regarding shopping and evening entertainment and managed to arrange theatre seats in front rows for Linda's photography. Our driver, speaking practically no English, anticipated our needs, took the initiative in pointing out photo ops, and was able to get us swiftly to our destination in spite of detours due to the movements of the Panchen Lama.

You and all your company are wonderful. I hope that all your young people have the same energetic and empathetic attitude. I suspect if you do, this century will be your century and that of China.

Hope to see you again on our next trip to China.

Best regards,

Alan and Linda Berman
from California, USA (Jun. 26, 2006)

dd

Hi Vera,

Our trip in Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi was beautiful and very interesting, all very well organized, punctual, the hotels clean and confortable, the guides and drivers nice and professional. We are enthusiastic for your travel organization.

Massimo Morselli & Francesca Generali
Modena, Italy (Jun. 23, 2006)

dd

Hi Vera,

We were very pleased with all the arrangements that you made for us and thought you did a super job making sure all the details were in place. It can be a little worrying when you deal with a travel agency that is very far away and one that you have not had any personal experience with or know anyone personally who has used it. So I would be glad to be used as a reference now that I know first hand what a good job you do. We were especially happy that all the travel arrangements were totally in order: we were always met at the airport or boat as planned, all the tickets were waiting for us or were in order at the airport, and the drivers professional, the cars good quality and comfortable. We had three guides and they were all capable, friendly, and eager to please us. We traveled on our own in China both before and after the part of the trip you planned and did not find it hard to find our way through Chinese cities using maps, taxis, and the subway. I could see that occasionally the guides were nervous about our independence. But we really appreciated that they wanted to look after us and make sure that there were no bad surprises for us.

Hilary Cohen
Chicago, USA (Jun. 13, 2006)

dd

Hi Vera,

Good to hear from you. We really had a great time in China. First of all, I would like to thank 3 tour guides ( Hawk, Winnie, and Lina), 3 drivers ( I don't exact recall their names), and special thanks go out to you,Vera, who arranged this trip as smooth as possible. Secondly, we love to visit China, and we don't believe we would ever forget this trip experience; in fact, we even consider to re-visit China again in 2008 to catch Olympics game, take Yangze river cruise, and visit to Hongkong. Of course, we will definitely be happy to join with China Odyssey tour again. Thirdly, the entire trip was flawless; you guys are INCREDIBLE. I would recommend my friends here in the States to visit China with China Odyssey Tour.

Thanks

Soe Thu
from Burma (Jun. 10, 2006)

dd

Hi Vera,

Thank you for arranging our trip to China using China Odyssey Tours. We had a wonderful time and were very pleased with China Odyssey Tours services. It was also great to meet you and the China Odyssey Tours team.

We traveled to 4 cities within China. At each airport we were welcomed by our Guide and driven to our hotel. It was so nice to have someone waiting for us! All the arrangements worked out perfectly – the guides, the drivers, the China flights and our hotels.

We found that our guides often had suggestions that helped make our trip even more enjoyable. From wonderful sites and shows to a delightful foot massage, we experienced many different and interesting things. Wherever we went we found warm welcomes – especially from the local people.

Please extend a special thanks to our tour guides for making the extra effort to help us have a memorable vacation.
Shanghai – Jennifer
Beijing – Kelly
Xian – Hoffman
Guilin – Charles
Although I didn't get the names of the drivers, they were all polite and professional and had well-maintained, clean vehicles. We were happy to have them behind the wheel, driving in the challenging China traffic.

One suggestion would be to offer lunches in more local restaurants. Although the meals we had were good and some of the settings were very nice, we felt that they were very Americanized and didn't offer us choices. We enjoyed the meals that we had in local restaurants, especially when our Guides helped us order and understand what to expect. I would not hesitate to recommend China Odyssey Tours. Please feel free to use any quotes. I'd be happy to act as a reference, please use this email address: red4rnr@cox.net.

Thank you again. We loved China and hope to return for another wonderful vacation! Also – I noted my comments on Trip Advisor too.

Nancy Beeson
Phoneix, USA
red4rnr@cox.net. (Jun. 02, 2006)

dd

The travel photos taken by
Martina & Martin

We liked the China journey very much. It is propably our holiday No. 1, because we have never known so many different places, people (in the cities, in the countryside, even the minorities) and the culture. We will never forget the Tang Dynasty Show in Xi'an, the Acrobatic Show in Shanghai and many others. There was nothing in the itinerary we did not like. Even the weather was OK it was not too hot for travelling. All the Chinese sights are very nice and they are really fabulous for European people. We felt very safe everywhere. We must not forget to mention the meals (all meals were delicious).

All guides were very helpfull and tried to show us as much as they could.

We will recommend the visit of China with your company to everybody.

With best wishes

Martina & Martin
From Czech (May. 28, 2006)

dd

Vera, I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed the tour that you set up for Melita and our group. Your tour guide Winnie was delightful. She was easy to understand and has a very nice attitude. She made us laugh and we had a lot of fun with her. Thank you very much. Also, Mr. Wong, our driver was very nice and he drove very carefully. We appreciated everything you arranged for us. If we come back to China, I will ask for you again.

Sincerely,

Carolyn Banks and Leesa Franklin
GEORGIA USA (May. 04, 2006)

dd

Dear Vera,

Giles and I would like to express our outmost thanks for a truly fun and wonderful time in Guilin. Our tour guide Mr. Liao and his driver was so friendly and helpful throughout our time with China Odyssey Tours and your online booking facility is incredibly convenient and easy!

We went on your 3-night Guilin Tour, which included a Li River Cruise to Yangshuo and a day trip to Longsheng rice terraces. Mr. Liao was just amazing to have with us. My husband and I are independent travelers where we like to try different things. We prefer some flexibility in the schedule and with Mr. Liao, we felt like we were traveling with a friend rather than a guide as he really went the extra mile for us on numerous occasions.

We both found the Reed Flute Caves stunningly fascinating, made even more so by the fact that we were alone as the last ones to go through. We were very glad we went with the Longsheng rice paddies option even though it was the wrong time of year. It was still beautiful with the Dragon's Backbone clearly visible – it was one of our favorite places. The Li River boat cruise was very enjoyable too.

All of our accommodation was so comfortable and well situated. We always felt like we were in a quiet, secluded spot yet it was just a couple of minutes' walk to the main street. While we were in Guilin, we were so happy to have met you Vera, as you've been such an amazing help via email. I know I had many, many questions and you were always available for answers! I have recommended you and your company to everyone I know whom is thinking of traveling to China.

One more thank-you to you both as you were so professional in your service and excellent in your friendly manner. We hope to travel through you again very soon.

Yours sincerely,

Adéle and Giles Harding
Cape Town, South Africa (May. 02, 2006)

dd

Hi Vera,

I'm just wiriting to let you know that everything went very well with the itinerary you had put together.The Yangtze Cruise was excellent, and all of the guide arrangements worked out perfectly. You did a great job, and I will highly recommend China Odyssey Tours to others. Thanks for everything.

Richard Griffin
From Michigan, USA
(Apr. 18, 2006)

dd

Generally I found the service provided by China Odyssey Tours to be of a very high standard and in some cases exceptional. I found the company easy to deal with throughout the whole tour. I received good value for money. I would highly recommend Vera as a travel consultant and will certainly use her services again.

Leigh Adkins
Geelong, Australia (Apr. 10, 2006)

dd

Steve and his friends at Victoria Peak

Dear Vera,

Thanks for the e-mail and picture. That was very thoughtful. The attached picture was taken at Victoria Peak; unfortunately, it was foggy that day. Fucuiping and I are to the right. I will e-mail you separately about our trip. Needless to say, we had a very good time! With warm regards.

Steve Nomura
(Mar. 31, 2007)

dd

Hi Vera,

We are back in Toronto and very happy to report that the tour you organized for us was excellent. Everything went very smoothly, and all the guides were excellent. We really enjoyed seeing the beautiful sights of China and your excellent planning made it all the better.

Once again, we'd like to really thank you for an excellent tour. We will most certainly recommend your tour company to any of our friends and family that may vacation in China.

Wishing you the best!

Pooja and Steve
(Apr. 23, 2007)

dd

Hi Vera,

Just like to thank you and China Odyssey for the fantastic trip we had in China.

China is an amazing place, we never expected to see how far the Country and it's people have progressed and so fast. It makes us in Australia, feel like we are being left behind.

All the places we visited and all the sights we saw were great. The Tour Guides and Drivers were all very good. The Tour Guides from China Odyssey were especially very good. (Faye, Winnie and Susan)

We were very lucky with the weather as well.

Definately going to make another trip to some other places in China in the near future.

Once again, thank you for your help and please thank the Drivers and Guides for making our trip so memorable. We will certainly be recommending China Odyssey to others.

Best Wishes

Dave and Joan, Frank and Gaye.
(May. 20, 2007)

dd

Hello Vera!

Nice to hear from you. Elayne and I had a fantastic time during our China holiday. Because of your and China Odyssey's meticulous and carefully planning we left your wonderful country and wonderful people with memories that will last a life time. We are looking forward to returning sometime in the future.

Overall, the guides and the drivers were outstanding, extremely helpful and were the number 1 reason that made our China trip such an extreme pleasure.

Again, many thanks for your excellent help and the wonderful gift.

Regards

Don & Elayne (May. 29, 2007)

dd

Good morning vera

I was about to write to you when I received your E-mail. Well, what can we say, a fantastic trip supported by a fantastic team, it was magnificent.

The Victoria Anna had a wonderful atmosphere and was everything we could have wished for, especially the crew who popped up in the most unlikely places doing different jobs and imagine our surprise when on top of all that they appeared on stage in the various floor shows in the evening, they are truly talented and a joy to sail with. The three Gorges were as spectacular as we imagined they would be and more. All this would not have been possible without your help and that of your very attentive team who met and organised our travel arrangements which were seamless.

We shall not hesitate to tell all our colleagues about you and this trip when we retell our tales of the Yangtze, well done and a huge thankyou for making this very very special anniversary trip for suzze and me so special.

regards

alan and suzze G (Apr. 04, 2007)

dd

Dear Vera,

Just wanted to let you know what a wonderful time we had in Xian on the tour you arranged for us. It all went very well and we absolutely loved the terracotta warriors.

We did some sight seeing in Shanghai too but still have alot of your country to see. I will pass on your details to any other crew who are interested.

Thanks again.

Jane (Oct. 04, 2007)

dd

Hi Vera

Sorry for the late reply. AFTER CHINA WE WENT TO EUROPE AND JUST GOT BACK TO AUSTRALIA

The tour planned by your company was good. Timing was perfect. We caught our flight to Chongqing from Shenzhen quite easily even though we were worried about getting there on time from Hong Kong airport.

At Chongqing the tour guide met us at the airport. He was friendly and showed us around Chongqing, visiting everything as scheduled. The hot pot dinner was excellent. He got us to the Victoria Prince (Yangtze River Cruise from Chongqing to Shanghai) and made sure we checked in. He was very friendly, knowledgable and helpful and his English was good. We had a great time. I do recommend the reliable services of your company My only regret is China has lots of pollution and every town is covered with smog that makes all photos to be not clear!

Thank you and have a good day!

Pek Tan (Aug. 01, 2007)

dd

Dear Vera,

Thank you very much for your kind e-mail and photo. It reminds us of the beautiful time we had in Guilin. We enjoyed very much the entire trip in China.

In the near future we will tell you in more detail which parts were exceptionally sucessful. We shall also try to send you some pictures.

Unfortunately, we did not have with us in China a digital camera. We took pictures with a regular camera, that are now in the process of development. We will try to scan them and send you some of them.

We would like to thank you once again for arranging for us such a nice trip.

Best regards,

Nurit and Joseph
(Sept. 24, 2007)

dd

hey guys

This is just a short message to assure you that the entire ADB team returned to Tunis very safely following its whirlwind tour of China from 14 to 24 May 2007.

I have received nothing but rave reviews from my colleagues about the trip. They enjoyed the marathon visits to various places and look forward to visiting China again in the future. They have made the colleagues who did not go feel jealous, and you can be certain that we will organize more such trips in the future.

I would like, on behalf of the Staff Council and all the staff who participated in the trip, to thank both of you as well as the guides and all those involved in making the trip the roaring success that it was.

ciname inside Terracotta Warriors
and Horses

We appreciate your patience in dealing with the bewildering demands of over sixty individuals in the group. The only major complaint some colleagues have made has to do with the food which they felt was too Chinese and too much of the same thing. All the same, this does not detract from the wonderful time they had.

I am recommending you to other colleagues who may wish to visit China privately and who may need your assistance. Please give them the same abiding attention and exhibit the same and usual Chinese characteristic patience and understanding.

Once again, a million thanks.

Warmest regards,

Tah Asongwed
Chairperson, Staff Council (May. 29, 2007)

dd

Dear Vera,

We enjoyed our trip to China, the accomodations, the tour guides professionalism and knowledge and all the services that were provided. You have a beautiful country, beautiful people and a wonderful history. We hope to one day again be able to visit your country again in the near future.

Regards,

Luis Saravia
Elaine Morrissey (Jun. 07, 2007)

dd

Dear Vera

Shengnong Stream

Thank you for your e-mail of July 9, 2007.

We have been very happy on our Yantze River Cruise.

The whole organization was perfect. We appreciated very much that right at the airport in Chongqing the guide was there and took us to a sightseeing tour. It was very interesting. We learnd a lot about China and the people living there on that afternoon.We liked the hot pot in the evening very much. Our guide was very well educated.

On the cruise we appreciated the food, the entertainements and the sightseeing that we could attend. Everything was well organized.

At the end we had no problem to come to the airport, since another guide was picking us up.

So, we really can recommend your company to all our friends.

Thanks a lot for everything. Attached you will find a few pictures.

Best wishes

Martha (Jul. 12, 2007)

dd

Hi Vera, Ni hao

I had a fantastic time in China, thanks for organising everything. Both Maggie and Tiffany looked after me very well and guided me through all the important sites. I was very impressed with the way Maggie dealt with the change to my tour when I did not want to get up so early to go to Chengde. Also I was impressed with her climbing the Great Wall with me. I don't know how she fealt but I found it tiring but exhillerating.

Tiffany showed me around the Terra-cotta Soldiers, which were breathtaking and impressive. I found the buildings which now enclose the excavations also impressive.

I took many photos but have not had time to sort them out. I will send you some photos later.

Once again, thankyou to everyone for making my holiday so enjoyable.

xi xi ni

Robert
(July 04, 2007)

dd

Hi Vera,

First I want to say you were great. You were always patient with us when we weren't sure of where we wanted to go, and you always answered our questions promptly and completely. The quotations you gave us always responded to our requests and were accurate and the pricing was for good value.

Second, some of the many tihings we enjoyed and will always remember from our trip to China was walking on Nanking Road in Shanghai; of course the Yangtse Cruise and the 3 Gorges dam; all the amazing hi-rise buildings in Beijiing as well as walking with all the people on Tianammen Square.

The cheerful smiling service of our maid and waitress on the cruise was really wonderful.

Third, the museum in Yichang was special to us for the following reasons:
It was small enough so we didn't get tired or bored with the displays
There was really interesting historical information and artifacts and the guide was very knowledgeable
It was quiet and we could stand and read the notes and look at things without being pushed or hurried
The store in the museum had some interesting and unique items for sale that we felt offered good value for the money.

Hope this helps.

Thanks again,

Tom and Annette (Aug. 04, 2007)

dd

Dear Vera

Inge & Rossouw at Longji Rice Terraces

We were very pleased with our tour of Guilin and Longji Terraces . It was well arranged by you and you responded promptly to all requests. Our Guide Alice was a gem , arranged everything professionally and we felt well looked after. It was extremely hot but Alice made sure we always had drinks and the car was ready when needed.

The trip to the Longji terraces is worthwhile and we hope that tourism wont spoil the natural beauty of it all. Guilin is a green city with lots to offer. The cruise on the Li river well organized and the landscape unique. Lets hope the masses of people that go through this region wont have a negative impact!

We enjoyed the hospitality of our touroperaters and the friendliness of the Country enormously and will be back.

Inge and Rossouw Oosthuizen
(Jul. 13, 2007)

dd

Vera,

Just a short note to tell you how much I've enjoyed my trip to China and to tell you that the services you've provided were part of this success.

All my guides were knowledgable, speak good english( as good as mine almost) and were very dedicated in making my trip enjoyable. The drivers were perfect and safe as well.

I would not hesitate recommending your services to my friends, I already did to some tourists in Kunming.

Thanks again,

Ghislain Gaudreau
(Aug. 30, 2007)

dd

Dear Vera

Thank you for your kindly e-mail message hereunder. I'm now backing to the office, after a pleasant trip to your country: the organization of the China Odyssey Tours was excellent and I've no repair to make. I've already transmitted to some persons my appreciation. Your persistence and professional quality was exceptional.

The charged price is fair enough for the quality of the service given. All the hotels were exceptional, namely in Shanghai and Beijing. Concerning your staff, namely the guides, they were good and very experts on the matters; the motorists drive very safely and the quality and comfort of the vehicles was very good too.

As a conclusion I must say that if I return to China I will not hesitate in appealing again to the services of the China Odyssey Tours.

Finally, I must thank the efficient and gentile form as Vera dealt with this issue.

Yours faithfully,

Antonio de Almeida (Oct. 01, 2007)

Welcome to China Odyssey Travel Consultant - Vera Zhao's Homepage