Welcome to China Odyssey Travel Consultant - Vincent Ruan's Homepage

Hi Vincent,

Yes thanks so much. Roy n mr Zhang are very professional and friendly. Will definitely recommend china odyssey to our friends.

Thanks.
Joel

(May 2nd, 2012)

Hi Vincent,

Thank you very much for your efforts to make our China journey such a fantastic experience. Your staff in Hong Kong (Helen), Shanghai (Michael) and Beijing (Cecee) were superb. We could not have asked for better guides and friends! Our transportation went off without a hitch. I would recommend you highly to anyone traveling to China. Please give my kudos to Helen, Michael and Cecee. They all made our trip so much more informative and enjoyable. 
Kind regards,
Mary Jane Newman

(April 30th, 2012)

Hi Vincent,

Travel with Shona Pic 2
Travel with Winnie

I have a few photos of Winnie and Shona that I would like to send them if that is possible.   I have Emily's email address so I already sent her a few photos.   Attached is one photo of Winnie and two photos of Shona.  Please send them on with our regards.

Sincerely,

Noel Fouts

(April 14th, 2012)

Hi Vincent,

We had a wonderful time on our tour!...Thank you so much for the great service in planning it...Everything about the tours, guides, and hotels was excellent! ...We will highly recommend your services to all of our friends..Best Wishes...

Mark Yaremchuk

(April 1st, 2012)

Hi Vincent,

Thanks for coordinating a great trip in Shanghai / Hangzhou!  We had a great time with our guide and look forward to meeting our guide tomorrow morning.  So far, we are really impressed so thanks for all of your help coordinating the trip.

Josh

(March 20th, 2012)

Hi Vincent,

Our tour was amazing! We loved every trip, Steven and Tracy were amazing tour guides - extremely helpful and full of knowledge (and very friendly), and we can't wait to do another tour with you when we come back to China...there are still lots of places we want to see.

We loved that we never felt rushed and we had time to appreciate everything we saw.

One suggestion would be to find out from hotels if they require a room service/mini bar deposit on check-in, and then let your clients know in advance. In Xi'an, we were asked for a 300RMB deposit, which we had not budgeted for.

Other than that everything was fabulous!

Thanks for all your help organising the tour, I will be in touch next time we come to China.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Erin Ryan

(January 22nd, 2012)

Hi Vincent,

This is to give you some feedback on our China trip, which we enjoyed very much.

Your recommendations for where to go and what to do worked out very well. The hotels were fine, although the Metropark was nto as convenient as the others to the main parts of the city.

Jerry responded to what we needed and was a reliable guide. He gave good recommendations for the evenings. The dynamic in Beijing was that he was very friendly with the bus driver, so there would be times when he and the bus driver would talk or eat together, and leave us more to ourseleves.

By contrast, Chris was much more connected with us in Shanghai. She ate with us and walked everywhere we went, and thus was able to provide a much more comprehensive tour. Her English is also better than Jerry's and she is more knowledgable, so this worked out especially well for us.

I appreciated the flexibility of the tour itinerary to get the most in. For example, switching the Great Wall and Forbidden City days in Beijing due to expected crowds at the Forbidden City was a very good idea. Similarly, we added the zoo in Beijing and a morning at the National Museum, which while not on the schedule were definitely enjoyed.

In Shanghai, particularly on the day we left, we could probably have seen a few more things, although what we did was done thoroughly.

The "factories" we went to were interesting, although they were not what I really had in mind as true factories, but more like tourist show rooms. I would have appreciated some guidance on how to look at prices at these places and what to expect to pay. In general, we did not buy very much, but for the big exception of an expensive jade bangle at Run-Ze Jade Garden, which I realized almost right away that I had way overpaid for. This was my mistake, but I would have appreciated a warning about how the prices were negotiable (since the cloisonné factory we had visited earlier seemed not to negotiate their prices).

Overall, we saw a lot more and learned a lot more on the trip with China Odyssey tours than if we had tried to go without. All the arrangements went very smoothly, and we felt consistently at ease with getting around and making appointments.

I am grateful to you and the whole staff for supporting our trip and we will not hesitate to share our good experience with others.

Best regards

Andrew

(January 11st, 2012)

Dear Vincent,

happy new (not Chinese) year!

I am very happy to inform you that absolutely everything went smoothly. We are all still full of our Chinese experiences and enjoy viewing our pictures on our computer screens all the time. (I will send you some more pictures later, not at home right now.)

Tony was really good at reorganizing everything in Hangzhou, and the program was fulfied in spite of one day less and traffic jams both ways to and from Wuzhen. We really loved Wuzhen, especially the shadow theatre and the song on the stage!

Sue was as excellent and professional as all the other guides. We just had to give her a copy of the programme schedule from you, as she had stepped in for Linda on very short notice, I understand. She thought it was not enough, of course due to the extra afternoon we got in Guilin because of the flight change. So, she showed us the city of Guilin, found fine restaurants for Christmas lunch and Christmas dinner, showed our youth were to shop what they wanted, and - last not least - managed to by tickets for the wonderful 4 lakes cruice the same evening. We also had time for a walk around the lake with the two pagodas on our own during the afternoon. -And she took us to the "waterfall" hotel after the lake cruise.

The river cruise to Yangshuo was wonderful, and we were very lucky with the sunny weather. (We also got acquainted with a very nice family from America, sharing table with us during the cruise.) The only disappointment that day was the butterfly spring, as they did not have any butterflies at all because of the winter. -But the cave and nature around was worth a visit anyway. Last not least Sue - after having waited for a telephone all day - managed to get tickets for the really big and interesting show by the river in the evening. That was terrific, actually the very last this season, we were told. Lucky us!

The third day in Guilin was as planned (City tour with the two hills and the cave in Guilin). In addition Sue took us up to the highest mountain with cable cars and bob sliding down again. And a nice place to eat combined late lunch/dinner (near the city hill with the stone carved Buddhas). And even a pearl "factory". All attractions were intereresting, especially the wonderful cave, the very last thing we did before leaving Guilin at 8 in the evening.

(The rest of our trip was nice as well, and we managed to see many thing in Hong Kong by our own. But not as efettively as the part of the holiday planned by you. Thanks to your guides and drivers we were able to get much more out of our holiday. We went to Macau the second last day. Interesting, but terrible long waiting through the passport control. Inside Macau we actually met a bureau offering us a guide/driver (one person) for the day, and we did that. Very interexsting city with an interesting history. The last day in HK was spent in Ocean park, an my wife and oldest daughter met and kissed the dolphins there.)

Thank you one more time for superb organizing of our holiday! If we go back to China any time (we still have not seen Yunnan, Tibet, Chengdu, Beijing, the wall etc. etc.), I certainly know who to ask once more!

Best regards

your friend

Øyvin

(January 4th, 2012)

Dear Vincent,

The tour was wonderful. Is there a ‘feedback’ form that we can fill out. Our tour guide Emma and the driver Mr. Chen were fantastic. We would really like for both of them to receive the recognition that they deserve.

Mike

(January 1st, 2012)

Dear Vincent,

From Richard and Paula Grace - Just wanted to thank your company for providing us with a wonderful China vacation. We were met without fail at every stop and taken care of by all your guides and drivers. Emma in Beijing was without doubt the most caring person and informed tour guide you could have there. Also, the tour guide in Xian, Ba,(hope I spelled correctly) even provided a birthday cake on my birthday at dinner. I will always remember that birthday. We will recommend your tour company to all our colleagues at Delta Airlines, and any friends who wish to go to China. Again, our sincere thanks and we look forward to using your company to arrange a tour to Guilin in the near future from Hong Kong.

With sincere thanks,

Paula and Richard Grace

(December 19th, 2011)

Dear Vincent,

Thank you so much for planning our trip. It was WONDERFUL!!!! Emma in Beijing was very good and was always on time, actually always there early before she was suppose to meet us. We were met everywhere, and had no problems. I didn't have to worry about anything, we arrived at the airport in time for flights and arrangements were good. I will recommend you and the company for anyone I know going to China.

Thank you for planning our trip in such a short time. We all had a wonderful time.

Kevin

(December 18th, 2011)

Hi Vincent,

Thank you for your followup. I’m back in the States now following my trip to Beijing and Tokyo.

Joanna and I both thought that our guide, Babbitt, was professional, courteous, helpful, nice and very interested in providing excellent customer service. I appreciated the care he took to check us in at the hotel and make sure to pick us up at the hotel each morning. He and the driver made our travel in Beijing worry-free and quite easy.

As a suggestion for the future: we included the 798 Art Zone in our visit on the recommendation of a friend of my daughter’s and we both found it a very worthwhile and lovely part of the city. In fact, it was a highlight of our trip! We could have spent much more time there than we did because we went there on the last day since it was in the direction of the airport. What I’m suggesting, is that as a general rule, you may want to include it in the itinerary for most of your visiting Western guests who we think would be interested in visiting that area. It’s lovely to see the art that’s coming out of Beijing these days (as opposed to ancient art). And for many of us who have an interest in art, it tells the story of a culture’s development, and is an opportunity to see how Chinese artists perceive their culture. We loved it there. Frankly, it’s also good for the Beijing economy because Westerners may purchase art that is on display at the various galleries in that area.

Please let me know if there’s other information you’d like about our trip. We appreciate all your help!

Many thanks,

Ellen

(November 28th, 2011)

Dear Vincent,

Indeed, I was still busy working.

We enjoyed our journey and particularly the care and attention we got from our guides. Everything went pretty smoothly and we were happy with the experience.

Thanks.

Albert

(November 23rd, 2011)

Hi Vincent,

Sherry, Adam and I enjoyed our China trip, I have already recommended Odysseus Tours to a friend who plans to travel next year to China.

The hotels that were booked were extremely clean and very modern, the location of the hotels in Shanghai and Beijing were good for visitors, many places were in walking distance. This certainly helps for our 4 free days in Beijing.

Daily activities were well planned by the tour guides that allowed for some extras activities to be added when we requested them.

Juni, James and Tracey were very knowledgeable on the cities, China history and activities. If you could pass on our compliments it would be appreciate it.

Thank you for your planning on the trip for us.

Albert

(November 17th, 2011)

One review about Vincent's service on Tripadvior as following:
“Excellent service. Exceeded expectations.”
My adult daughter and I visited Beijing for 5 days. Airport transfer and hotel check-in were seamless; something for which I was very grateful, having just flown to Beijing from Washington DC. Our guide was Mr. Babbitt (not his real name, but it is common practice for people who interact with Westerners to adopt Western names...not sure why, but it seemed to be more common than not). He was delightful. We found him nice, knowledgeable, flexible, helpful and customer service oriented. We did the obligatory things in Beijing: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, etc. Interesting and worth visiting. The Great Wall was an enormous highlight. They took us to the Mutaniyu access point (there are several and this is a bit less invaded by tour buses). We spent longer there than we expected. It was spectacular. We visited the Summer Palace which was probably the only thing I'd suggest skipping of the tourist sites. Perhaps because of tight cash flow, many Chinese treasures are collecting dust and only visible through the windows of the buildings rather than being maintained and displayed. DO, if you have time, visit the 798 Art Zone. It's an area of a huge number of galleries and is indicative of forward-looking China, as opposed to most of the tourist sites which look back toward China's history. We only had about 2 hours there - but could happily have spent half a day there. We were surprised to have that be such a highlight...but the 798 Art Zone and the Wall were our two biggest highlights and the two 'must-do' visits if you're in Beijing. If I return to China, I will absolutely use China Odyssey Tours. I recommend them without hesitation.

Visited November 2011 source from Tripadvisor.com.

Hi Vincent,

On The Great Wall

Thanks for your follow up email.

We had an unreal time in China, we really enjoyed ourselves, learnt a lot, and can't wait to go back and see more sometime down the road.

Some feedback:

The tour guides that we had in Xian (Stella) and Chengdu (Ben) are absolute

assets to your business, they were fantastic, went above and beyond to help us.Stella was really good in helping us learn Chinese history

Ben was really good how he picked restaurants where he could eat with us a much as possible, this helped us learn more about the food and Chinese life.

The guide that we had for fill in on our first day in Shanghai was also brilliant. (Forgot name)

Please ensure that our high praises are passed to these staff again, and importantly to yourself for organising such a great tour.

The other guides were good, but these were just brilliant and fantastic.

We really liked how in most cities the guides would make small adjustments to the tours to fit more in, or go at times that would have shorter queues, streamined driving and travel, therefore allowing us to take in more, in a more relaxed way.

We have attached just three pics of our top three places. We took over 1200 pictures.

Thanks again

Matt

(November 1st, 2011)

P.S. - Do you have an agency (sister company) that organises tours in Cambodia or Vietnam that you can recommend?

Hi Vincent,

I have returned to the States from Beijing and catching up on email.

Thank you again for arranging the tours for Guilin, Yangshuo, and Xi'an, we enjoyed ourselves very much. You were a delight to work with.

Special thanks to our guide Amy, she was absolutely amazing! The best guide we had during our 17 days in China.

I just completed a customer survey Vera sent, so you have all my feedback there. Overall an excellent experience.

Best,

Bruce

(October 28th, 2011)

Dear Vincent,

We are still in Hong Kong. We will leave tomorrow to Alabama via New York and Atlanta.

we really want to thank you for the marvelous time your company afforded us during our trip to Beijing and Xi'an.

Certainly I will not hesitate to promote=ote your services. Everything we expected and more were delivered.

The hotel in Beijing was certainly a 4 star hotel, we had a lovely ample deluxe room, where the attentions was impeccable.

Our Tour guide was excellent and I wish we had her all during our trip. She was personable, caring and willing to please.

We are folks that do not harry anymore and she put up with all of our slowness always encouraging us to complete the assingment,

In Xiam the hotel was not the same category than the one in Beijing, but still it was very acceptable and comfortable. Both breakfast foods were excellent.

The guide in Xiam was not as good as the one in Beijing, he seems to be in hurry all the time, although he was very courteous but impersonal.

We did not want to accept the gratuity, I insisted, but he refused. He brought me a small traveling pillow as a present and I did appreciated very much.

As a whole I could not have been more pleased with your travel plans and arrangements. For certain when I come back to do the river cruise, I will look you up.

Your, sincerely, Dr. Yamandu and Mrs Sylvia Acosta from Eufaula, Alabama

Kind words can be short and

easy to speak, but their echoes

are truly endless. Mother Teresa

(October 9th, 2011)

Vincent.... Overall let me say that we had a excellent trip. I think your planning was very good and we enjoyed every moment of our trip.

The highlights of our trip were definitely the terra cotta soldiers and the Great wall. Our tour conductor Ruth in Xian was the best we had on the trip and her english was excellent. We were able to discuss with her many items that we had difficulty communicating with our other tour conductors. I think if the other two guides we had spoke better english, our trip would have been better. It is not really the speaking of english as much as understanding of questions in english. To be honest, one of the biggest surprises I found everywhere I went in China was the small number of English speakers who we could actually have a conversation with. I would really like your comment on this.

The hotels were fine for us. Our expectations were met. The only hotel that we thought was below standard was the one we had in Yangsho after the Li River Cruise. We had a very bad smell in the elevator and no hot water for showing in the morning. I would definitely reconsider sending customers to this hotel.

We really enjoyed the personal service provided and it is much better than a group tour. We also enjoyed the factory tours.

I am very happy we chose China Odyssey and are glad that you helped us Vincent. We will definitely recommend you to anyone wanting to travel to China. I plan to write a blog about our trip which I will send you the link. I will also send you some pictures when we get those all sorted.

Thanks again for an excellent tour of China. I now have a much more accurate picture of the emerging China and you should be very proud of your country's progress.

Frank and Mary Beth

(October 3rd, 2011)

One review about Vincent's service on Tripadvior as following:
“Amazing adventure in China, excellent service at every point”
I recently returned from China traveling with two companions. I used China Odyssey to arrange a custom 5 day tour of Guilin, Yangshuo, and Xi'an. The entire experience was definitely 5 Star, and I highly recommend China Odyssey. I have used many tour companies over the years to facilitate travel in all parts of the world, and China Odyssey is one of the best. Vincent (our booking agent) was prompt, responsive, thorough, and willing to accommodate any request, including several last minute changes. The guides, especially Amy, were excellent, providing not only a thorough narrative on the history and cultures of the people and places we visited, but also helped us steer clear of the pervasive shopping and see the real China, not just the tourist version. We definitely went off the beaten path several times and enjoyed every minute of it. The hotels booked for us were very good, as were the local food choices. All in all, I highly recommend China Odyssey if you are planning a trip to China.

Visited October 2011 source from Tripadvisor.com.

Hi Vincent

I am really well thank you!

We had an AMAZING time in China and really enjoyed it! So many stories and experiences to tell everyone about!

Yes, I have many many photos and would be happy to share some with you. I have not sorted them out as yet - I took about 2500 or so and Im sure Daniel took more hahaha

I do have comments and will give you a complete breakdown when I get a bit of time.. We were given a short form to fill out at the airport after each part of the trip in Xian, Chengdu, Li Jiang and Guiilin but not in Beijing, Kunming or Shanghai. However, it will be better if I give you a better indication of each city so you can pass that on if need be.

Will be in touch soon.

Thank you

Anne

(September 29th, 2011)

Hi Vincent,

I just finished the COT questonaire to Vera, maybe your manager.

But I would like to address my thanks for your efforts and support also directly you.

Maybe some remarks as information to you:

We did not have any difficulties getting chinese cash at all the ATMs in the hotels (it worked even in Lhasa). We used Mastercard or Maestro. It was not necessary to go to the Bank of China with passport, etc.

Flying from Beijing to Lhasa is not advisable, as one needs some days to adjust to the altitude. Train would have been better - next time.

Changing flight schedules was not so good, especially in Shanghai - but I have written this already. It was a pity that the guide in Shanghai did not have the flexibility to show us the city for approx. two hours. Instead we spent the time at the airport, which is a bit boring.

The guides in Tibet, Lanzhou and Chongqing were great (also Lanzhou was not planned at the beginning, we enjoyed the short tour very much). We enjoyed the days and the tour in Tibet with Pinzok very much - he was very supportive and helpful. Pinzok was by far the best guide we had during our trip (and the driver in Tibet was absolutely top, we really felt save during these trips).

The guide in Xian was talking to much, especially when we arrived in Xian. We were pretty tired, but the guide did not notice; the guide in Qingdao was a bit to busy and cared more for the evaluation form and not for our checking in at the airport.

Hotels were top, except for the hotel in Qingdao. Gyantse in Tibet is a bit run down, but okay for a city like Gyanste. Huang Hai Hotel in Qingdao was disapointing. The noticed five minutes (!) after our departure, that we havetaken by mistake a coat-hanger with us (we than paid for it); but they never noticed during our four days stay, that the floor in our room was pretty dirty from the beginning.

Tour on Jangtze was great, although the landscape at the river after the Three Gorges Dam is not as varied as before the Dam. But being ona ship is just relaxing.

Thanks again for your support and help. Maybe we will meet again, when we come to Chian the next time.

Kind regards

Hartmut Kleinn

(September 3rd, 2011)

One review about Vincent's service on Tripadvior as following:
“Exceeded Expectations”
My wife and I and another couple recently took a mini vaction in China. Our time was limited but China Odyssey Tours customized a trip to maximize the sightseeing. We were able to visit the Teracotta Warriors and bike the ancient wall in Xian, and we visited the Great Wall, Forbidden City, and Tianamen Square in Beijing. The sights, accomodations, transportation, and tour guides exceeded our expectations. The tour guides were friendly, accomodationg, and knowledgeable. I would highly recommend China Odyessy Tours and will use them on my next trip to China.

Visited August 2011 source from Tripadvisor.com.

Hi Vincent,

Great vacation! The site were marvelous and the guide you provided were exceptionally knowledgeable, helpful and accommodating. We would gladly recommend to our friends.

Robert

(August 23rd, 2011)

Hi Vincent,

Actually I do have some input and I have a couple of friends considering a trip to china in the near future (like maybe Sept or Oct. and I would like to pass your information along however I am back after the fire and have a lot of documentation to fill out for my insurances etc and so I will be tied up for about a week and then get back to you.

Angela

(July 29th, 2011)

Dear Sophie,

The Impression Sanjie Liu Night Show
in Yangshuo, Guilin

Nice to hear from you again!

The tour we made in China was very interesting, the staying in a completly different enviroment was exciting. The experience with the very professionally local guides gave us the possibility to know China better, to learn a lot of things about Chinese history, customs, Buddhism. In Guilin, we enjoyed very much the Impression Sanjie Liu Night Show suggested by the guide, and the Reed Flute Cave was amazing.....

Sure if we will decide to visit China again, we will contact you. In the meantime, we promote and recommend your agency to our friends. All the hotels choosen by you (also in Hong Kong) were very comfortable and in good central position. I thing that you have nothing to improve only to continue in this way.

Concerning the photos we took a lot of them, but sincerly we have still to sort them out.

I wonder if you can help us again by issuing a receipt or an invoice for the amound we paid, so that we can deduct a part of these expenses. I really hope that you can help us.

In the meantime, thank you again for the great trip you arrange for us.

Alessandra and Elio
(April 25th, 2010)

Hi Sophie,

The Great Wall in Beijing is
One of the Seven Wonders of the World

Thank you for a fantastic tour led by Stone! My family was more than satisfied. They were impressed by his knowledge, command of English and smooth communication throughout the tour. He was very flexible with the itinerary, just like you said.

We have another three guests coming to visit around May 1, and would like to tour Beijing in 3-4 days starting May 1 or 2nd.

Is Stone still available then to lead another tour?

Best regards,
Sophia
(April 4th, 2010)

Dear Sophie,

A divine turtle inside Forbidden City

I first wanted to thank you for taking such great care in setting up our tours for myself and two Sons. The Tour escourts were very knowledgable and great. We especially enjoyed Sophia our tour escourt in Beijing. She was great and we all enjoyed her knowledge and friendlyness.

We all enjoyed our visit to China.

I do have a favor if you will. I looked on the website of the Harmony Hotel,however could not find how to e-mail directly. During our stay March 11-12-13 I lost a money clip that had approxiamately 800-950 RMB with it. Could you check with the hotel and see if it may have been turned in by any chance? I remember getting on the elevator on the day of Saturday the 13th and heard something I thought hit the floor, it may have also went down the elevator shaft and be at the bottom. I am not as concered about the dollars as I am about the Money clip, as I had it for many years. I would appreciate if you could just check for me and e-mail me.

Thank you so much and thanks again for everything.

Stanley Stough
(April 2nd, 2010)

To Vera,

I wanted to compliment your employee Sophie for her quick work and her helpful and caring attitude. On short notice, I had to arrange plane tickets and a tour guide for my 75 year old father and my cousin who are visiting China from the U.S.

I live in Wuhan and had arranged a Yangtze River Cruise for the two of them, but did not pay attention to the details of the trip. Their cruise ends in Chongqing and I thought it would be easy for them to travel by car back to Wuhan. When I realized on March 29 that they should fly back to Wuhan instead of drive, the start day of the cruise was only 2 days away on March 31. Sophie arranged a guide to meet them at the boat dock, take them on a quick tour of Chongqing and deliver them to the airport. She patiently helped with all the rushed details of payment – like getting faxes of their credit cards etd.

All in all, she was very helpful and kind and her responses by email were always fast and very clear. I appreciated her high level of customer service. My family has not yet received the services Sophie arranged as their boat arrives in Chongqing on April 4, but I am sure it will be of the same high level as the arrangements already provided.

As neither my father nor cousin speak any Chinese at all and it is my cousin’s first time in China, Sophie’s ability to communicate clearly in English helped a lot.

Regards,
Diane Sovereign
(April 2nd, 2010)

Sophie,

I write this email with a heavy heart, in many different ways. After the numerous emails we have exchanged I feel like you are more "friend" than "travel consultant." You have been absolutely wonderful to deal with.

Unfortunately, I am not going to be able to complete this trip arrangement with you right now -- for several reasons, none of which are anything over which you have control I feel terrible about this, since you have provided such terrific assistance and advice in putting this trip together. But don't throw it away -- I may need it later or even for friends.

After spending so much time helping me, I know you are disappointed, and I am very sorry for that. I wanted your supervisors and President of China Odyssey Tours to know what terrific service you had provided, so I send the Customer Service lady (Vera I believe) an email (which I have included below). The words in the email are no exaggeration, and I have told many people I work with about the excellent planning service you provided.

But even more so, I will provide reviews on Trip Advisor about this.

I'm so sorry it didn't work out to completion, but I want to express my heartfelt appreciation for the warmth, courtesy, and expert knowledge and skills you demonstrated in working on this itinerary.

Thank you SO much!
Jim Cross

The Attached Letter:

Sir or Ma'am,

For several weeks, I have been been working with Sophie Lu, one of your China Travel Consultants, on a very ambitious 24-day trip to China. As I mentioned above, I will not be able to book this trip at the present time. However, even though I won't be using your travel services at this time, I wanted to provide you with some feedback and comments and my experience with China Odyssey Tours in general and Sophie Lu in particular.

First, let me commend you on your web site -- it is fabulous. Well organized, easy to navigate, and has mountains of valuable information. While I was struggling to define my itinerary, I spent hours going through your standard tours and city and area information. It was absolutely invaluable. The ONLY complaint I had was I couldn't find the email address for the President or CEO when I wanted to send this note -- which is why I am sending it through Vera, your Customer Service Manager.

Second, what can I say about Sophie? She was incredible. From the first email I sent she has been very responsive, generally getting back to me within 24 hrs, or telling me why there might be a delay (such as during the New Year's holiday period). Her English (at least written, since I have not spoken to her directly) is very good and easy to understand. When I asked questions she gave me good, straight forward responses and answers -- and often volunteered extra information that made it easy for me to figure out my trip. She was very proactive, and when I didn't response immediately she always followed up with a re-transmittal of the information to make sure I had gotten it. I especially appreciated her expertise, knowledge and candor about what would or would not work in planning the trip.

By the end, I was extremely comfortable with the itinerary, and more importantly with the professionalism of China Odyssey Tours (and Sophie). Sophie is a real jewel, a terrific travel agent who clearly is customer focused, highly knowledgeable, and very proactive and responsive. I feel terrible that after all the assistance she gave me that I will not be using her services at this time. But rest assured, if I have future travel requirements in China she (and Odyssey Tours) will be the first I turn to for support. Please congratulate or recognize her for her efforts on my behalf -- and while this trip may not have been completed with Odyssey Tours I have become a huge fan of your professionalism.

To this end, I am going to post reviews on some of the travel sites (such as Trip Advisor) of Sophie's (and Odyssey Tours) services and will provide a strong recommendation that people turn to you for planning their trips to China. And she will stay near the top of my rolodex for future China travels.

Again, I am very sorry after all the work Sophie put into helping plan this trip that I cannot execute it with her. But this in no way should be a reflection on her or your company. She was absolutely wonderful.

Sincerely,
Dr. James B. Cross
From Springfield, Virginia, USA
(March 22nd, 2010)

Sophie,

I write this email with a heavy heart, in many different ways. After the numerous emails we have exchanged I feel like you are more "friend" than "travel consultant." You have been absolutely wonderful to deal with.

Unfortunately, I am not going to be able to complete this trip arrangement with you right now -- for several reasons, none of which are anything over which you have control I feel terrible about this, since you have provided such terrific assistance and advice in putting this trip together. But don't throw it away -- I may need it later or even for friends.

After spending so much time helping me, I know you are disappointed, and I am very sorry for that. I wanted your supervisors and President of China Odyssey Tours to know what terrific service you had provided, so I send the Customer Service lady (Vera I believe) an email (which I have included below). The words in the email are no exaggeration, and I have told many people I work with about the excellent planning service you provided.

But even more so, I will provide reviews on Trip Advisor about this.

I'm so sorry it didn't work out to completion, but I want to express my heartfelt appreciation for the warmth, courtesy, and expert knowledge and skills you demonstrated in working on this itinerary.

Thank you SO much!
Jim Cross
From Springfield, Virginia, USA
(March 22nd, 2010)

Ms. Sophie,

Luck Buddha in Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Xian

Thank you so much for working to provide such a great trip! My father and I had a fantastic time.

Our tour guide, Iris, in Beijing was wonderful. She was very friendly, helpful and informative. She made our Beijing experience truly a once in a lifetime trip.

Our tour guide, Michele, in Datong was also wonderful. She was very informative and very flexible and helpful.

Our tour guide, Andrea in Xi'an was so kind and sweet to my father. She spent extra time making sure he had a great experience. We did not feel rushed at all.

My father and I travel together once a year, and this has been the best vacation we have taken. Thank you for your kindness and patience with me while booking this trip. I will continue to recommend your agency to anyone I know wanting to visit China.

Thank you!
Theresa Green
(March 13th, 2010)

Hi Sophie,

Terrific landscape of Li River, Guilin

Thanks for your note. I do remember you. The Guilin tour was great. Had a really fun time. Fay was really a great guide.

Actually, I have a friend coming to Beijing and she would like to go to Xi’an on the 6th April. She will probablybe travelling on her own. Can you add the price for air ticket to the quote & itinerary?

I did not seem to find any proposal attached. Are you able to resend?

Cheers!
Brooke Normoyle
(March 10th, 2010)

Good day and greetings, Sophie,

Gabriel & Isabel at the Three Gorges Dam

I hope this finds you very well, and busy.

Purpose of email to let you know we have re-done our web site of our holiday in China and would like to give Odyssey full permission to use or link to it from your Odyssey web, if desired.

Also, please could you send the web site address to the super tour guides who looked after us, as I have added a section especially for them.

The web site address is http://www.prostor.com.au/J&NTravels/China%202009.

Lastly, if possible, I would like to put a Odyssey logo on the main page and ask your permission for that.

Very lastly…. If your recall our friend Graham (& Sheila) had a heart attack and had to cancel his holiday. He is progressing very well and will undergo a 6 month medical check in the next two weeks. If he passes, all he wants to do is visit China.

So if all goes well, we may be over again…

Will be in touch.

Be good & Best regards,
John Couvaras
(February 2nd, 2010)

Dear Sophie,

Fabulous Yulong River in Guilin

Sorry for the late reply. Apart from what we talked in Guilin, we were happy with your bookings and arrangement. I have not recieved the last pictures from Janne. When I get the pictures, I will look through them and see if there is any more appropiate pictures to send you.

All the best,
Lone
(January 26th, 2010)

Dear Sophie,

French Concession in Shanghai

Just want to say thank you! We had a great time!!.. Will be seeing the French Concession and then leaving for the airport to get back home.

It's been a great experience seeing your beautiful and culturally rich country. The similarities between India and China are astounding and heart warming.

Thank you so much for organising all for us.

Happy New Year to you and all the best. If I decide to come back and discover more I will be in touch again.
Samira
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld from M1.
(January 3rd, 2010)

Dear Sophie,

Stand on the Great Wall

Thanks a lot for your kind wishes and hope you are fine and everything is OK in Guilin.

The trip last September was wonderfull and I hope to visit China again some time in the near future. For the moment I'm on the leave for Central America and I'm supposed to come back in Greece about end of January.

Till then regards and my best wishes to you for a Happy New Year.
Basil
(December 23rd, 2009)

Sophie,

Thank you for the wonderful wishes and the card.

I have attached two photos from my tour.

Our meeting in spring, 2011, is tentatively planned for Hong Kong, so I may have another chance to visit.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Steve
(December 22nd, 2009)

Hello Sophie,

I am just writing to let you know we were very impressed with Michael. We had a superb time whilst he toured us round and we felt most comfortable and secure in his company. His knowledge was great and guide skills wonderful.

Thank you!

Best regards,
Margaret
(December 21st, 2009)

Dear Sophie,

I have not received your message before since I have no access to my e.mail box from China.

The scheduled activities from your program have happened quite well, both considering the contents and the way they have been carried out.

The two guides Chris and Shona, very gentle and well educated, perform their function in a very professional manner showing high proficiency and competence: our congratulations and gratitude to their service. Unfortunately, we could not met you personally, despite the fact Dalton mentioned me their meeting in the Hotel at Guilin.

Taking into account the whole stay, I must say it overpassed my expectations. Elisiana was delighted with the three courses and the Museum visits, in such a way she has acquired a complete set of materials and papers to continue and practice the Chinese painting, she learnt, here in Brazil.

One aspect that remains missing is associated with the ceramics, which we’ve seen is quite valuable and present a lot of interesting subjects and techniques for our next visit.

Last but not least, I’d like to thanks sincerely you and your Travel Agency which provided us with excellent service.

Very gratefully yours,
Eduardo Nery
(November 9th, 2009)

Dear Sophie,

Nickie and Ed in the rickshaw in Beijing

Enclosed a few photos for you. Again, thank you for you help since the beginning with the details and info. You help us to make our dreams come true... We love Beijing. Your guild "Jack" was outstanding, we enjoyed our time with him. :)

Nickie & Ed Nix
(October, 29th, 2008)

Hi Sophie,

I just wanted to send you a note to thank you for your help in organising my visit to China. My time in China was even more enjoyable than I had expected, and I will definitely be visiting China for more sight-seeing in the future.

Everything went smoothly, the hotels were fantastic (especially the Green Lotus), the scenery going down the Li River was just spectacular, and the guide and driver were very helpful.

I will definitely be contacting China Odyssey the next time I am going to China.

Regards

Bram Harris
(October, 27th, 2009)

Dear Sophie,

I would like to thank you for the good planning and the meticulous arrangements that you have made for us. The whole journey was really very beautiful, comfortable and full of interesting and new impressions and perceptions.

All the guides were very qualified and polite and some in particular were really lovely, full of devotion for their job and to give us the best possible care. So apart from seeing the beauty of your country and her great and famous monuments we had a chance to talk to some few of her intelligent and open-minded young daughters and sons. That seems to me a very important gain that one can get by such kind of travelling.

All along the journey everything was very well and if necessary flexibly organized and adapted. There is not really any negative observation coming into my mind concerning this trip. Of course it was a time when many locals were on holidays too and sometimes it tended to be a bit crowded, but on the other hand it seemed to me a great experience too to see China's people and families enjoy with deserved joy this great occasion.

This is what I wanted to let you know; in future I might address you again to see some of the many interesting other spots and areas that we couldn’t see this time.

With warm regards

Dr. Walther Engelhardt
(October 21st, 2009)

Hi Sophie,

The Burgins at Great Wall

I knew it was your national holiday time, I hope you got to spend some time relaxing with your family and friends.

Sorry for the delay getting back to you, but I have finally done the feedback for you. I have also added a few photos.

The tour was great. We had a wonderful time in China. You provided great service, which allowed us to see many of the highlights of China in a short amount of time. Without your knowledge of where to go and what to do, we would not have seen as much.

Many thanks for all your help, and we will happily recommend you and China Odessey.

Regards

Marie
(October 15st, 2009)

Hi Sophie

I can assure you that if/when I come to China again, you will be the first person I talk to. You did such a good job of accommodating our wishes, but perhaps you could have arranged the weather better!

I do have two comments which may help you arrange plans for other people, this is in no way a criticism as you did what exactly we asked for.

My usual sort of holiday has a bit more freedom. I was a bit too organised by our guides, not in Shanghai, mainly in Beijing. With the knowledge of having been there, I feel that I would have liked a bit more time to walk around and experience it for myself, without the guide.

This was particularly true about the meal arrangements. In Shanghai, we arranged several meals ourselves. In Guilin, Julie was very helpful in arranging our meals but we felt guilty at her waiting for us so we insisted that she go home as were very capable of organising ourselves. In Beijing, it didn’t work well as all the chosen restaurants were away from our hotel and we felt pressured into eating early so that Jilly & the driver could go home. We did ask if we could just have the cash and arrange something for ourselves but Jilly wasn’t happy about that. So we did what we wanted (it was our holiday) but felt guilty about having Jilly & the driver working late into the evening, waiting for us.

Therefore, next time I will have more free time to explore and arrange evening meals myself, with suggestions from you.

Thank you once again, all my friends are amazed that we went to China (it seems such an exotic place to us) and had such a comfortable time, I tell them it was all because of you. You can quote me.

Warm regards

David
(August 25th, 2009)

I knew Miss Sophie Lu, the tour operator, two years ago, when i ordered a tour with China Odissey services. She was fantastic then with the tour arrangements and she had lots of patience with us and beeing very fast, kind and warm. So, wishing to return to China on a new trip, obviously we contacted Miss Sophie Lu again.

While 2 years ago the tour was done based on one of China Odissey´s tours (Beijing / Xian / Guilin / Shanghai) and adding 3 more days in cities not included on that tour, this time the arrangements were made in another way. Initialy i asked for a tour including Beijing / Datong - Pingyao / Chengdu / Dali - Lijiang / Beijing.

With the expert´s advice of Miss Sophie Lu some cities were added later : Bifengxia (wishing to feed the pandas), Shangri La (wishing to know tibetan´s culture) and Chengde.

Miss Sophie Lu quickly understood our ideas and desires. Her suggestions and replies were very fast (sometimes chatting at MSN) and efficient, helping us to prepare an wonderful tour.

Later, some few days before the tour, i was advised that our flight (reserved and confirmed) from Paris to Beijing was canceled. Even then Miss Sophie Lu understood the trouble and quickly made the necessary changes, getting a perfect solution.

Another point to say, about the guides. After our trip 2 years ago i explained that some guides weren´t satisfactory. This time the guides and the drivers we had were of very good level, thanks to Miss Sophie Lu´s recommendations.

As stated above the tour arrangements were very fast, including the changes made later, very good advices from the tour operator, stayed in nice hotels, saw wonderful spots, saw very nice shows, got very good guides and drivers, experienced unexpected and wonderful moments.

This is the best tour i have done!

For sure China Odissey Tours is the number one! A smart, warm and very well organized team, that understand foreigner´s tastes, needs and feelings. Traveling in China with your services is easy, comfortable, saves time and money, and anyone get quickly the right spots to see, sharing the warm company of very competent guides and drivers.

Victor Trincao
(August, 11th, 2009)

Hi Sophie

What a great holiday!

Thank you for arranging everything so well, as we say, it all went like clockwork. We all had a great time, Stuart & Debz got engaged, the sun shone (well, a bit!), the rain was warm, the Great Wall was magnificent.

It was very nice to meet you after exchanging all those emails.

As you said, Tibet next time!

With best regards.

David
(August, 10th, 2009)

Dear Sophie,

I was part of David Taylor's group visiting China over the last two and a half weeks and I should just like to let you know how pleased we were to visit your country. Our whole China experience was made so much easier and more enjoyable though through the efforts of yourself and the China Odyssey team. Thank you to all of you.

On every occaision we were met by our guides on time and in a friendly and helpful manner. They organised our itinery in an efficient way and where time permitted made useful suggestions for things we had not thought of because we did not have their local knowledge eg. the evening boat trip round Guilin organised by Julie. Our guide in Chongquing was particularly helpful in filling our day before boarding the river cruise ship. In Xian our guide seemed not only knowledgeable about the Terracotta Warriors but about Chinese history in general and was very happy to share his interest in his excellent English. His driver was also very helpful in his care and consideration for our safety and comfort.

It was also very nice to meet you Sophie and thank you for the kind gifts we recieved from you. Please pass on our thanks to all concerned in making our holiday both informative and enjoyable. We shall not hesitate to recommend your company to anyone contemplating such a journey.

Many thanks again Sophie for all your organisation. Our trip was a complete success.

Kind regards!

Jill Chandler
(August, 7th, 2009)

Hello Sophie

Just to let you know that Peter and I arrived home in Australia last Friday after another wonderful trip to China.

The nine day tour we did with your help and your company was terrific. All the guides and drivers were excellent and very reliable.

Regards

Rosalie
(August, 5th, 2009)

Hi Sophie,

We would like to thank you for the excellent tour you arranged. We had a wonderful time and everthing was delivered as promised.

Our guide Iris was exceptional in both her knowledge and flexibility in scheduling. She was very kind to our children and helped with them every day making our experience even more enjoyable.

Our driver was also very kind and helpful.

Please pass along our appreciation of both you and Iris to your managers and don't hesitate to use us a references for future potential clients.

Thanks again,

John D'Onofrio
(July, 2nd, 2009)

Hi Sophie

We absolutely loved the trip and have been telling all our friends they have to visit China. Of course, we recommend they use you and your company. I can't think of anything I would have changed. The guides were so helpful, knowledgeable, friendly and flexible. We love to travel and we have to say this was the best trip yet. You had everything covered - the hotels were great and the food delicious. Ted was so impressed with how you responded so quickly to every message. I've told Ted I'd love to come back in 10 years and see how much more China has changed :-)

Many of the days were hazy so a lot of our pictures aren't very good but I've attached a few I like.

If you ever come to the U.S. please let us know

D'Ann
(June, 30th, 2009)

Hello Sophie,

Just a short message to tell you so much we were satisfied ! Yunnan was beautiful, guide very professionnal, driver very good and hotel perfect !
As I asked you, you also booked sunshine for us !!!

We already recommended you to some of our colleagues in China, we will do it also for people who want to visit China from outside.
really thank you for this tour which was perfect.

I have a special request :
From Dali to ShangriLa, we had an excellent driver. I think his name is Mr Wang. He was perfect, with excellent and safe driving skill. We felt confortable and safety with him. he was also very flexible to stop us to make some pictures. We have had other driveres in China, but this guy is the best we ever had.

So you should ask for him as much as you can for other foreigners. Also, can you please send to his boss how much we were satisfied with him. I already said this to the driver (with my chinese !), but I really want his boss to know that.

Hope to have soon some good touristic experience thanks to you,

Best regards

Alain
(June, 2ed, 2009)

Dear Sophie,

Our trip to China was a great success, although the girls prefer to live in Malaysia. They did, however, very much enjoy their visit. The Chengdu trip went off without any problems and it was really great to visit the panda sanctuary in Bifengxia - we have some very special memories. Some friends of ours have asked for the details of the trip, so they may contact you.

I hope that you have received the comment form I filled in. On the whole we were extremely happy with the service provided, with one or two very minor suggestions.

Please could you advise how much the Beijing-Chengdu return flights cost, as we are able to claim for any flights we take.

With thanks and regards

Hi Sophie,

Yes we had a great time in China and have some great memories and photos. Our guide, Belinda and driver were excellent, also our trip to Xian went well and again tour guide and driver were very good. All were punctual and informative. The hotel was quite dated and needed some upgrading with worn, old carpets and broken units in the bathroom along with mould in the corners which could have been regrouted. Overall, we were very satisfied with your prompt handling of our holiday request and the services given by your company. We will be recommending your company to our friends and would contact you again if we ever return to China.

Regards
Sandra
(April, 3rd, 2009)

Hi Sophie,

We truly enjoyed our trip to China. I haven't been able to stop talking about it to our friends. I also passing along your website. There are two things that we were not really thrilled about--the western dinner and the Peking opera. We loved the Chinese food better. As for the opera, it was very boring for the kids. The acrobatic show will be better for the kids. Also, I think the Lama Temple tour is a must see in Beijing. It is such a beautiful place.

Our tour satisfied with you and your company. We will use you again if we ever decide to go to China again.
Thanks for a guide, Michael Hu, is wonderful. He is very nice and accomodating....we enjoyed having him as a guide.
We were very wonderful vacation!

Sophie,

I am sorry not to reply before but may I now wish you a very

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR

I'm afraid I cannot see your photo on this email for some reason but I have attached a photo for you. We had a wonderful time in China in the summer and thank you again for your organisation, we think of our holiday often.

Emily
(February, 10th, 2009)

Sophie,

Thank you for your recent Christmas message. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the great service you and your company provided us on our tour this past June (2008). I was uncertain about arranging a tour over the internet but my worries soon went away as our tour got underway.

Your guides and drivers were very professional. Every arrangement had been made and the tour ran on schedule every day. The highlightetting in the karst (limestone) topography found in this area.

Although we toured Beijing on our own (with local friends), we need to include it on our lists of favorite places. Like most trips to foreign lands, our trip to China changed our impression of your country and people. We found the people very friendly and enjoyed the many new incredible sights and experiences. I also thought that the food was fantastic.

Thank you again for arranging our trip. If we ever get a chance to return to China we will contact China Odyssey Tours first. I have also attached some of the photos that I took during our tour. Please feel free to use them on your internet site if you like.

Bill
(January, 1st, 2009)

Dear Sophie,

Just a short note to say how much we enjoyed our trip to Guilin/ yangshou. The schedule was nicely spaced and thus not demanding at all. The guide assigned us, angel, was excellent. She was not only knowledgeable but full of enthusiasm - we could not have asked for anyone better. Please forward our thanks to her for a job well done.

My family would definitely get odyssey to organize any future trips to china.

Regards,
Anisng
(December, 22nd, 2008)

Hi Sophie,

I just wanted to let you know that our tour was amazing and we had a great time. Tracy and Nancy were wonderful tour guides and everything was arranged perfectly. We will definitely be recommending you to friends who may want to travel in China. Thank you SO much for all of your help!!!

Kate
(December, 21st, 2008)

Dear Sophie,

Thank you for asking. We had a very nice trip. It was a little bit too long for us but we loved Huangshen, so the extra two days was worth it.

Your service was excellent and I will recommend you to my friend who is thinking about going to China next year.

Regards,
Emily
(November, 24th, 2008)

Hello Sophie,

Thank you for your email. The trip you organized was done very professionally and I liked Nancy and Mr Lee the driver. They showed my daughter and I the sights of Beijing and were very accommodating and friendly.

Thank you for your tour and I don't have any suggestions as to how it could be improved.

Best regards,
Ed Nelson
(November, 12th, 2008)

Hi, Sophie:

Glad to hear from you. I had a wonderful time in China (WHAT A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY!!!!!!!) Thank you for all the attention and the great customer service. China Odyssey is definitely a company that I will always recommend to all my friends.

Some of my best memories are some additional suggestions that were done by my guides. I was able to do all the following in 7 days: Hong Kong , Li cruise river, cable car to top of Guilin, Yangshuo, Impression show in Yangshuo, bamboo rafting in Yangshuo, Elephant trunk hill, Reed flute cave, Dafo(Grand Buddha) in Leshan, Panda breeding center in Chengdu, Terracota warriors in Xian, Drum and bell tower, Opera show in Xian, Great Wall,Sacred road, ming tomb, Forbidden city, Tiannemen square in Bejing, lama temple, temple of heaven, acrobatic show.

I enjoyed the flexibility I had to alternate with my activities. My guide (and driver) in Guilin and Chengdu were EXCEPTIONAL (smart and knowledgable).My Guide and driver in Xian were good.

And of course Sophie, you were great. you have great customer service skills and your company should be very proud of you !! you are a great and valuable asset to China Odyssey.

I hope that we'll keep in touch and who knows.I might be back in China one day!

Hello Sophie,

Sorry for the long silent, but I was really busy and not at my office.

Our trip was wonderful. Everything was perfect and like I expected. We enjoyed our hotel in Beijing, although it was perhaps not easy for our driver to drive the car in that hutong. But he managed it perfectly. We were very happy in Datong too. Our guide, Peach, was very kind with my daughter and was always careful for our happiness.

We enjoyed very much our trip in Guilin and Yangshou. Teresa, our guide, did the maximum to find us bicycles and a map of the country. We thought that we would see terrace rice fields in the neighbourhood of Yangshou. We did not know that we had to go to Longshen for that. So we were a bit disappointed. I would have added one day if I had known. I think you could suggest it to your further clients.

No problems at all in Shanghai. We found it a very big and busy city. Our driver have had some problems to find Xitang, but we arrived and we found the city very beautiful.

If we have the opportunity to visit the district of Yunnan, we will surely come to your agency.

Cécile
(August, 29th ,2008)

Dear Sophie,

Our tour of 4 cities in China organized by China Odyssey was truly memorable and a wonderful experience. The arrangements were excellent as were the hotels, the transport and all the visits. All the tour guides were charming, well informed, very patient and a pleasure to meet.

Everything went smoothly and we could not possibly have done all we did without the input from China Odyssey. Our original plans had to be changed at the last moment because of the terrible earthquake in Sichuan Province. However, China Odyssey rose to the challenge magnificently. In just 2 weeks we felt we had a really good introduction to this huge, fascinating country.

Many thanks Sophie,
With best wishes,
Alison
June, 19th, 2008

Hello Sophie,

The trip to China was super. This was our first time in Asia and Odyssey tours made it a wonderful experience.

We especially enjoyed the tours to the Bund, Yu Garden, Silk Factory, Pearl Factory, and the Green Tea Garden. We also enjoyed the Lakes in Hangzhou and the Pagoda. These portions of the tour were not only fun and educational but also gave us different views of China. We really liked the Temple in Hangzhou as well. My husband would like to suggest that you offer more poultry food choices in your standard meals like Chicken. We had the same menu twice in Shanghai. Danni worked with the staff to get us Chicken. The restaurant in Hangzhou with the private room was AWESOME. We felt so special.

We really appreciated the customized help with the Train and the plane tickets to Hong Kong. Ming and Danni (our tour guides) taught us so much that we felt comfortable traveling around Shanghai on our own the last couple of days were in the area.

Thanks again for a wonderful vacation. Please feel free to share our comments.
Yolanda and Mark
(April, 26th, 2008)

Hi Sophie,

Thanks so much for all you did to put our trip together in such short notice.

It was everything we hoped it would be!!!! Jack was a GREAT tour guide - and our driver was wonderful, also.

We have told lots of people about your services--and highly recommend you! China Odyssey Tours!

Thanks again for all you did.

Elaine Smith, Richard Smith and John Babine
Mar.29, 2006

Hi Sophie

Sorry, I did not reply to you earlier. We are back to work and really busy.

However, we had a great Golf trip in China with your company. When I have a chance, I will try and send you comments on your web site. If you ever need referral for a golf vacation, you can have people contact me for my feelings. I will send you a more detailed response later.

George
Oct. 03, 2006

Sophie:

Sorry to be so late replying to your email, but the month since I returned from Italy has just flown by. We had a really interesting time in China, even though our time was limited. I had not thought to write anything about the experience, but if I do, I will share with you. Thank you again for all your help.

Judith Bernardini
Adjunct Research Assistant Professor
Oct. 26, 2006

Hi Sophie

I'm sorry it has taken a while for me to email you. As we are still traveling, it is not always easy to get to a computer! We had a wonderful trip in China and we are very grateful to you for all your help. You did a fantastic job and we thank you for all the effort you put into our trip. In fact, we were so pleased that we have recommended you to a friend of ours who is planning to come to China in October. His name is Sandy Jamieson and he should be getting in touch soon.

He will need help with flights around China and possibly hotels too.

Thank you very much for the photo. You are very pretty. I've attached a few pictures of Richard and me for you to see. One if of the two of us in Buderim, Queensland, under the Scottish flag and the other two are us in Xi'an.

Best regards

Fiona
Jul. 09, 2006

Dear Sophie:

It's so good to hear from you! What a great picture that was! I truly will treasure our memory together. You are just like a sister. Yes, we got home safely. As you can see I am still on China time writing to you at 2:40 a.m. in the morning. I got rested and went to work on Friday. It is so interesting how we can communication being in two different world.

Technology bring us closer together. Please email me from time to time to update me on how you are doing. I will email you about my new school.

Thank you so much for everything that you have done for us while we're in China. Your service, smile, and warm hospitility are much appreciated.

Please let me know if there's anything I can do. When I come to China again I will call you. Keep in touch and may God bless you.

Your sister in America,
Mo
Jan. 21, 2007

Hi Sophie,

Thanks for your sweet note and the picture I will always treasure of you, Mo and I!!

I have been a little sick since returning home – just too much cold in China, I think…

I have such sweet memories of our trip to China, for which you are greatly responsible… helping us with translation was so helpful and making all our arrangements flow so smoothly was more than we could have hoped for.

I sure miss the great food, colorful mountains and courteous and friendly people of China.

I do look forward to returning to China, perhaps this summer with the group from our university. I hope I will see you again then!

Tomorrow I teach two classes and have several meetings, so it is back to the reality of work and research!!

Thank you for allowing me to help you when you also needed some tender care – we all need help sometimes. I was happy to be your mum on the trip.

Sophie, you are growing into a wonderful professional tour guide – tours like ours are great ones for your resume! Thanks for all you did for us!!

Hugs!

Sally
Jan. 22, 2007

Dearest Sophie,

It is so good to hear from you! I have missed you very much as well. Thank you so much for all that you've done for the group and me. I've enjoyed having you as my roommate. This is my second day back to work because I was sick the last few days upon my return to the US. I never had a chance to give you my evaluation for your service to our group. I hope this e-mail will do:

Ms. Sophie Lu was very professional and made sure the needs of her clients were addressed. She was friendly and flexible and represented China Odyssey well. She accompanied her clients beyond working hours to make sure they are safe and have access to information. The safety and learning experience of her clients was very important to Ms. Lu. She was patient and genuine! Thank you for allowing Ms. Lu to accommodate our travel across China.

Take care Sophie! Thank you again! I feel like I now have a friend in China. Please say hi to all the other guides for me like JoAnn, Kelly, Ying, Jerry, etc. They were all wonderful!

Carolyn
Jan. 26, 2007

Sophie:

Thank you for the picture. The trip was fun and I really do miss you, especially your laugh. You were always cheerful and responsible. I thank you for that and for everything else. You were like the extra delight that was added onto our trip.

I do hope to come to China and will call you when I do. I hope that you can come to the U.S. one day. Do call me if you come so I can show you around my hometown.

Do keep in touch.

Ka Youa Vue
Jan. 22, 2007

Dear Sophie,

We had a great time. It was a bit fast. I wish we had at least three days in each city instead of two. Maybe the next time. The guides and drivers were excellent and well informed. We especially enjoyed the driver in Beijing. He was fabulous, treated us like rock starts always taking us to the front of the line of cars and buildings, then picking us up. The weather treated us well and the rain in Guilin was perfect as it provided wonderful misty views of the Li river. We were able to communicate with all the guides with no trouble. It was a wonderful trip and we look forward to doing it again sometime. Attached are a couple of pictures.

If we recommend you to a friend should they email this address and ask for Sophie? They would like to visit China also.

Hope you day is going well.

Diana doerner
Jun. 09,2006

Hello Sophie

I would like to thank you for the excellent tour that you arranged for us. The personal driver and very informed guides made the trip a real pleasure.We saw all we planned and any deviation we required was cheerfully included.

Unfortunately when leaving Shanghai, Maggie arranged to wait with my father while I lodged my bag prior to departure. Even though my father had a seven hour wait before boarding, they disappeared and I was left for 20 minutes wondering where they had gone. I then spent the next 15 minutes searching the terminal without success. The result was that I missed saying goodbye to my father whom I may not see for another year.This left a bit of a taint on the otherwise excellent trip. I will have no hesitation recommending your tour company to my friends.

All the Best Robin
Sep. 22, 2006

Sophie,

Thanks for a great trip. Everything went very well with the logisitics and the personnel. My whole family had a great time, and an unforgettable experience.

I am still working in China and am quite busy right now, but I would be glad to write you a referral letter if you want.

Thanks again,

Scott
Sep. 06, 2006

Dear Sophie,

I have returned the completed survey. My family and I are still talking about our fantastic trip to China. We truely enjoyed our tour in August. The only thing I would have changed would have been the heat! But no one can change the weather.

Our tour guides, Kelly and Hoffman were great and we are so glad to have gotten to know them. Kelly was so much fun and we spent alot of time laughing with her as we explored Beijing, we miss her! She is a gem, a shining star. Please tell her, we think fondly of her!

I would definately reccomend your tour group to all of my friends and family if they should tour China.

Our trip was prefect! Thank you China Odyssey and Sophie.

And I also have to send a special thank you to you, Sophie, for planning and making our trip perfect . I appreciated all the attentiveness, time and care you put into it, to make it, the dream vacation, it was for me and my family.

And one other Big thank you. I want to thank you for helping us connect with our son, who lives in Quzhou, by providing the travel arrangements to have my son join us in Beijing. He arrived there just before we arrived from the USA and he was standing at the gate waiting for us to arrive. I cried such tears of joy to see him again....this was one of the highlights of my trip. Reuniting me with my son.

Our trip to the Wall, the Operas, the Terra Cotta Soldiers and the marvelous Yantze River Cruise, they were all a dream come true!

Thank You, Thank You!
Xie Xie
Kathy L Mueller
Nov. 18, 2006

Hi, Sophie.

We are home, recovering from the jet lag.

I'd like to thank you again for the wonderful trip you have organized. All sites we have visited have been organized perfect. We were impressed that even in Beijing on our way home a guide has met us and, though we met him only for a short time, he was very helpful.

Our impressions from the sites we've visited and, in general, from your great country are overwhelming. We still have to sort out everything and digest them.

The guides that accompanied us at every site were very good. Especially Brave and the driver Chen in Beijing with whom we really made good friends.

Thanks very much for your lovely presents.

I'm attaching here the picture we've taken together in Guilin. Please send me the picture you've taken with your camera.

How are things with you? I hope you're OK and everything is good.

Warmly
Isaac
Oct. 05, 2007

Dear Sophie

Many thanks for your sincere reply. We will come back later, in case we need additional information for the insurance company back home.

Once again. I appreciate the fact that you and your company take customer service seriously. It's true a professional company.

Best regards

Ole
Jul. 25, 2007

Dear Sophie,

I was planning to e-mail you since I returned from my vacation, but due to the jet-lag and unpacking I was not able to do so.Our trip to China was very interesting and we really enjoyed it. It was the caring guides who made our trip enjoyable and worthwhile. All of the guides were very helpful and friendly. They all spoke surprisingly good english as compared to the Hotel staff at the hotels we stayed in, who could not speak or understand english at all). Our guide in Beijing (Lucy) was very caring, friendly and helpful, she took me to a super market to buy diapers for my baby daughter, after she found out that, her diaper bag was left in the car and the driver was gone. Actually I wanted to ask you for a favour, I have misplaced Lucy's e-mail address and I told her that I will e-mail her a picture of my daughter and Lucy that we photographed in Beijing. So please could you send me her e-mail address.

Had the weather been little bit cooler it would have been the perfect vacation .In Shanghai the temp went up to 39 degree Celcius one day, that day we were out all day, we went to Nanjing street and Yuan garden as well as the Bund. Next day we had to take a flight to Beijing and from Beijing back to Karachi.

Overall we enjoyed our trip and I would like to thank you for organizing our trip to China .After looking at your pic, I am regretting not visiting Guilin. Scenery in the background is absolutely beautiful.

GhGhazala from American family
Aug. 25, 2007

Hi Sophie!

Thanks once again Sophie for meeting up with us and taking us out for a nice dinner and all your presents. That was very nice!!!!! :) It was very special to get to meet you in person after all the e-mails. You are a very nice person Sophie and we wish you all the best in the future!!!!

I will send you some photos of the trip after this e-mail ok.

Our experience with your company has been VERY good and the whole trip to China was well above our expectation! It was a trip we will remember for life and we hope to be able to come back to China and explore more in the future! You can use our name as a reference to other people that want to use your company. We will be happy to help them and you!

Thanks Sophie once again for all your wonderful help, and maybe we will do business with you again in the future! :)

I have already passed your name on to some of my fiends and family that might plan a trip to China in the future. We wish you all the best Sophie.

Have a great summer.

Kind regards, Nicolette and family

Good morning Sophie!

We have come home from the trip of our life! Our viewing of Chinas' scenery left wonderful memories for us. We love the Chinese people as without exception, all were as nice and gracious as you! It was special for you to meet with us in Guilan and we enjoyed the walk and visit.

We have no complaints about our guides, drivers, special events, or sites that we saw. all our guides spoke adequate English, were willing to book additional activities, and were very kind. We could not have arranged a vacation like this ourselves. You did a very professional job!

We have never been much on Chinese food in the USA but must admit that we did enjoy the food in China. Never being tea drinkers, we learned to drink that too. We did stop Sunday night in Minot and had a hamburger and refillable diet pop!

We picked up some things to remember China- some jade, terra-cotta warriors,silk pictures, cloisinae(spelling)vase and chopsticks. Cindy had to get some clothes as well as a fake name brand purse.

Thank you so much,

Dennis and Cindy Sletten
Des. 12, 2006

Hello Sophie,

As Marie wrote you before, we have been very satisfied with our tour with China Odyssey Tours and would gladly be quoted as references.

We appreciated your remarquable flexibilty and concern to satisfy our neds.

Also the guides were to be congratulated, especially Jennifer in Guilin.

Can you forward her the attached pictures, as I am not sure I wrote her e-mail address properly.

Thank you and may the future bring you luck and prosperity.

Cordialement,

Alain Dogniaux
Sep. 15, 2007

Hey Sophie,

Only got home yesterday after an awesome experience, really enjoyed your country and culture. Great Wall and Worriers were my focus and did not let me down, while I have not had time to think back too much as got home and washed and repacked for Sydney arriving today for Exhibition that I am organising. I will seed you a full rundown of my trip and suggestions.

Thank you and your company for the wonderful experience of CHINA even if only a short trip, most enjoyable and I will return.

Best Wishes to you Sophie

Colleen
May. 01, 2007

Good Morning, Sophie,

I am back home after the weeks in China. A big thank you for all you did for me.

The guide, Jessica, could not have been more helpful, and I hope that she enjoyed my company as much as I enjoyed hers. Please give her my regards again.

I plan to return to China sooner rather than later. When I make the plans, I'll let you know and use your services again.

Michael
Dec. 07, 2006

thank u Sophie ,,all has turned out great for me ,from your planning , u r wonderful person.. i am very happy for all u have done for me ..u r very effecient lady ..and i WILL most probably revisit china again to other areas .and will keep in touch on future plans .. and reccomend to any friends you ... i have totally enjoyed your plan .. i must mention.. the young man ''ken '' guide in xian had a wonderful personality and fluent english. and was very helpful ..

many thanks

sincerely , Len
May. 27, 2007

Thanks Sophie,

Thank you so very much for absolutely everything that you did for my family and the trip. I am sorry for the earlier difficulties with my grandma, I hope that she did not offend you in any way, because it was not meant. I am going to try to get back to china within the next year to study in Qingdo, I would love it if we would stay in contact and maybe eventually I will come back to see you in Guilin or you could come to America? yes yes that is what you shall do!!! I just wanted to say thank you for absolutely everything.

Joshua

Oh and thank you again for the DVDs it is only a reminder of how bad I want to come back!!!!!!!

Jan. 30, 2007

Hello Sophie,

Thank you for thinking of us.

We are on the mend, Jane has been up and about for a couple of days now and I went to Canberra yesterday.

I went especially back to "Flight Centre" where we booked our flight to China, to tell them how pleased we were with Odyssey Tours! In the evening I showed at the video club highlights of the Liu Sanjie light and water show in Yangshuo; we are allowed only 6 mins, so I had to do a lot of editing, it was well received.

After looking after Jane for two weeks, I expect that next week I shall have some more time to work on our journal and write some comments about Odyssey Tours.

Have a nice weekend, greetings

Rick Nauta
Jul. 07, 2007

Dear Sophie,

Thank you for your sweet email! I am sorry to write you back late. As Ron's health condition is on and off. I am very busy with my work plus we are setting up new home. I am fully occupied. Thank you for your pictures. You look so sweet and pretty which match you perfectly. Although you are so young, but your working experience and friendly attitute,efficiency are so impressive. We are very happy with your service and we are looking forward to seeing you in Gui Lin next year personaly.

Regarding the trip in China, we enjoyed The Great Wall, Three gorges cruise, Li Jiang the most. Your local guides are very good. We appreciate every thing you did for us. Your caring ,understanding,loving characters are unforgetble. Thank you again !!!

I will send your some pictures of our China trip soon! Keep in touch!

Love
Li Hong
Aug. 03, 2007

Hi Sophie,

You look gorgeous in your picture. My trip was a blast. I loved that we had our own private tour because we left when you we were done. I suck at bargaining but my boyfriend learned the trade quick. hehehe The great wall was amazing and no wonder it's a wonder of the world. How those poor small people got to the mountain tops to build this wall was beyond words. We walked a mile and a half and on the way down I was scared and had to hold on to the railing. I'm not afraid of heights but I was starting to up there. Shanghai was great for shopping and had beautiful buildings and I also enjoyed the garden. I did the most shopping in Hong Kong. I bought a small burma jade bendent. I write you more later. Over all it was a awesome trip. Thank you.

Valley
Jun. 29, 2007

Hi Sophie,

We had a great time. I attached a picture of use on Jade Dragon Mountain and in Hong Kong Harbor. I will definitely contact you for our tour next year. I want to see more of China, where would you suggest we start?

Bob Brim
Mar. 03, 2007

Dear Sophie,

My holidays were great as well. Thank you.

And more enjoy I had from reaction of the participants. Everybody liked this tour very much.

Thank you!!! It's your contribution!

Unfortunately we had no time to talk with Mr. Abdralhmanov and he said only some words of pleasure. But I hope on his arrival from this business tour he can tell us about China in details. It's great that we can understand each other and you familiar with our orders. So in future we have trusted partner in China to organize our tours.

And if we'll have a chance to be useful for your company and you personally, feel free to call/mail me.

Keep in touch,

Marina
Mar. 12, 2007

Hi Sophie,

I just want to tell you that the tour with your driver and guide were great and Chris your guide was very cooperative and knowledgeable. It has been a pleasure working with you. Please feel free to use my name for references any time.

Mel
Apr. 25, 2007

Thank you, Sophie-they're nice to keep. We don't have any suggestions about the service we received from both you and Odyssey Tours. We are completely satisfied and are certain that you know how to delight your guests. We are very impressed that since we returned home we have received e-mails from nearly all our guides, which is lovely-so "after sales" is brilliant too!

Love from us both and enjoy your weekend-it's nearly here!

Best Wishes and a big thank you, from Barbara & Ronnie.
May. 21, 2007

Dear Sophie

We have arrived home today from our wonderful trip to China. We had a fantastic time. All of your arrangements were wonderful and we very much enjoyed visiting your country. All the drivers and tour guides were very good. I would like to make special mention of our guide in Beijing, Michael. He was absolutely fantastic and we feel we were extremely lucky to have him as our guide.

Thank you once again for all your work preparing our trip. We will always remember it .

Kind regards Celeste
Oct. 01, 2007

Dear Sophie,

I am pleased to attach three photos from our tour with Jessica as Jane promised. Jessica and the driver did a very good job for us. Thanks again for organizing our trip. We hope our suggetions are helpful.

Best wishes.

Chuck
May. 29, 2007

Hi Sophie,

Lisa and I returned home to Beijing, last night sand I am at work today. I have not had access to email since the 30th of April, when I commenced leave.

We wish to thank you, the trip was wonderful and all of our expectations were exceeded, we had a happy, comfortable and well feed cruise.

We will definitely recommend the trip to our friends here in Beijing and also around the world. If you are happy, I will refer people how want to do the trip directly to you, is that OK ?

Again thanks and I will contact you when I start to plan our next great adventure in China.

Cheers

John McCloskey
May. 15, 2007

We were very happy with the quick response and regular contact which Sophie maintained throughout the entire process from enquiry to the sending of the e-ticket details and her willingness to answer every question. I feel very vulnerable and concerned when I am making a booking from overseas to a company with whom this is the first time I have had dealings. So Sophie's friendly, patient and quick service was reassuring. No question was too big or too small.

Soo Land Wong

Dear Sophie,

Thank you for your email. I heard that my parents had a good time, and were really happy with the food, entertainment, and quality of the service!

I think you may also hear from my father, Soriano. They are on their way home to the States from Beijing today.

Take care and thank you for all the wonderful arrangements you made for my parents!

Sophie, I find it hard to express the satisfaction and gratification that my wife and I have experienced thru the Yangtze River cruise that our daughter has arranged for us thru you; many many thanks for everything and we`ll keep you in mind when we go back to China. Take care !

Sorinao and Agatha
Jun. 20, 2007

Dear Sophie,

I have completed my tour through your company's arrangement. I appreciated your excellent service. My girls have already missed all our tour guides. Anyway, I am still one week away from getting back to NY. I will give you a more thorough feedback once I return home.

Thanks,

Jane
Aug. 20, 2007

Hi Sophie-

We arrived home from China yesterday but were very sad to leave your wonderful country.

It was truly a pleasure to meet you while we were in Guilin. Thank you for taking the time to see us.

The trip was really wonderful – you did a lovely job planning it for us

The Yangtze Cruise ship was wonderful!!! The staff were terrific, the food great and the beds very comfortable.

For your information, we thought Lei (our guide in Xian) was exceptional – the best of our guides. Very knowledgeable, very flexible, very easy to understand and gave us some great suggestions on some optional things to do/see.

Sophia, our guide in Beijing, did not give us an evaluation form to fill out. She said it wasn't needed. She was terrific, very knowledgeable, and she was great with the kids. We also really liked the hotel in Beijing – the beds were really comfortable.

Lastly, the information you provided in advance of the trip was very helpful.

All in all, a great trip and we would happily recommend China Odyssey Tours (and, of course, you) to others considering a trip to China. Thank you again for all your effort.

Regards,

Brenda Bottum
Aug. 06, 2007

Dear Sophie,

Thank you so much!

Certainly in the future we would like to explore more of the World and more of China as well!

We continue to cherish all pleasant memories and while sharing all with friends we gladly recommend you Sophia to them!

Thank you again!

Wishing you all the best!

Maria from Florida
Sep. 13, 2007

Hello, dear SOPHIE,

We just arrive from TUNISIA, only before yesterday, we spend more time with our family.

We just, only to tell you that you are amazing, and we have enjoy in general, our trip to china with all your advises, and your helpful, and competence, all those words came from the depth of our hearts, again thank you, my greetings to all the guides, drivers: jack, lee, tony, loulou , the guide girl in YICHANG, and john in changai and the others ones...we don't like to forget no body, again we kiss you a lot my wife and me, and we keep in touch, my wife and her 4 friends, may be the gona have trip to changai in December or January for 10 days...So I let you know, if they want to do something else like visit in your beautiful town guilin....So we are happy to have you like our trip advisor, you are a very good professional and competence SOPHIE....

Take care of yourself, see me next year for the Olympic game on august...CHAOOOOOOO......

From FAOUZI AND FARIDA FASSATOUI
Sep. 23, 2007

Dearest Sophie,

I am so happy to hear from you.

I miss China. We had such a wonderful trip. It surpassed my expectations. Everything worked out so well. Every time I talk about it, my face lights up with the amazing memories.

I will be glad to send pictures and to write a travelogue for the web site. I was very happy with your company and, of course, with you and all the attention you gave us. Thanks to you, we had a never-to-forget experience.

Most of all, the tour guides made our trip so special. Bevis in Beijing, Mary at the Chengdu Airport, Robin in Guilin, and Matthew in Hong Kong were all so accommodating, especially Bevis and Robin since we had them the longest periods of time.

Again, thank you for making the trip of a lifetime come true!

I would have written sooner, but I had to attend to my father who went into the hospital. I'm bringing him back to his home on Aug. 29th.

All my affection,

Victoria, also known as Vicki
Aug. 28, 2007

Hi Sophie:

Sorry for the delay in writing to you. We have been home exactly 2 weeks but have been very busy catching up with friends to share our events and show some of the hundreds of photos we took. We certainly did have a fabulous holiday and thank you so much for helping us organize our trip. Everything went along very well. The guides were all fantastic. We certainly have lots of good memories. Maybe we'll see you in Adelaide, South Australia one day, huh? thanks again Sophie.

Corrine Bateman
Oct. 18, 2007

Hello Sophie - how are you.

We have returned from your fantastic country and I wanted to say thank you for everything you arranged for us, including the birthday cake.

I can not begin to express our enjoyment on everyday of our trip.

Each guide was fantastic and each city was?truly amazing. we can not forget the Great Wall, the?Terra-cotta warriors, our?cruise and all the temples and people we met. We are already planning our next trip back.

I know you tried to help us in Beijing after the mix up at the airport and we thank you so much for doing this. The Bund Hotel was just perfect and we were well looked after. What upset us was that the manager lied to us rather than trying to fix the problem which cause the grief.

I have already told people to make contact with China Odyssey, do they make contact with you?

it was great to meet you and share dinner with you and go shopping. Sarah bought a warrior which is being shipped home so she was very happy with the shopping.

kind regards

Michael, Sarah, William and Henry.
Oct. 08, 2007

Hi Sophie,

We had a wonderful time in China and appreciate all your help to make this happen. I am heading off tomorrow to Malaysia for the weekend, so will responding to your request next week.

Again thanks for all the effort to make our China holiday fantastic.

Best regards,

Tony
Oct. 18, 2007