What people say about China Odyssey Tours

Dear Yoko,

We have now returned home to Northern Ireland having completed our visit with our daughter and our tours within China.

I must say that we were very impressed by the punctuality and organisation of all our tour guides, and their English was excellent. We found their knowledge of the respective areas and subjects to be extensive and they conveyed it to us in a polite and informative manner. I feel that Forrest deserves particular mention for the excellent service he gave, and David likewise, but as we were only with him for a short period of time, to a lesser degree.

Do please pass on our thanks and gratitude for a job well done to all of them.

Pamela and I have both said that our tours around China would not have been possible without your help and organisational skills. I must therefore whole hearedly thank you personally for all that you did in organising the tour guides, accommodations and respective tours. It was absolutely fantastic. Thank you Yoko.

Wanda,

I was thinking of you this week when I started putting my China photos in an alblum. Of course we have all of the pictures saved on a disk but I wanted to be able to look at them as prints so I finally had time to work on it. We have a very nice photo of you in your office in Guilin.

Our memories of our trip to China are still very fresh and still make us feel happy. I think that we saw China in the very best way and we thank you for that.

All of us are well as is all of our family. We will be with our youngest son and his family for the holiday of "Thanksgiving" which is this Thursday. In spite of all the problems in our world, we still have much to be thankful for and we will enjoy a traditional turkey dinner "with all the trimmings" as we say.

Please say hello to Violet for us. We also have a wonderful photo (several) of her and our memories of her are so sweet.

Dear Sophie,

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.

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

Dear Sophie,

Thank you for a wonderful trip arranged by you and China Odyssey. My family had an excellent time in Yunnan and Guilin. My parents still haven't stopped talking about this trip, and all the things we saw, to our family and friends. Every place we visited had its uniqueness that we will remember. In fact, there was no place throughout our trip which anyone of us could say we liked the best.

As you know, Sophie, I had doubts about dealing with an overseas company and was reluctant at first but your professionalism and promptness, along with a little homework on my side, won me over and I'm very glad we decided to go with China Odyssey. And as your company's saying goes, 'You are not alone in China', we never felt alone as soon as we stepped out of the arrival gate at our first destination. 

Thanks again for everything you've done for us. I will be contacting you again, hopefully in the near future, for another vacation in China. Until then take care and best wishes to you and the entire China Odyssey team for a successful business.

Dear Laeticia,

We arrived back in England a few days ago after a wonderful holiday in HK and China. We wish to thank you very much for your help in organising our tour to Beijing and Xian. Everything went perfectly. I will certainly reccomend your services to our friends and colleagues.

We had great weather, saw some amazing things and were looked after very well by our two guides and drivers. Definitely the way to get the best out of a visit.

Hi Sophie

Not having had dealings with you before, naturally, we didn't know what to expect. Your first call which reached us at the Beijing Hotel shortly after we arrived was very appreciated and reassuring. Also, the Beijing Hotel having 5 different buildings, I didn't know where the flight tickets would be. Luckily, they were at the right concierge where we were staying.

After your first call, we felt very reassured that what was expected would come about on time and in good manner. We would definitely contact you again if we were to return to China as well recommending your services to others. Thank you for making our trip to Changes enjoyable,Sophie. 

Hello Vera,

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

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.

Best regards
Harry
Hong Kong
(November 6, 2006)

Annie,

Thank you for the follow up by China Odyssey Tours. We all had a very enjoyable time with many highlights. We highly recommend your business and the Beijing and Xian guides. Qi Yan in Beijing  was excellent. Somehow you also managed to turn on nice weather for us. Sometimes a bit smoggy but that is to be expected during autumn.

One of the arrangements  we enjoyed with China Odyssey Tour was that we felt in general there was no bus group pressure to be at a certain place by a certain time. We received very good advice on restuarants. 

Thanks once again, it was one of the best holidays we have had.

Dear Leo
We have returned to Vienna after a wonderful time in China. We particularly enjoyed our tour in Yunnan. All the guides and drivers were very knowledgeable, helpful and spoke English well. Thanks so much for all your help, we really felt like we were well looked after. You helped to make it an unforgettable experience for both Hilde and myself.

Leo, if you have some kind of quality questionnaire to be completed we would be happy to do so and we will definately recommend you and China Odyssey to friends and colleagues travelling to China.

Reinself Wei

Thank you for your email. Both Julia and I had a wonderful period in China and we appreciated your professionalism and that of your staff on the various sectors of the tour. The hotels were all of a high quality and the service excellent.

Thank you for your tour arrangements, we had a very memorable and enjoyable visit.

Hi dear Wanda,

Let me talk about our China-journey.

We couldn't dream of it all going so smoothly and there was nothing to complain about. I certainly would recommend everybody to make use of the services of China Odyssey Tours and would certainly do so myself in the future. No organization could do better.. and I mean it one hundred percent.

I hope one day I'll come back to China and Wanda I'll call for You.

I wish You Wanda all the best, and for China Odyssey Tours lots of succes in the future.

Sincerely Yours

Karen, shalom (hi) from Israel.

I can't thank you enough for the wonderful trip you helped us have in China. It was more beautiful and more interesting than I ever imagined - and I have been imagining this trip for years! While we were planning our trip together, you answered our questions and e-mails immediately. As a result, you planned a very successful itinerary for us.

Our tour guides were very special people and they helped us make a lasting connection to China. We especially liked "Jack" who guided us in Beijing. Jeff is a tour guide here in Israel and so we both recognized and appreciated the love and pride Jack has in being a tour guide in China.

I would be more than happy to recommend China Odyssey Tours to tourists wanting to visit China. So, please feel free to pass on my e-mail address to future clients.

Karen, you are an asset to your company and we were so happy to have had the opportunity to meet you at the China Odyssey Tours office in Guilin. I have attached a photo of our meeting with you.

Karen, thank you again for helping us have a memorable time in China. Our experience has left us wanting to come back as soon as we can!

All the best,

Hi Laeticia,

I just wanted to let you know how happy we were with the itinerary and staff used by China Odyseey Tours. We had an amazing holiday and will be highly recommending your services--everything went so smoothly apart from the flight from Yichang which was no-ones fault. None of us can predict the weather!

We found China and the Chinese people to be very welcoming and very warm and some beautiful areas were complimented by some fantastic food. Travelling the way we did, enabled us to ensure that we saw the areas we wanted, mixing with real people in their local areas with the support of local tour guides who were invaluable.

Hi Karen,

I am sorry that it has taken me so long to reply to your last email. We have been very busy since we have returned home from China.

First, let me say that Paul and I had a wonderful trip to China. Your services surpassed our expectations and we are telling all our friends about China Odyssey Tours!

We especially appreciated the way that you went out of your way to help us find a van and driver for us to Suzhou and also for helping Paul's brother out at the last moment while they were in Beijing. Thank you for your hard work and flexibility, especially while you were on vacation!

We will never forget our friends in China. Thank you again Karen for the gifts and postcards. They are a lovely reminder of our "Fantastic China Odyssey" .

Laeticia,

Wanted to take a moment to thank you for the personal attention that you and your Dalian affiliates put forth in seeing that the vacation went well !!

I would recommend your services to anyone, that truly wants a well planned, and overlooked vacation to China. Very well done !! Thanks again not only to yourself, but to Hebe, and Mr. Lee as well. My hat is off for your team.
Keep up the good work !!

Thanks Dave Vance
Iowa, USA
(October 23, 2006)

Dear Annie,

We had a marvelous tour of your country many thanks for your organization skills. We have no complaint about your company of the guides you organized, all were there when we arrived at a destination and gave every assistance.

Thank you for contacting us during the visit, it was a nice touch. Also my wife was VERY impressed that you did come through with a Two berth compartment on the train from Beijing to Xian.  Again thank you for your assistance and we wish you the best in the future.  

Noel & Carol Douglas
Sunshine Coast
Queensland Australia
(October 21, 2006)

Hi Louisa,

We were dubious about using a company from the a site we had come across on the internet also of sending our money for the trip. All our doubts were put to rest as the transactions went through without a hitch C.O.T kept their part of the bargain and honoured what was promised, a holiday to remember.

Ashley & Lynn Crisp
From U.K.
(October 19, 2006)

Recently my friend and I took a cruise on the Yangtze River. I was very pleased with Leo Huang's service. He responded promptly to all of my e-mails and I did send a lot! He was very courteous and patient, taking time to answer all of my questions and sending extra information as well. We do not speak Chinese so he sent us notes to give to people so they could understand what we wanted.

It ended up being a personalized tour with english speaking tour guides meeting us in each city along the way. This worked well. The travel arrangements that he made were great. We had a very relaxing cruise on the President 5 cruise ship. There was a nice mix of Western and Asian people all of whom were very nice. I would certainly recommend your services to anyone who wishes to visit China.

Thanks, Leo. It was a great trip! I may be thinking of using your services again in February before I go back to Canada. I'll be in touch.  

Jeanette Schinker
Canada
(October 16, 2006)

Thanks Laeticia,

we are suggesting to all we know to contact you for any need orarrangement they may require in China.

A part for these following few comments, all the trip was very well organized, guides were fine, service perfect.

For the next year we would probably be visiting SHANXI province, DATONG, PINGYAO (Yunjincheng Hotel) , Luoyang etc… Any other tour covering OLD China

Best regards

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!

Hello Sinba

Thank you for your email , my apologies for not writing sooner, Yes we have arrived home safely and now have settled back home.

Charles and I had a wonderful time in China, of course our highlight was to see our son in Shenzhen , however the tour that you had arranged for us was just perfect, we were both very pleased with our tour guides in Beijing Xian and Guilin , the drivers were very polite and obliging in every way while Jack Harry and Sharon our tour guides in all 3 places were full of knowledge regarding the history and the sites,  they did every thing in their power to make our trip a success that it was I still have to email photos to you all. 

Again many thanks for everything you have done for us and I will recommend you to all our friends when they travel

Many thanks for everything

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.

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 family.
from USA
(October 11, 2006)

Hi Sinba

We are now back home after having the most wonderful time in China.

We were very impressed with all our travel arrangements and we had no problems at all during our three week tour. There was always someone waiting to meet us at airports or railway stations and all the guides were very helpful and good company to be with. We especially enjoyed our time with Libby at Huangshan, as she spoke excellent english and gave us a real insight into chinese culture and history. Toby in Shanghai kindly helped us with our shopping one evening and even presented us with a small picture that he had painted when we left.

We would be happy to recommend China Odyssey Tours to other people travelling to China and would certainly use your services again if we make a return trip.

Thank you once again for organising such an interesting tour for us, the whole service was excellent and we look forward to using the company again when we next go to China.

Dear Leo,

What a wonderful cruise we had!

The two days we spent in Chongqing with Nancy our guide was terrific, her knowledge of the area is very good as well as her command of English. Our driver Mr Wong was great we drove in first class transport really comfortable and relaxing.   I can recommend both these lovely people.

Thank you once again for you and your agency's superb service.

Hello, YOKO

Firstly let me apoligise for the delay in our response to the questionnaire abobut our holiday in China. Along with some photos I have attached our response. have attached a photo of two of our tour guides and am hoping that you will pass these on to the appropriate people.

We had a great time in China. The guide from Chengdu even managed to organise for me (Jan) to hold a panda. A definite highlight of my trip.

We both thoriughly enjoyed a trip to the Stone Forrest that we organised ourselves. What an amazing place it was. The Ancient in city in Lijiang was also a wonderful place to visit.

I would like to give a special recommendation to the guides and drivers we had in Chengdu and Lijiang.

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
(October 1, 2006)

Dear Wanda

Sorry for the delay in replying to your email. We had a fantastic trip, and everything went smoothly and we were truly "delighted guests".

We have told everyone we know about your wonderful service, and we will definitely contact Wanda and Odyssey Travel for any further travel needs in China.

You mention your other goal is "Continual improvement"... we have to say that we can't offer any suggestions as our arrangements were perfect.

Regards
Maria
Australia
(September 27, 2006)

Wanda

This is just a note to thank you for organising the wonderful trip down the Yangtze. It was indeed a memorable trip, superbly operated, wonderful entertainment, healthy food, fantastic staff, and very clean cabins.

Great shore tours, and generally a fantastic trip with, of course, the three Gorges and the Junior gorges the highlight.

We would do it again, and will recommend it to all our friends who will book through you.

Also, the pick-ups at the Chongqing airport by Charlie, and the pick up at the wharf in Shanghai and the drive to the airport by Sun (I believe that is her name), was perfectly executed and took out the hassles of getting to point B. And China Eastern from Shanghai to Chongquin, and later Shanghai to Hong Kong, was exemplary. New plans, friendly flight attendances, and good food. What more can one ask for.  

So, fabulous, and just think we found you on the internet. What a fantastic thing!

Cheers,
Leon and Maria Parnham,
from Australia
(September 27, 2006)

Rein,

You have done just WONDERFUL for us so far, just got back from the museum here in xi'an, even our tour guides have never been into the vaults where the origional wall murals are kept, i think the man who showed us the murals was the museum curator or head archeologist asked us how we even knew about the wall murals in the basement and how we got permission to visit them, apparently VERY VERY few people actually get special permission to even see the vaults, mostly they have been government dignataries/officials or visitors like our former president bill clinton!!!!!! I am just so overwhelmed by your ability to obtain this very special tour for us!!!!!!! we have also been told that people NEVER are allowed into any of the working excavation pits at the tombs, but that we are actually going to be allowed to do this also!!!!! we are just ordinary everyday people and not anyone famous or rich or anything and yet you have been able to get this very special access for us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i will talk to you more later!!!!!!!!!!!!! thank you again soooooo much!!!!

Dear Laeticia,

We want to tell you that we appreciated very much our Tour in China and the way it has been organized by you.

We feel that we have seen the essential that we could have during our short three days stay in Beijing. Our guide was very competent.

Our tour of the water cities was also very nice.

Your arrangements for our tour were perfect. Our guides and drivers were competent and good.

We appreciated very much the kindness of everyone.

Thanks to all we had a wonderful time in China.

Dear Laeticia,

We really enjoyed the trip and had many great experiences. Wherever we went we were always met by your people waiting for us. The hotels you put us up in were the best. They met or exceeded our expectations. 

The most memorable part of the trip was the enormous amount of building that was going on. We were expecting to see a much more backwards country that has been isolated from the world for many years. I was very impressed with the advances going on. Probably more building was going on in China then in any country I have ever visited.

I want to thank you for caring so much about the success of our trip and I would recommend your company, China Odyssey Tours, to any one going to China.

Dear Laeticia,

Thank you for your letter. It was really a pleasure to meet you personally in Guilin. We all were delighted from our trip with China Oddissey Tours - the program was beautiful, your guides and drivers were really competent and helpful.

I have still not organized myself after the trip, but hopefully we will have the pictures and our memories ready in very short time in order to show them to our friends and send some of them to you as well.

Once again - thank you for this unforgetable trip and for your personal efforts.

Regards,
Nikola Zikatanov
Bulgaria
(September 15, 2006)

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 China trip (My travelouge).

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

Dear Sinba

Just a quick note to thank you for organising our holiday to China.

Barbra and I had a fantastic time, it was most enlightening and we will always remember China and HK with fond memories.

We would like to thank the tour guides and drivers who were exceptionally flexible to accommodate our needs (particular thanks to Libby, Winny, June and Maggie for their outstanding patience!).

Thanks again for all your hard work and efforts it is very much appreciated.

With best regards.
Karen
London, UK
(September 5, 2006)

Hello Wanda,

Sorry it has taken so long to reply. We were spending some time in Europe on our way back to America and just now had time to write back.

We wanted to thank you for providing us with an amazing and memorable China experience. Thanks for accommodating all our special requests.

We enjoyed all the special trips that you arranged for us, and we had a great time with our guides. You really went out of your way to plan a trip to meet our special requests, and we appreciate all your help!

We will put our photos and stories online in the future and we will send you a link as soon as they are available.

Thank you again and best of luck with future tours.

Andy and Mamie
Jacksonville, Florida, USA
(September 5, 2006)

Dear Vera,

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
(September 4, 2006)

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 (travelouge) was and to highly recommend they use your company. (908-359-8148).