The holiday unfortunately got off to a bad start with the Air China flight ( a bad carrier) not turning up however the Rep at LHR worked hard and we were transferred to Emirates going via Dubai to Beijing over 9 hours late. So through no fault of Just You we were playing catch-up.

The Tour Manager Helen Mayo was first class throughout the tour and helped out in sometimes difficult circumstances. The guides were okay but repetitive and the commentary somewhat sanitised maybe they had no choice in this. A huge amount of Chinese history was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution so much was made of what is left and some site visits were of limited interest but were padded out in terms of time spent there e.g The Ming Tombs. There was little or no mention of momentous events such as the Cultural Revolution which obviously shaped their history at the time.

Highlights - The Great Wall, Tian'an men Square, The Forbidden City, The Terracotta Warriors and the Yangtzi Cruise.

Food - The food was poor apart from a few good meals and was typical "tourist" food produced to a price mainly vegetables little meat and of course rice. The Lazy Susan method of serving was okay but because of limited quantities could lead to unequal portions on occasions. Buffet might have been better.

Internal Travel - The main issue here was that for some reason all internal flights were back and forth to Beijing so be aware that lots of time (over 30hrs) spent in airports travelling to and from airports and flying and in our case delays, Air China again.

Yangtzi Cruise - I would advise that anyone taking this trip should consider the cruise as the previous 10 days were very tiring, the optional cabin upgrade is essential and good value at £89. The Three Gorges are lovely and the visit to the newly constructed dam and lock are a spectacular piece of engineering.

One final point the Chinese do not display what what we might view as social skills, spitting is commonplace, eating is not a social event just a time to "refuel", staring can be a little disconcerting and in crowded places they can display a total disregard for others.

All that said I enjoyed most of the time spent on the tour and it's certainly an eye opener.

I was also on this trip and although we had a bad start I think that flying Emirates via Dubai was a much better airline than Air China and Helen wasted no time in transferring us to this flight.

Helen Mayo was excellant. I think we were very lucky to have had her as a tour guide.

My biggest upset was the Yangtzi cruise.

I didn't upgrade as I thought I might be the only one and didn't want to be separated from the group. It turned out that 12 had upgraded and 6 hadn't.

The 6 of us that hadn't had to eat in the 2nd floor dining room with the Chinese tourists.

The Chinese were very rude,had no manners, ate everything in sight and the 6 of us had to make do with the leftovers.

My point is that if we had known that we would be eating in a different dining room we would all have upgraded.

I was also disappointed with the lack of time spent at the Great Wall as this was to have been the highlight of my holiday.

I did the China 10 day tour back in April/May this year and I think your comments on the Chinese are a little harsh. I found them to be very polite and keen to help out if I appeared lost or needed help so I don't agree at all with your comments. As for the flight we did in fact fly Air China both ways and internally Beijing to Xian and back and I found them OK and rather like a long haul EasyJet - cheap and cheerful. This was my second JY holiday and it was a very different experience to my previous (21 days in Australia). The food was not the best I have ever had but being in China on an all inclusive holiday you would expect nothing but Chinese food. The guides were good and always approachable although their English was sometimes a little difficult to understand with their strong accents.

All in all a fun holiday with a very friendly group and tour manager John and some great highlights - Great Wall, Terracotta Army and a very different train journey Beijing to Chengde.

Planning next spring for Highlights of Peru tour so cetainly nothing negative to say about JY and the overall package.

Pete ............

:h:ope I'm not on my own :.

I agree with regard to the upgrade on the cruise beng worth every penny and felt sorry for the six members of our group who did not upgrade as their experience ie cabins and dining were not great. However those of us who chose to upgrade took a risk as we may have been the only ones to upgrade and alone in the dining room, fortunately we took the risk and were rewarded with a far superior experience.

I missed the feeling of being absorbed in Chinas history which i did feel on my Thailand holiday with Just You. Why was this? Yes there was a cultural revolution but although much history was destroyed no picture was painted no immersion in the history of the place. An example was the Ming tombs which should have been a highlight but it just was not it was a trudge through meaningless buildings in searing heat. I feel that this was due to the guides who gave a sanitised version of events and lacked the imagination or skill to bring the place to life. I have since read about the tombs and have a great understanding of what I saw and am glad I went but I feel a bit cheated.

Food was an issue, some good, some not so good however there was a problem with portions being small this often left none of the better dishes for those who were sat at the end of the lazy Susan rotation. We did work this out as we got to know each other but I feel that especially some of the men left the table not quite full. I feel that it was tourist food and apart from the dumpling dinner did not feel at any time that we experienced Chinese cuisine as it really is.

The delay going out was out of just you control and they dealt with it admirably. Helen the tour guide was great dealing with everyone professionaly and competently and dealing with delays

The positives were the group who were lovely, seeing the great sights of China which I have always wanted to see. As I stated I enjoyed my holiday and with a few tweaks think it could have been fantastic.

I am sorry that you had a bad experience on your holiday to China and the Yangtze Add On. I am doing this holiday on 12th September and to be honest your comments are different to what everyone else says about this holiday. I have read where other travellers have had flights changed at the last minute to other airlines with changes en-route. This has happened to me in the past, but not with Just You, so far at least. When you book this holiday and you read the itinerary you should be aware that there are internal flights and a long train journey as well as a long coach journey. I cannot comment on the habits of the Chinese people but you cannot expect every nation to see the world through Western eyes.

However, I was surprised when you say that there is more than one restaurant on the ship. I upgraded the cabin on the ship, so I hope that I am not dining by myself.

I wish you well on your next holiday.

Peter

Look forward to meeting everyone at Heathrow.

Annie H

You will have a great time in China despite some of the negative comments.

The flight from Heathrow via Dubai with Emirates was a much better airline and at least we only lost half a day. As I said before Helen our tour guide lost no time in arranging the transfer from Air China. Helen was very good and I hope you will be lucky enough to have her on your trip.

As long as you have upgraded on the cruise you will be fine.

You will have your own dining room and a much better selection of food.

That was my main complaint. You will see what I mean when you go. The pushing and shoving of the Chinese tourists at meal times.

Apart from that I did enjoy my holiday and met some lovely people in our group.

Enjoy your holiday and look forward to your comments on your return.

Carol

Jaya

Go for it.

You'll have a great time. If anything you'll have a laugh as you see the Lazy Susan spinning round and yes you will loose weight as there isn't enough food to go round.

And the topic of conversation most days was about the toilets. Be prepared to squat (haha) as most toilets were holes in the ground. Just make sure you upgrade if you do the Yangtze river add on.

Carol

Thank you for the clarification of your thoughts on the China trip. It looks like I made a good decision to upgrade on the Cruise. What persuaded me to upgrade was that I didn't want to be on the bottom deck. I went on a cruise on the River Rhine once and at high tide the river was halfway up the port hole window. Scary!! Somewhere, if I recollect correctly, someone else had the same problem with Air China at Heathrow and they were transferred on to Lufthansa with a change at Frankfurt.

Annie, please do not be terrified, it will be a great experience. The group are not Olympic athletes and we can only proceed as fast as the slowest person amongst us, which will probably be me!! I am 73 so I am definitely not young and sprightly. Most people that have done this tour have said they had a great time. I know couples who have travelled on this holiday with a similar itinerary with Travelsphere and highly recommended it. I think my biggest problem will be picking up rice with chopsticks at meal times. I am sure that we will all have fun and a laugh.

China is a massive country, and is in the process of the kind of transition which the world has probably never been seen before on such a scale, but this makes it all the more interesting if you’re the kind of traveller who allows it to be.

Yes, any holiday in China involves a lot of travelling ; yes, the food is different ; yes the Chinese culture is not to queue politely and yes, it’s not a European country, but why go there if you want something that just like the UK !

I found that if you wander even slightly away from the hotels and CBD, and actually talk to people with a smile on your face, you’ll be fascinated by what you see, and will find people very friendly and welcoming (in fact numerous times, they wanted just to practice English, or have their photo taken with this tall Westerner).

I’m sure that if you go with an open mind and a smile on your face, you’ll have a really fantastic time.

Stuart

There have been several threads about currency to takd to China. They say that the best thing to do is take around £100 to £150.00 worth of Chinese Yuan and also take around £300.00 in Bank of England notes in £10 and £20 denominations. You change these at the hotels because you get a far better exchange rate. DO NOT take £50 notes because the Chinese do not know what they are. Be aware also that the UK currency that you take must be clean with no writing on them or all crumpled up. Use your cards for any large purchases. Hope this helps.

Look forward to meeting up with you and the rest of the group on the 12th Sept.

Peter

Jaya

Hi ,can anyone tell me how I upgrade on the cruise . Noreen

Hi Noreen, I'm going on the cruise the week before you and after the recent comments decided to do the upgrade. I phoned Customer Services who said that their allocation of upgrades had all been taken but they'd find out immediately if more were available. I quickly received a call back confirming all was OK, did an immediate booking and payment over the phone.

Hope this is helpful - and enjoy your holiday in September. I'm getting really excited now (my first holiday "alone").

Regards, Pat

I have always wanted to do the great wall, warriors, and temples etc nothing disappointed me, I took thousands of photos, have loads of wonderful memories and its ashame to put others off from their dreams with your disappointment, I have been with just you again this year to egypt which is another fantastic trip, planning peru for the future. you only live once so enjoy every moment :thumbup:

Hello Carol & Annie

Thank you for the clarification of your thoughts on the China trip. It looks like I made a good decision to upgrade on the Cruise. What persuaded me to upgrade was that I didn't want to be on the bottom deck. I went on a cruise on the River Rhine once and at high tide the river was halfway up the port hole window. Scary!! Somewhere, if I recollect correctly, someone else had the same problem with Air China at Heathrow and they were transferred on to Lufthansa with a change at Frankfurt.

Annie, please do not be terrified, it will be a great experience. The group are not Olympic athletes and we can only proceed as fast as the slowest person amongst us, which will probably be me!! I am 73 so I am definitely not young and sprightly. Most people that have done this tour have said they had a great time. I know couples who have travelled on this holiday with a similar itinerary with Travelsphere and highly recommended it. I think my biggest problem will be picking up rice with chopsticks at meal times. I am sure that we will all have fun and a laugh.

Hello Peter,thank you for your comments I feel better already, I too am73 so it,s good to know I'm not the only old duffer!! I had better find some chopsticks and practice, I had thought of sneaking a spoon into my luggage!! I am booked for the 19th are you?

Anne