China has been on my travel bucket list for decades. When a Travelzoo offer for a 12-day trip that hit all the highlights for me including the Great Wall, terra-cotta warriors, and the Yangtze River, I was seriously interested.
The only problem was it was weeks after returning from Italy and my husband was not ready to book travel anywhere with long flights. I asked my brother if he had any interest in visiting China and he was onboard. We booked the offer on Fourth of July weekend in 2015 and the trip was departing Los Angeles in November 2016. Just 16 months away!
The travel agency offering the deal was Sinorama Holidays and we did research them online before purchase. I also felt good that the agency was in Canada which I know is highly regulated and wouldn’t tolerate fly by night agencies.
Dream of China Tour
The name of the itinerary we selected was Dream of China. Sinorama has many different tour options so it’s important to review the details of each before booking. Since this was a Travelzoo deal, we had to pay in full and it was non-refundable. We could buy our vouchers separately and reference each other in the follow-up booking form.
The $1,599 per person price tag included:
- All flights (to/from LAX and two flights within the country)
- 6 nights hotel
- All meals during tour
- Four night Yangtze River cruise
- All tours except two optional during cruise
We paid $40 more per person to have our travel documents mailed to us. Sinorama does assist Canadians with getting their travel visa but as Americans, we had to get that done on our own.
Chinese Visa
About 4 1/2 months before the trip we received an email from Sinorama with the “invitation” needed to apply for our visas and documents on how to fill out the form. Chinese visas are obtained only by physically visiting the closest embassy to your home. For me that was Los Angeles and for my brother it was Chicago.
Since these locations weren’t convenient for either of us, we both used a service to handle taking the passport to the embassy and picking it up. I picked Passport Visas Express and had a very good experience.
You can get a one-time visit visa for the same price as a multiple visit visa good for 10 years. Pick the latter as you never know when another opportunity to visit China will arise. I had my visa back within 10 days and now all I had to do was wait for departure day. Oh, and pack!
How long before tour did you receive air information? I understand you can’t apply for visa until this is received. I am going March 19 on the Ancient Capitals with Beijing 16 nites total…I received a few weeks ago hotel itinerary but they said 4 to 6 for air itinerary.
Thanks for you extensive review enjoyed reading of your adventure. Thanks for sharing! Laura
Hi Laura,
I was able to get the visa with the hotel itinerary. It is an “invitation” from a tour company. If you have that you don’t need the air information to get the visa.
To answer your initial question, i got the flight information about 6 1/2 weeks before departure. Have a wonderful trip!
Did you have tips included? I see some say they charged them in advance. I did not have charges on my invoice. It was a travelzoo special so not sure if it was included.
They were not included on my deal either. I gave tips to the guides in person.
Loved reading your blog. We are going on this same trip, leaving April 17, 2017, so it was extremely interesting and informative. They have tweaked the itinerary a little bit – different hotels, and we go the opposite direction on the cruise, but other than that pretty much the same.
You have some great information, and great detail as well. Thank you. I will be getting the VPN from ExpressVPN as well. Was it hard to figure out how to do it?
I also LOVED all your photos. May I steal some for my own album? Also liked your friend’s videos. Are they copywrited, or could I share some of them as well instead of taking my own. Loved the Terra Cotta Warriors one.
Anyway, thanks so much for doing this.
Hi Sue,
ExpressVPN was pretty easy as I just let it autoselect the server. I do recommend testing at home so if you do have any problems, you can get them resolved before leaving.
I don’t have a problem with you using photos for personal use only; not on websites or commercially. Doug’s videos have share options so I’m sure that’s fine.
Have a wonderful trip!
Kay Lynn