If you are only reading this to know if G Adventures is a reliable, fun, and good travel tour company to travel with, my answer is YES, amazing experience, and I would book it again a million times over. (This is not a paid advertisement, I wish!). Also, if you want to read more in depth about my actual experience in China and the culture, go to my destinations page and click on China!
I went to China with G Adventures, which is a travel company, that is known for their afford pricing. I had never traveled with a tour company before, only study abroad programs, volunteer programs, and mostly planning travel on my own. First off, boy was I shocked how amazing and stress free it was to travel with a company that does EVERYTHING for you. This was only my first trip with the company, but I was extremely impressed and had an unforgettable experience. From the quality of the hotels, the transportation, our incredible tour guide (thanks Cody), to the locations and activities, this trip was so well put together! G Adventures does many different styles of tours, this was an “18 to thirty something” tour, meaning, one, the cheapest type of tours they offer, and two, everyone in the group has to be 18-39 years old. Traveling alone I figured my best way to make friends was to go with this type of tour. Immediately upon arrival I began to meet my fellow travelers. Many of the people I met in my group had traveled with G Adventures before, some of the countries they mentions included: Peru, United States, Canada, India, and Thailand. They all had very great things to say about all of these trips as well! No one had any complaints about any of their previous trips with the company. This gave me some reinsurance right away, because I had been a bit nervous of what to expect while traveling with a travel company.
The tour was organized so well in terms of actual tours vs. free time. We had nights we went to bed early for an early morning the next day, and nights we could go out to bars. The combination of experiences within in China was incredible. One main benefit that I see going with G adventures is they have a great itinerary. From the Great Wall of China, to the Skyline of modern Shanghai, to the country side of Yangshuo, I felt I experienced so much of China, and in only two weeks! Without G adventures I would have not known to visit some of the locations we did, as well as get to experience such unique things. I would have never thought or known to go to Karaoke Night, go Tea Leaf picking in the country side, and find hidden treasures that only our local guide knew about. These aspects of my trip is what really made me value the experience of traveling with a company.
Overall, G adventures in my opinion provided excellent service especially for the price! I was expecting not as nice hotels, though every single one was clean, safe, and honestly much nicer than I was expecting! (3-4 star hotels!) There were 3 overnight trains on this trip. Honestly, they are kind of bad, BUT it is part of the experience and for the price it makes sense. I personally did not mind them at all, plus it gave us more time to see thing since we traveled at night. If you prefer to travel a bit more luxurious look at the same trip through G Adventures but in “Classic” rather than “18 to thirty something”. I suggest anyone traveling alone or with one other person to look into G Adventure tours of wherever you are interested. In my opinion some countries are easier to travel without a company, but I do think traveling with a company is great in other countries.
Thank you so much G Adventures for an incredible and unforgettable experience! Also thank you to the other members of my group, making friends while traveling is one of the most incredible parts!
Travel Addict 