It has long been a dream of mine to go to China primarily to see The Great Wall and The Terra-Cotta Army. National Geographic is one of my regular reads. I love ancient sites. When Emily and Rollie, our daughter and son-in-law, announced they were pregnant, Joe, my husband, began searching for an opportunity to get me to China.
He often reads the San Francisco Chronicle, and in August he came across an article about China Focus Travel. On their website under Special Promotions there were several options at very reasonable prices. These promotions were mostly during the winter. We eventually signed up for the 9 day Great Wall and Terra-Cotta Warriors trip. This trip was going to take us to Beijing to The Forbidden City, The Summer Palace, The Great Wall and on to Xi'an to visit The Terra-Cotta Warriors sites ending in Shanghai.
It didn't include the Yangste River Cruise, but it was going to get me to the main locations. We knew that the reasonable price tag had us staying in top hotels, including almost all meals, and a local guide at each city. We had no idea at the time what a fantastic trip we were signing up for.
Although we signed up in the fall and got a $200 per person discount for signing on early, there was some doubt that there would be enough people (had to have at least 6) to be able to fulfill the minimum. We were the only two signed up for a long time. There was a request in December for flexibility of dates to see if a couple of trips could be consolidated into one. In the end, we met up with Jason from China Focus Travel and 6 other people at the San Francisco International terminal on Saturday, January 23 where we were checked in for our 12 hour flight to Beijing. Little did we know what a fabulous trip awaited us upon our arrival in Beijing, China. Arrival would be in the evening of Sunday, January 24.
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