Backpacking's out. We're not kids anymore, and our schedule is too tight. But we're not yet ready for the take-it-easy tourist bus that stops at every plastic-gladly-accepted souvenir shop.
How can we see China as we want to, in the few weeks we have, for the few dollars we have?
Surprisingly enough, some travel agencies are able to design individual packages for no more -- sometimes less -- than a group tour.
How can this be? Group tours, buying in volume, get discount rates on hotels, meals, train tickets, museum admissions. And if 10 or 20 people share the cost of a bus and interpreter, obviously it will be cheaper than if a traveling couple hires a car and driver.
True, but there are extras built into a tour -- not frills, exactly, but features you might not order for yourself. Instead of an all-day guide, for example, you may need one only for the morning, with the afternoon free for wandering. Or you may want to seek out a local food specialty (the morning guide will steer you in the right direction) instead of eating a group's three prepaid meals a day. And maybe you are willing to sacrifice a little luxury here and there and stay in mid-priced hotels.
A package tour designed individually for you combines the best of both worlds. You can be on your own, in the places you want to be, but with an itinerary, and with reservations and all the airport transfers worked out in advance.
When we went to China we wanted to spend several days with friends in Beijing. They would take us to the Forbidden City and the Great Wall and other sights in and around the capital. No tour expenses there.
Then we wanted to visit Xian, the ancient capital near the buriasite of the famous terra cotta warriors, and Shanghai, and the Buddhist caves a day's drive from Chongqing through the Sichuan countryside, and the beautiful southern cities of Suzhou, Hangzhou and Guilin.
And because my wife is a school librarian, we wanted to visit schools and libraries here and there.
And because friends recommended it, we wanted to cruise the Yangtze River.
And on the way home from China, perhaps we could visit Hong Kong and Taiwan, where there is a fabulous museum of Chinese art.
We explained all this to our travel agent, and she put together the package, including some recommendations of her own. So in Hangzhou we rented bikes and rode to the bamboo grove outside town. Backpackers might do that; group tours couldn't.
That was the difference. We felt as free as backpackers, on our own, with time to poke around and discover things. Yet we were as secure as tour-group tourists, with tonight's lodging and tomorrow's plane flight taken care of by somebody else.
No, it wasn't cheap. There's no way you can go halfway around the world for pennies. But we had a dream trip, tailored to our own pace and interests, for a price competitive with the group tours.