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General
information
Our
Terms &
Conditions contain answers to many of the
questions you might have. Please be sure to read it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What happens after
my deposit is paid?
A: The invoice and other related documents will be e-mailed to you within
2 business days of receipt of your initial payment/deposit. Instructions
on China visa application will be provided when your balance due date is
close. Finalized trip documents including updated electronic tickets for
the international flights will be sent out via e-mail two (2) weeks before
the trip. Please refer to the 7-page Important Pre-trip Information for
more details. The pre-trip info document is only available after you pay
deposit.
Q: What
is the group size?
A: We promote
small group travel
and we limit our group size to 20 with select departures to remote regions
limited to 16. We require a minimum of 10 for a trip to be guaranteed.
However, tours with less than 10 participants may proceed as planned
subject to a surcharge and without a tour leader.
Q: Do I need a passport and
visa to travel to China?
A: Yes. Please visit our Webpage
Chinese Visa or
wait till you sign up for detailed information.
Q: Can you help us obtain
Chinese visa?
A: Yes. Please visit our Webpage
Chinese Visa or
wait till you sign up for detailed information. Our visa service is
available only to our tour participants.
Q: Does Laurus Travel accept
credit cards?
A: We accept Visa and MasterCard for deposit. Since we bill credit cards
in Canadian funds, it is important that you have a card account that does
not charge you extra for currency conversion. Final payment by a credit
card can be arranged subject to a surcharge.
Q: Who makes
the ideal Laurus Travel customer?
A: The client must be both mentally and physically fit, free of any
physical disability that may require special attention. The client must be
respectful, friendly and willing to follow our rules at all times.
Q: What does the tour price
include?
A: See Terms & Conditions and the itinerary for details.
Q: What's the average age of
Laurus Travel customers?
A: Most of our travellers are 50 plus and seniors but we do have many
customers in their 30's and 40's. Sometimes, especially in the summer,
there are lots of families with children who are as young as 8 going on
our tours.
Q: Does Laurus Travel have a
recommended reading list?
A: Please visit our Webpage
Recommended Reading
for the updated reading list.
Q: Where do we eat when meals are
not included?
A: Your guides will recommend restaurants near the hotels based on your
preference and budget. You can count on the guides for reliable advice.
Q: Do you recommend any
inoculation shots?
A: See Health & Hygiene below for details.
Q: Do I need Chinese currency
before arrival?
A: No. See Money below for details.
Q: What is the baggage allowance
on intra-China flights?
A: Twenty kilograms or 44 pounds. See What to Wear & Pack below and Terms
& Conditions.
Q: Where do we meet the
guide and the rest of the group?
A: If you arrive according to the tour schedule, your escorted transfer
from the airport to the hotel will be provided at no charge no matter how
early or late your flight is. Otherwise, you will need to get to the hotel
on your own by taxi or public transit to join the group there. Clients
whose transfers have been confirmed should pick up their checked baggage
themselves and proceed to the arrival hall where the guide will be waiting
with a
Laurus Travel flag
or the client's last name in hand.
Q: What time zone is China in?
A: China spans several time zones but the whole country operates to a
single standard time (GMT+8) all year round. Beijing Standard Time is 13
hours ahead of North America's Eastern Standard Time and 16 hours ahead of
Pacific Standard Time. The difference becomes one hour less during
Daylight Saving Time in North America.
Q: Do we eat Chinese food
throughout the tour?
A: Please see Terms & Conditions - Food & Beverage.
Q: Is Internet access available at
all the hotels?
A: Yes. Almost all the hotels we use have free Wi-Fi in the lobby area.
Most of Sheraton hotels in China are furnished with Link@Sheraton
where computers with Internet connection are available to house guests
free of charge.
Q:
Is it expensive to call home from China?
A: There are many cheap alternatives to being gouged by the hotels. Never
use their long distance service unless it is free! The alternatives
include using e-mail, buying a phone card, getting a local sim card for
your smart phone or
rent a local mobile phone
from us - we have many Motorola cell phones in our China office.
Q: Do I get non-smoking rooms
throughout the tour?
A: Yes. See Terms & Conditions for details.
Q: Is laundry service available
during the tour?
A: Hotels provide speedy laundry service but the price may not be cheap.
Laundromat style self-service facilities are very hard to find in China.
It's essential to bring clothing that can be worn in layers and easy to
wash by hand.
Q: Do I need to bring my own hair
dryer?
A: No. The hotels all have it.
Q: How bad is cigarette smoking in
China?
A: Chinese smoke everywhere including in elevators and restaurants. China
accounts for 20% of the world's population but consumes over 30% of the
world's tobacco products. The Chinese smokers amount to over 300 million,
equal to 9 times of Canada's population or the entire population of the
United States.
Q: How expensive is quality
medical care in China?
A: They can be as expensive as in the US and Canada. If you don't have
proper medical insurance, you may end up selling your house if you were
stuck in an ICU in an expensive Chinese hospital where advanced facilities
and doctors trained in the West charge as much as in your home country.
Q: Are public toilets outside
hotels clean?
A: Generally, they are not. If fact, they can be very smelly and filthy.
Please carry a little perfume, antiseptic wipes and a roll of toilet paper
all the time. We sometimes buy a small bottle of alcohol in each city for
both drinking at dinner and hand cleansing. It is more effective than gel
sanitizer and also adds some fun to the trip. And alcohol in China is
cheap!
Q: How do we handle tipping?
A: Please refer to Terms & Conditions and the document titled Important
Pre-trip Information for details.
Q: What airlines do you use for
transpacific flights?
A: For clients departing from Canada, we use Air Canada and Air China.
Both airlines are Star Alliance members and code-share many flights;
passengers flying Air China are eligible for Aeroplan points. Clients from
the United States should contact us for more information.
Q: What airlines do you use for
intra-China flights?
A: We choose the local airlines based on convenience and cost, with a
slight preference for Hainan Airlines. There is no Chinese air carrier
that ranks far below average in terms of flight safety and don't forget
that the overall safety record of Chinese airlines is as good as any major
airline in the US or Canada. We attribute the satisfactory safety record
much to laudable work of the Chinese civil aviation authorities and the
relative young age of the fleet.
Fleet age as of March 2011
United Airlines: 13.9 years
Air Canada: 11.2 years
Air China: 7.4 years
Hainan Airlines: 5.4 years
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Tour Leader and Local
Guide
An experienced bilingual tour leader is provided for groups with more than
10 participants. The trip leader may be Canadian or American or a Chinese
national from our China office. The leader meets up with the group at the
Chinese port of entry and stays with the group throughout the tour except
Hong Kong, wherever applicable. Generally, a local guide is provided in
each city but the trip leader may double as local guide in as many locales
as we see fit. For groups with less than 10 participants, only local
guides will be provided.
Hotel &
Room Type
We use mostly North American standard 5-star hotels for our tours and
choose them for their quality, comfort, location and service. However, it
is important to keep in mind that in some remote areas such as Tibet and
Xinjiang accommodations may be basic even they are the best.
We book hotels with the assumption
that our customers are all non-smokers. When a hotel is unable to
accommodate our request for non-smoking rooms, we make sure the hotel does
its best to minimize the odour of cigarette smoke. Rooms for tour groups
are assigned by a run-of-the-house system. Consequently we do not accept
requests for a specific floor or room type. Rooms booked under discounted
group rates do not qualify for reward points or free upgrades even if you
enjoy elite status with the hotels. Since the rooms are booked at group
rates, the hotels are not in a position to upgrade you or treat you better
than other guests on our list. Any effort to contact the hotels before
arrival with the hope to upgrade will be a waste of time. Clients asking
for upgrade must do so before the trip and will be charged an
administration fee of $35 per hotel in addition to the room rate
differential.
Food &
Beverage
Your daily breakfast is Western style buffet served in the hotel. Tea,
coffee, milk, fresh fruit and a variety of juices are included.
Lunch and dinner when included
would be local cuisine served in restaurants outside the hotels. Tea,
bottled water and soda are included with soda being limited to 2 glasses
per client. Beer is served at dinner and each customer is limited to 2
glasses. You may opt for bottled water or soda or beer but can only chose
one. Special dinners may include wine, which is limited to one glass per
customer. A standard lunch or dinner consists of pork or beef or fish or
chicken plus vegetable dishes and rice or noodle. Serving utensils are
provided.
Vegetarians and clients allergic
to certain food items such as nuts, MSG or sesame oil should disclose this
information at the time of reservation and also remind the guides once on
the tour. Every effort will be made to satisfy the client's needs, but for
legal reason we do not guarantee the dishes served contain absolutely no
such ingredients. Clients with special dietary needs due to medical
conditions must disclose their needs at the time of reservation and be
prepared to pay extra.
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Motor
Vehicle
Comfortable, air-conditioned motor vehicles are used throughout your
tour. The vehicles are professionally operated and well maintained. There
will be enough seats to ensure everyone's comfort. We do not share
vehicles with non-Laurus travelers except during Yangtze cruise where
shore excursions are arranged by the cruise operators.
Money
 The
Chinese currency is called Renminbi (RMB), or People's Currency, with Yuan
being its basic unit. For up-to-date exchange rates, please visit
www.bloomberg.com.
Bring a few hundred dollars worth
of cash, which can be in any of the major hard currencies such as CAD, USD,
GBP, EURO or AUD. The cash should be a combination of large and small
bills and must be in excellent conditions with absolutely no missing
corner or heavy stain. Canadians who already have US dollars should bring
US currency because cash exchange rate for US dollars is much better than
for Canadian dollars mainly due to the fact that the Chinese yuan is
pegged to USD and the volume of the USD banknotes processed by the Chinese
banks is far larger than Canadian dollar cash.
Clients should always carry a
major credit card in case of emergency or major purchases. Because more
and more ATMs in China accept bank cards issued by foreign banks, you
should definitely consider bringing a bank card. Warning: a bank card with
7-digit pin number won't work in China.
Cash and travellers checks can be
converted into RMB at Chinese airports, hotels and banks. Although
travellers checks do get you a better rate, not all hotels in China are
able to cash travellers checks. The exchange rates are virtually the same
across the country as they are set by the central government.
Please do not buy Chinese currency
before arrival in China where the exchange rates are far more
favourable for you if you avoid those non-bank dealers at the airports.
Every time you change money you are issued a receipt. The receipt should
be kept because this proof allows you to change your unused RMB back into
a hard currency on exit.
Hong Kong Currency - Hotels and
banks in Hong Kong do not necessarily quote the same rates. Make sure you
shop around and also take the service fee into consideration.
Useful Links:
Bloomberg /
Bank of Canada
Extra
Costs
Please see Terms & Conditions for details. When you deal with Laurus
Travel, you don’t need to worry about hidden costs because there is none.
We believe in full disclosure.
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Tipping
Please refer to the Terms & Conditions or pre-trip info document for
details. Our tour prices do not include gratuities to guides, drivers and
hotel bell service. Each client is expected to contribute the tipping pool
$10 a day.
Shopping
Laurus tours have no shopping stops!
We understand that for many
travellers shopping is an integral part of their international travel.
During the tour you will be given time to shop on your own. We disapprove
of, and have taken concrete measures to prevent, shopping stops initiated
by the guides or drivers. During the tour we may patronize restaurants,
museums and theatres where a souvenir store is attached. These visits are
not shopping stops and Laurus Travel does not benefit from your purchases
at such establishments or anywhere else during the tour. We suggest you
ignore the merchandise, especially the expensive items, as prices at these
stores could be significantly inflated with no guarantee of good quality.
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Weather &
Temperatures
China is a vast country where
climate is extremely diverse ranging from tropical in the south to
sub-arctic in the north. Generally speaking, the best months to visit
China are April, May, September and October.
Please refer to the
chart below for mean temperatures of major Chinese cities or
click here for
current weather report and forecast of any Chinese city. |
|
Mean
Temperature (Celsius) of Major Chinese Cities
(Celsius x 2 + 30 ≈ Fahrenheit)
|
City |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
|
Beijing |
-4 |
-2 |
4 |
13 |
24 |
24 |
25 |
24 |
20 |
13 |
4 |
-3 |
|
Chengdu |
6 |
8 |
12 |
17 |
26 |
24 |
26 |
25 |
22 |
17 |
12 |
7 |
|
Chongqing |
8 |
10 |
14 |
18 |
22 |
25 |
29 |
29 |
25 |
18 |
14 |
10 |
|
Guangzhou |
14 |
15 |
18 |
22 |
29 |
27 |
29 |
29 |
27 |
24 |
20 |
15 |
|
Guilin |
8 |
9 |
13 |
18 |
29 |
26 |
29 |
28 |
26 |
21 |
15 |
10 |
|
Hangzhou |
3 |
5 |
10 |
15 |
21 |
25 |
29 |
29 |
24 |
17 |
12 |
6 |
|
Hohhot |
-15 |
-10 |
1 |
9 |
18 |
22 |
24 |
24 |
17 |
14 |
-10 |
-16 |
|
Hongkong |
13 |
12 |
15 |
21 |
24 |
26 |
26 |
26 |
25 |
25 |
24 |
13 |
|
Jinan/Qufu |
-1 |
-1 |
7 |
15 |
22 |
27 |
28 |
27 |
22 |
16 |
8 |
1 |
|
Kunming |
8 |
10 |
13 |
17 |
19 |
20 |
20 |
19 |
18 |
15 |
11 |
8 |
|
Lanzhou |
-7 |
-3 |
5 |
12 |
17 |
20 |
22 |
21 |
16 |
7 |
2 |
-6 |
|
Lhasa |
-2 |
1 |
5 |
8 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
14 |
13 |
8 |
2 |
-2 |
|
Nanjing |
2 |
4 |
8 |
15 |
20 |
25 |
29 |
28 |
23 |
14 |
11 |
4 |
|
Shanghai |
3 |
4 |
8 |
14 |
17 |
24 |
28 |
28 |
24 |
16 |
13 |
6 |
|
Tai'an |
-1 |
-1 |
7 |
15 |
22 |
27 |
28 |
27 |
22 |
16 |
8 |
1 |
|
Urumqi |
-15 |
-10 |
1 |
10 |
19 |
25 |
25 |
24 |
18 |
-6 |
-10 |
-16 |
|
Wuhan |
3 |
5 |
10 |
16 |
21 |
26 |
29 |
28 |
23 |
18 |
11 |
5 |
|
Xi'an |
-3 |
2 |
8 |
14 |
20 |
26 |
27 |
26 |
20 |
13 |
7 |
1 |
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What to Wear & Pack
Clients are advised to travel light. Please read our
Terms & Conditions
for baggage allowance and penalties for violations.
Bring casual clothes and
comfortable walking shoes. T-shirts, shorts and jeans are fine – you won’t
offend anybody. Clothes that can be worn in layers and easy to wash by
hand are highly recommended. Checked luggage allowance on intra-China
flights is 20kg (44lbs). Air Canada and United Airlines both limit
passengers in economy class to one piece of checked bag that must weigh no
more than 23kg (50lbs). Since you need some allowance for your souvenir
purchases in China, your suitcase itself and the contents inside should
weigh less than 15kg when you leave home.
Overcoat or heavy jacket is not
needed except during winter (December - March). During the Yangtze cruise,
a clean and pressed shirt would be adequate for the captain's cocktail
party and farewell dinner. At no time during the tour is formal attire
required. So, no suit or fancy dress please.
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Health &
Hygiene
You are not required of any inoculation certificate to enter China.
However, we do suggest you visit your family physician or a travel
medicine clinic to determine what precautions you should take. We
recommend inoculation shots for hepatitis A and B and suggest that you
check out advice provided by the US
CDC and
Health Canada.
Travellers going to Tibet,
Zhongdian (Shangri-la) and Kashgar are strongly advised to visit their
family doctor a few weeks before the trip to discuss if it is necessary to
get on acetazolamide/Diamox, which is believed to be an effective remedy
for altitude sickness. The altitudes of the above locations range from
3,300 metres (10,824 feet) to 4,700 metres (15,416 feet) above sea level.
Tap water in China is not safe to
drink; bottled water is readily available. Although food is prepared fresh
and cooked or cleaned thoroughly, stomach upsets are possible.
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Electricity
The standard in China is 220/240 volts AC, 50Hz. Two-pin and three-pin
sockets are in use. If you don't have proper plugs for your camera or
laptop computer, you can always borrow one from the hotel but it may be
necessary to bring your own power adaptor. Please check your device first.
BAGGAGE
ALLOWANCE
During the tour each client is limited to one (1) piece of checked
luggage. Violation of this requirement will result in extra charges to
cover our handling and/or excess weight. Our handling charge is $25 per
piece per city or port. Charge for excess weight will be decided solely by
the airline at the time of check-in. According to the Chinese air
carriers, your checked luggage must weigh no more than 20kg (44 lbs). One
carry-on weighing no more than 5kg is allowed. The client must be able to
lift and comfortably transport their own luggage short distances as porter
service may not be available at all hotels, airports, train stations,
cruise and ferry terminals.
Maximum Size of Checked Baggage
Maximum dimensions should not exceed 100 x 60 x 40 in centimeters (39.5 x
23.5 x 15.75 in inches). Baggage exceeding the weight and/or size
limitations should be transported as freight.
Minimum Size and Weight of Checked
Baggage
Minimum weight of each checked baggage should not be less than 2kg (4.4
lbs), and the minimum dimension should not be less than 30?0?0 in
centimeters or 12 x 4 x 8 in inches."
Air Canada and United Airlines
both limit passengers in economy class to one piece of checked bag that
must weigh no more than 23kg (50lbs). Since you need some allowance for
your souvenir purchases in China, your suitcase itself and the contents
inside should weigh less than 15kg when you leave home.
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