North American English Teachers’ China Trip to Visit Their Students off Internet

Learning and teaching never stops for this world. And English as the lingua franca of the world, the learning and teaching of English language never stops becoming more popular and necessary for more people in more countries to adjust to and contribute to the more frequent and closer communication between each country.

We have learned English for many years but most through books and our teaching in school classes. But as the fast development of new technology and internet, there show a lot of classes taught online, and lots of students in China extend their knowledge including English through online English classes.

In 2019, we customized three distinct China trips from Beijing for groups of English teachers from VIPKid, a well-known education brand for Chinese kids to learn pure English with one-on-one mode on line.

The total 3 groups traveled to China all in 2019 under the professional service of our experience travel consultant Johnson Wang, Jack Li and Wonder Wang. And we received the first email from Charity in May, 2018 for their coming trip in March, 2019:

“We will likely have a group of 30, maybe more. It will be necessary for you to accommodate a large group or be able to split us into two groups. We are vipkid teachers and would like to spend an extra day in Beijing touring our home office.” (from Charity)

As we received the first email, our travel expert Johnson contacted Charity very quickly for more detailed information. Through quite complicated steps with Charity and other more than 50 group members who are VIPKid teachers and their family members, Johnson successfully and excellently customize the memorable China trip for that large travel group from the North America.

First China Trip - March, 2019 (Beijing, Xian & Shanghai)

From March, 23, 2019, the entire VIPKid teacher group spent 9 days in China and visited Beijing, Xian and Shanghai to see the past brilliance and nowadays modern of China.

Beijing

For Beijing part, as they requested, we arranged private vehicle and sent them to the VIPKid office in Beijing, there many teachers in the group met their students whom they taught English through camera on the computer or tablet devices before they traveled to China. Apart from meeting the kids in their headquarter in Beijing, the group travelers enjoyed some interesting visits to Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Mutianyu Great Wall, Bird’s Nest and Water Cube, watched Beijing Opera and Kong Fu performance, and tasted Beijing Roasted Duck to feel the charm of the ancient and present national capital city in China.

Xian

After Beijing, the large group continued to travel to Xian, another historic ancient capital boasting the unbeatable Terracotta Warriors in its Lintong area. After a full rest in the hotel in Xian, our local guide and driver escorted all teachers and their family members to meet that No.1 attraction, end enjoyed cycling at Xian Ancient City Wall, hanging at Muslim Quarter, and having fun time on the Tang Dynasty Show and dumpling dinner. To help them learn more about Xian and China’s culture and history, our guide and driver companied them to Giant Wild Goose Pagoda and Shaanxi History Museum to see more wonderful sites and relics in the limited days.

VIPKid Teachers & Their Family Had Fun at Daqing Terracotta Art Factory

VIPKid Teachers & Their Family Visited Xian Ancient City Wall

To see such a lovely and kind group of teachers from another country, Johnson specially went to Xian by bullet train and met the group personally. He saw the laughter and smiles of everyone during the trip and felt really glad to be able to help them enjoy a trip and make it to meet them in Xian.

Johnson and All VIPKid Teachers & Their Family Members at Tang Dynasty Palace

Moreover, it came to the birthday of a little girl in the group, Lucy. We celebrated it together with a big birthday cake at the Tang Dynasty Theater Palace. Lucy cut the cake with the specialty in Xian, the very large broadsword. That was really special and worth for a photo.

Celebrating the Birthday for Lucy at the Tang Dynasty Palace

VIPKid Teachers & Family Members on the Our Private Vehicle in Xian

Johnson sent them to Shanghai and returned to Chengdu to follow their trip through internet.

Johnson Received Sweet Gift from VIPKid Teachers & Family Members

Shanghai & Suzhou

On the arrival day in Shanghai, part of the group enjoyed the Huangpu River night cruise at night to see the sparkling lights and neon on the Bund side and Lujiazui side.

And on the following day, the entire group transferred to Suzhou near Shanghai and experienced the traditional quiet, poetic elegant beauty of that old city in Jiangnan area. In that side trip, they visited Tongli Water Town at suburb Suzhou to see the classic Retreat & Reflection Garden, Gengle Hall, Three Bridges, river paths and more to be immersed into the idyllic hidden place. Besides, the VIPKid group transferred back to Suzhou downtown and visited the famous Lingering Garden for the classic and exquisite painteresque display of Suzhou gardens and Shantang Old Street for the ancient charming water along bustling streets. And before they returned to Shanghai, our local guide also took them to Suzhou No.1 Factory Road to see the detailed steps for soft silk manufacturing and a lot of delicate silk works and displays.

Tongli Water Town in Suzhou

On the 9th day for the China trip of VIPKid group from the North America, part of the members flied from Shanghai back to their home, and the rest part were interested in visited more places in China, so they were separated into two groups for the following visiting. The first group has ten members including Jody to visit Chengdu, and the second group has only Shirley to visit Shanghai, Hangzhou, Huangshan, Yangtze River Cruise, Chongqing and Chengdu.

Extensional Trips

First Group to Chengdu

After Shanghai, Jody and the other 9 members flied to Chengdu, the Land of Abundance. They visited the top highlights in Chengdu, including Wenshu Monastery, Renmin Park and Jinli Old Street to feel the quiet and leisure pace and also the profound history of Chengdu as an ancient capital in Shu era.

And on the following day, they went to the must-visit Cheng Panda Base in the morning to see the chubby giant pandas, and extended to Leshan to see the well-known and magnificent Leshan Giant Buddha very closely.

10 Members of the Group Visited Chengdu Panda Base

Second Group - Shirley’s Private 13 Days Trip

(Shanghai, Hangzhou, Huangshan, Yangtze River Cruise, Chongqing and Chengdu)

After said goodbye to other group members in Shanghai, Shirley continued her own private 13-day China trip there to visit her interested places and also meet her students during middle drops.

For the first 3 days, Shirley enjoyed it by herself to explore the modern Shanghai and Romantic Hangzhou City. And from Hangzhou, Johnson arranged the high speed train to Huangshan, where she spent nearly 4 days. Our guide companied her to Tangmo Village, Chengkan Village and Hongcun Village to enjoy the outstanding design of Anhui styled architectures and nice rural views. And she also spent more than 1 day on Yellow Mountain to explore all the odd stone mountains, sea of clouds, Huangshan pines, etc. with interesting introduction of our local guide.

Followed by Huangshan, Shirley embarked the upstream Yangtze River cruise - President No.7 to admire the great mother river of China and the rich series of great sites including Three Gorges, Three Gorges Dam, Shennv Stream, Shibaozhai Pagoda, etc. The cruise finally docked in Chongqing and Shirley visited the popular sites with our local English speaking guide, including Hongyadong Cave, Nanbin Road, and Yangtze River Cableway for a half day. Shirley planned her extensional trip as many other travelers to China, which is to take a high speed train from Chongqing to Chengdu. And there during her own one, she watched the lovely giant pandas at panda base in Chengdu, and visited the other top visiting sites, including Wenshu Monastery, Renmin Park and Jinli Old Street.

Yellow Mountain Sunrise View in Huangshan City

Feedbacks

And after the whole trip, the VIPKid group members shared their experience and comments to us, and parts of the feedbacks are listed at below:

“Johnson,

Thank you so much for your hard work in helping us plan this tour for such a huge group. You have been an excellent communicator, responding so quickly! You have been very patient with us too. We are so happy that we get to meet you and say thank you in person too!

Megan”

 

“Thank you

So much Johnson

You have been such a great help to us. We hope you enjoy these gists!

Charity”

 

“Hello Johnson;

I just wanted to say a great big thank you for all your help and dedication to detail, it made my trip very memorable!

I am now telling everyone if they want to travel to China that they can contact you and your company and that travelling with a guide is the way to go. I was very impressed on how there was always a guide there to meet me. The guides were very attentive and concerned with all the details (especially for my intolerance to cigarette smoke). I was especially impressed how there was a guide waiting for me at the Beijing airport to ensure that I had a smooth transition. As you monitored my flight which was late coming in from Chengdu to Beijing, the guide waited the entire time. While she waited she ensured informed the people at my airline desk that I was on my way but that the flight was delayed. Once my luggage arrived (which took longer than expected) she quickly grabbed my luggage, brought me directly to the desk, had it all arranged for my luggage to go through and brought me to the security gate. This was very appreciated as I was not sure what I was going to do if I had missed my flight. Your organization of details such as these, made me feel comfortable knowing that everything was taken care, so I could enjoy my trip.

Thank you again Johnson. I can’t wait to go back to China thanks to you and your organization. See you soon.

Shirley”

 

“Hello Mr. Wang! I just wanted to say that Kai has been an amazing tour guide. He has made this experience so easy and memorable. He’s excellent! I loved my time in Beijing.

Jacquie"

 

Charity shared her comments and experience on TripAdvisor:

"7 Day tour with 56 people!

I'm an American based teacher with a Chinese online edu-tech company. Some fellow teachers and I wanted to travel to China to see our company's home office, visit some students, and we also wanted to see more of China. We knew we'd have a sizable group traveling with us, and we had no idea where to start. Enter China Discovery. I emailed them asking for a quote for a tour for 30 people to Beijing-Xian-Shanghai, over 7 days. Johnson with China Discovery replied and gave us a very fair quote. We ended up will well over 30 travelers, 56 in total. Johnson and China Discovery were able to manage our group well. From the tours, to the guides, to the buses, to the transfers, the tour was mostly seamless, and any problems were dealt with quickly and to our complete satisfaction. I was able to contact Johnson at any time during our trip with any issue and it was promptly taken care of. Our guides were also amazing and high quality. I have been to China on three previous occasions and have never had guides so knowledgeable about Chinese History as these were. I learned so much! Our accommodations and meals were also quite satisfactory. I have no complaints about the hotels/food. Our hotel in Shanghai was actually quite lovely! In addition, our tour consultant, Johnson, was able to join us while we were in Xi'an! It was a lovely addition to our group to meet him. He was very patient and thorough. He was also extremely responsive up to and during the trip. Not only this, but their prices were extremely competitive. I cannot recommend them highly enough. Do yourself a favor and go straight to China Discovery for your custom tour of China. You won't regret it!"

 

Second China Trip - June, 2019 (Beijing, Shanghai & Xian)

Very soon, we received the second email from VIPKid from Kristin and they again were interested in an 8-day China trip to Beijing, Xian and Shanghai, but for different group of their 30 teachers and families.

“I'd like to get 3 quotes please. 1. 5 days in Beijing only - with one day left entirely open with nothing planned. 2. 8 days in Beijing and Shanghai- with one day in Beijing left entirely open with nothing planned. 3. 9 days in Beijing, Xi'an, and Shanghai - with one day in Beijing left entirely open with nothing planned. This quotes is for a group of teachers.”

Jack Li was responsible for this second trip from the VIPKid, and he customized the whole itinerary with his experience together with Kristine. And finally the trip was made in 11 days for Kristin’s group. And they had more than 5 days to discover the great wall, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Beijing Hutongs, etc. Besides, Jack arranged 2 days in Shanghai for them to feel the modern part of the metropolis and quiet charm of the nearby ancient water town, when they visited Shanghai World Finance Center, the Bund, Yu Garden, M50 Art Community, Zhujiajiao Water Town, and so on. And for the following two days, Kristin’s group transferred to Xian to catch all its outstanding historic sites, no missing the Terracotta Warriors, Shaanxi History Museum, Ancient City Wall, etc. And on the last day of their China trip, they flied to Beijing for the international flight back to the USA.

VIPKid Teachers Group of Kristin Visited Beijing Mutianyu Great Wall in June

VIPKid Teachers Group of Kristin Visited Beijing Bird's Nest

Third China Trip - October, 2019 (Beijing & Shanghai)

The third China trip for VIPKid was in October, 2019, but we received the email in December, 2018. Some different from the precious two, this one was originally the private trip enquiry from Theresa for her and the other three family members to Beijing, Xian and Shanghai. And after some email communication with our experience expert - Wonder Wang, Theresa decided to travel with her rest more than 40 group people with us to Beijing and Shanghai.

“I will be traveling with my two sons (17 years old and 19 years old). Since we are a family, could all three of us please share one hotel room for each night. I would feel more secure if we all stayed together. We need to have the full day on March 26 completely free (No tours to be scheduled for us on March 26). Other than that, we're available for tours for the rest of our time in China. We would, however, like free time each day to relax or to explore the cities on our own. Any tour guides would have to be fluent in English, please. We'd like the tour to include the following cities: 4 nights in Beijing 1 night in Xi'an 3 nights in Shanghai (If we need to eliminate a city from the tour in order to make the tour more affordable, please eliminate Xi'an. We would definitely like Beijing and Shanghai.) My older son has a very severe food allergy, so the tour should NOT include meals. We will have to get meals on our own. To make our international travel easier, we would like to fly into and out of China via Beijing. At the end of the tour, we can take a bullet train from Shanghai to Beijing in order to take a flight from Beijing back to the USA. Thank you!”

Totally, they enjoyed a memorable 9-day trip, which let them feel the ancient charm, new development, wonderful culture, bustling city, exquisite side places of Beijing and Shanghai with visits to their not-to-be-missing places to interests of famous sites.

Early Planning for Trip 2020

After the trip, Charity are also thinking of a trip in the coming 2020. And Charity said they would like to visit Beijing and Guangzhou in June, 2020 with totally more than 30 people.

“Hi Johnson,

Okay, so here is what we are thinking. We are thinking we will all start off in Beijing, and follow the itinerary you have planned. However, on Wednesday, some of us will follow the Xi'an, Shanghai itinerary and some of us will follow the Guilin/Guangzhou itinerary. Are you able to schedule that? I realize it's a lot of moving pieces.

Also, Megan, Jody and I are not sure that we will attend the trip this year, however if we do, we will all be on the Guilin/Guangzhou itinerary. So at some point, we will arrange a contact for you on the Xi'an/Shanghai group.

Let me know what you think.

Charity”

To travel in a beautiful country and to meet your like people, no matter students, friends, relatives, etc., is a wonderful and memorable thing. It is our pleasure to help teachers from VIPKid customize their trip to China, and we are looking forward to their coming trip to visit more of their eager students and enjoy more beautiful destinations in China!