My wife and I have been taking international vacations for many years. A few years ago, a friend recommended two travel agencies. One of those travel agencies closed its doors right around the time we were preparing to book a trip. So we booked a trip to China through Gate 1 Travel, the other agency recommended to us. Our trip was an 11-day vacation that was fairly inclusive. It included international airfare and two in-country flights, a four-day Yangtze river cruise, several days in Beijing and a couple more in Shanghai after the cruise. It included the tour guide, transportation, luggage services (we never carried our luggage anywhere), and admission to all of the itinerary locations. It also included over half of our meals and our hotel accommodations at boutique hotels that would be in the three to four star range. For an 11-day vacation with transportation, I would have expected to pay thousands of dollars per person. The price was in the 1500 dollar range.
Now, there were a few add on "side trips" that you can add in lieu of having a "free day." I added all of these options for a reasonable price. We were still well under two thousand dollars per person. You can barely get international airfare for that price.
So, how was the trip? Phenomenal. We hit all the highlights with a tour guide who was amazing. His knowledge and candor provided an excellent glimpse into Chinese culture. We had numerous opportunities for cultural interactions, which were facilitated by our guide, who also acted as interpreter when needed. The best thing about traveling with a tour group like Gate 1 is that your itinerary is planned out. The transportation, guide, meals, and itinerary are all built in. You don't have to worry about your luggage if you are moving from place to place and the internal flights are pretty seamless. When traveling to a country where you want to visit several different cities, the tour group takes a lot of the hassle out of the process.
We liked the Chinese trip enough that we followed that trip with a trip to Israel. We experienced the same level of service and attention in Israel as we received in China. The hotels were nice, although not first class. Gate 1 has a luxury package that includes first class hotels. But those packages run in the five to ten thousand dollar range. We traveled to Israel, again, for under two thousand dollars. That was a 10 day trip that hit all the highlights for Christian travelers to Israel. It was amazing, and the food was phenomenal. We liked the Israel trip enough that we stayed with Gate 1 and booked to Vietnam earlier this year. Again, our inclusive trip, 13 days this time, came in under two thousand dollars per person. We were not disappointed. And it has now become a given. We are looking at traveling, probably to Morocco next year, and we intend to use Gate 1 Travel once again.
In terms of disclosure, I do not get one penny in compensation from Gate 1 for writing this. I don't want it and I really don't need it. When you can take a two week international vacation for under two thousand dollars and not stay in fleabag hotels or hostels, you are doing well. I do get compensated 100 dollars credit for referrals (if I provide someone my account number), but I have only done that once. What I recommend is that you plan your vacation in advance and then watch the website for that location to have a sale. Gate 1 is good about running promotions to different countries. There are usually several at any given time. However, if you are planning a trip in the near future and want to take advantage of the 100 dollar discount, I am happy to share my code on Steemit Chat with you. It is a one time, $100 discount on your total trip. I don't use the discount I have in my account because they cannot be combined with an already discounted trip. And I plan all of mine in advance. But I will share the code with anyone who wants the discount who does not have time to wait for a particular trip to go on sale.
I shared a bit of my Vietnam travels shortly after I opened my account with Steemit. I plan to share some of my experiences in other places I have visited as time goes on. I have been to many countries over the years and have taken photos and documented my experiences. I would love to share those, but first wanted to share the opportunity to experience quality discount travel for anyone planning a trip.