In my last post I mentioned that I was going to be away from blogging for a bit as I was going on vacation.
Well after spending the past two weeks touring China, I’m back!
I went on the tour as part of a group. Thing is, I went by myself and landed in Beijing with no idea what I would be getting myself into.
I’m a fairly sociable guy, and can get along with pretty much anyone. But here I was half a world away; and I was going to be spending the better part of two weeks with a bunch of strangers.
I’ll admit I really wasn’t sure how it was going to go.
Our group was 41 people. 20 “pairs” – mostly couples (though there were a few people who went with friends or family), and me.
Most of the group was a bit older (largely retirees), so I naturally gravitated towards the group that was closer in age; and they became my “family from China” for most of the trip. Though as I got to know some of the other people in the group there were a handful of other people who I would like to think became friends.
It was a really interesting microcosm of relationships though; as I had 11 days to meet people, form opinions of them and make connections with some of them.
In some ways 11 days is a short time, but when you’re around each other for approximately 12 hours a day it’s also long enough for personality conflicts to start to show and tempers to start to flare (there was one guy in particular who I would have been happy to leave behind on a number of occasions).
Still, it was a great time.
I was reminded of how much of the world I have yet to see, and how beautiful it can be. I was reminded that first impressions can be wrong, that even with the people you get along with there will be rough moments, and that humor goes a long way towards making any experience more enjoyable.
In any case, I’m back. I still don’t have a usable computer at home so it may take a while before blogging gets back to normal, but I’m getting there!
Drew
thezombieshuffle 
Welcome back! That’s pretty fantastic that you were able to do something like that. I sent my daughter to Spain last summer but I have yet to set foot on a plane.
Glad it was fun!
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Thanks, it was a new experience for me (taking a vacation by myself) but it was pretty great. Six cities in China in 11 days! Lots of amazing sights and experiences.
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I’m glad you did the tour, had time to get away from the usual. With organized tours, and with that many people, not everyone will get along. I took a day tour to some of the villages in Provence (blog coming soon), and I tell ya I was pulling my hair and regretting it in the beginning. I am pretty independent and a bit introverted that I enjoy doing things on my own. At the end it turned out okay. Thank God! 🙂
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Doing it again I would have preferred a slightly smaller group (41 is a lot), but on the whole I thought it was great. Many different people and personalities, and although there were some conflicts, generally the people were great.
I saw your latest post with the pictures of the quarry – looked amazing!
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Thanks! The quarry was definitely an amazing experience.
Are there tours that are smaller though? I thought they were always as big as the one you did. I know what you mean by different personalities. But the friendship you’ll make makes up for it. I haven’t done an organized tour from the states to another country but my husband and I did within Spain and it was quite nice. It was only for a week and that was enough lol!
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How did I know you would blog about this lol? You need to delve deeper into the specifics of the trip and the relationship observations and insights.
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Hah, I thought about it. But this post was mostly a “I’m still alive” post, so it was quick and simple.
My next post is kinda sorta related to my trip, and has a bit more content 🙂
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Please please pick Kenya as the next destination.. pretty please
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Ha, I would *love* to see Kenya. And some of your descriptions over the past few years have made me realize how little I know about it.
If I make it that way, I will definitely let you know!
All the best in the new year Winfred!
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Thanks Drew. I hope you make it soon.
Blessed new year
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