Taking the Tour

I have done the Washington DC tour with thirty 7^th and 8^th graders, and believe me, China was not much different. People gravitate to like people and establish relationships from the very beginning, goody two shoes towards the front and trouble makers in the back of the bus. Guess where we were. We traveled with our longtime friends, Mike and Margie, their amusing friend, Bob, and my mom, who maintained her place firmly in the middle. It didn’t take long to bond, teasing and laughing with our newest friends: Ken, Julia, Leslie, Nora and Mollie.

There is always someone who draws the ire of everyone else. In this case, it was Dave. He proved himself to be loud, obnoxious, and selfish very quickly, taking all of the beef out of the dishes before anyone else could get it and pushing his way to the front. When Margie’s beer was spilled he poured the remains of the last bottle into his own glass before they could refill hers. Brad almost decked him. At meal time, everyone would tussle to be at any table where he wasn’t sitting. Once when he was at our table, Brad leaned over to Leslie, at another table, to whisper, “You owe.” Leslie whispered back, “No way, we did our time at lunch.” Even my mom had to tell him to “settled down,” when he threw a tantrum like a five year old.

Touring is a very specific way of traveling. On the upside, everything is controlled. You never need to think about when or where you’re going, what you are eating, where you’re staying, or how to get there. It’s all taking care of. On the other hand, everything is controlled. You have no free time. Wake up call at 6AM; meet in the lobby at 7:30. You are going to see the factories and the gardens whether you want to or not. You are going to eat Chinese food again, whether you want to or not. You are going to wear a dork tag the whole time. There is no chance of going back to the hotel before 9 or 10PM.

Feeding large groups of people three meals a day is not easy. So we ate exclusively at large restaurants, exactly the same menu, with chopsticks, for lunch and dinner sixteen times in eight days. On the third day Julia said to me in her English accent, "It can't be time to eat again, we've had Chinese food at least fifteen times already." But it was. At a table for 10, they served two bottles of beer, a bottle of coke, and a pot of tea. If you want more, you pay. Starting out with a big bowl of rice, then an endless array of strange dishes, unlike anything you get in America, a plate of cooked cabbage, and finally a bowl of soup. Can’t understand why the soup was always last. Then a plate of watermelon signaled the meal was over.

We were incredibly lucky to get wonderful, knowledgeable, fun tour guides in both Beijing and Shanghai. Our bus was stopped by the police and the guide went into the station with them. We were concerned when he returned and asked what had happened. He solemnly said, "I sold you all." They made the trip worthwhile.

Being in a foreign land where you cannot understand the language or read any signs can be disconcerting and isolating. You need the camaraderie and security of a group to understand and watch out for each other. We often repeated and confirmed instructions with everybody over and over, making sure everyone knew where to go and what to do. If you got lost, it would all be over.

Traveling in a group that way can be a blast; if you’re willing to be flexible, get along with others, and play by the rules. Otherwise, stay home.