TRAINS & TRAVEL
P.O. BOX 10625
RENO, NEVADA 89510-0625
Chris@traintrips.biz Rail Tours Manager. For question regarding tour itineraries and details.
Deborah@traintrips.biz Office Manager: Accounting
1-800 359-4870 USA
1-800 752-1836 CANADA
1-800 266-8751 FAX
(530) 836-1944
OFFICE HOURS 9AM TO 5PM MONDAY-FRIDAY
PACIFIC WEST COAST TIME


Hong Kong & High Speed Rail
RAILFAN/TOURIST TOUR
SEPTEMBER 20-27, 2010
SURE-GO

The Star Ferry - Double-deck Trams - Victoria Peak reached via incline railway, are among highlights of this one-time British territory. Two high speed rail links take us on from Guangzhou and Wuhan, with overnight stops in both these key cities, to Shanghai.

Day 1 Monday September 20: Independent arrivals; Flights met and you will be escorted from the airport. via double-deck bus, right to our hotel. Our hotel was the one used during the 2008 Olympics for the equestrian teams.

Day 2 Tuesday September 21: (B) Today is an unscheduled free day to help you overcome jet lag, or design your own activities. For those interested, a visit to Ocean Park, the world's largest oceanarium, which includes a scenic ropeway. Then, visit Victoria Peak about sunset. Meals on our own - there is great culinary variety!

Day 3 Wednesday September 22: (B-L-D) With our local guide, we will make a morning visit to the Railway Museum. This is housed in the 1913 Tai Po Market Railway Station. Model train shop if enough interest. After lunch we will have a FOUR HOUR TRAM CHARTER with one of the two antique open-deck cars in the fleet. The ends of the upper deck are open, allowing for a unique perspective from which to view the city as we traverse the entire system. PM: Laser & Music show.

Day 4 Thursday September 23: (B-L-D) Train T820 departs at 9:24, arriving into Guangzhou Dong (East) at 11:19. Here we meet our Chinese guide, and enjoy stops at points of interest around this remarkable city.

Day 5 Friday September 24: (B-L-D) WORLD'S FASTEST TRAIN! In December 2009, startup of CH-3 trainsets to Wuhan eclipsed the French TGV for longest distance and highest speed. Our train, G1002, is one of two daily non-stops, departing 10:20 and making the run in two hours, fifty-eight minutes for an AVERAGE speed of 194 MPH! (The southbound train is carded one minute faster). Our FIRST CLASS seats rotate 360 degrees, and are equipped with footrests and tea tables. There are also 16 VIP seats available per train; we will attempt to secure some of these spots which allows one to observe the engineer. We should be able to move guests in and out so all can have a chance. Following our arrival into Wuhan at 13:18, we will enjoy a city tour and observe trains crossing the Yangtze Bridge (1957).

Day 6 Saturday September 25: (B-L-D) Early risers might want to ride the elevated light rail line, the first communications-based (driverless) rapid rail line in China. We depart at 11:23 aboard train D3016. The "Hewu" (Hefei - Wuhan) high speed line opened in April 2009, attaining a more modest velocity of about 160 MPH; through time to Shanghai just under five hours. Arrive Shanghai 16:20. Two nights here.

Day 7 Sunday September 26: (B) Expo Pass for today is included (but please advise in advance if you wish to do something else). No guide today, so we can stroll about the expansive fairgrounds, taking in some of the dozens of National Pavilions and other great places to visit on both sides of the Huang Pu River. EXPO is billed as one of the four greatest world expositions of all time, with New York 1939 being the most recent.

Day 8 Monday September 27: (B) Airport transfer, via the MagLev if you wish, is included. (Everyone will want to ride the MagLev at some point…) Or, arrange for extended stay. 2- and 3-Day Expo Passes may be purchased. As noted earlier, please reserve extra nights as soon as possible. For those folks booked on Fall China Steam Finale you will keep your hotel room. Additional tour members arrive today in Shanghai and join us at the hotel.


Double Room Occupancy......................$1698
Single Room Supplement.....................$ 698
Extra Nights in Shanghai...................$ 138
Tip Kitty..................................$  78
Deposit to hold space......................$ 500
Final payment due by June 20, 2010


TOUR BOOKING CONDITIONS

TOUR PRICE: All tour prices are corrected to November 1, 2010 and are subject to change without notice, at any time. All prices based on double room occupancy. We reserve the right to change tour prices if necessary.

PRICES DO NOT INCLUDE: Personal items, meals not listed in the itinerary, laundry, phone calls, excess baggage charges, rental cars, side tours, insurance, passport fees including visas, vaccinations, gratuities, medical costs, tips to train or motor coach staff, extra tour costs due to unanticipated changes in the itinerary for reasons beyond our control, including weather, travel conditions, or cancellations, government intervention, sickness, political disputes, and failure of transportation or other causes beyond our control.

TRAVEL AND HEALTH DOCUMENTS: A valid passport is required for our international tours. In some cases a visa is also needed. Consult your health professional for the recommended immunizations and documents. Trains and Travel International , here on referred to as TTI, assumes no other responsibility if a client is refused entry into a country. Cost and cancellation fees will be paid by the client in the event they do not have valid documents.

CHANGE OF ITINERARY: We reserve the right to substitute, alter or modify the tour if any unexpected and unforeseen conditions beyond our control preventing the completion of such. Conditions can include weather, train schedules, equipment, motive power, revision of train consist, train delays, labor strikes, political disputes, derailments, closure of a rail line, break down of railroad or motive power equipment, railroads not honoring contracts and bus equipment problems. We will always endeavor, in each case, to provide substitutes, if any changes take place. TTI is not responsible for canceled trains, delays, hotel rooms, route changes or missed connections, for any reason whatsoever. We will not give refunds if such conditions or cancellations take place.

TRAVEL INSURANCE: Travel Insurance is mandatory for all tours. This insurance will cover and give the tour members many benefits and protection. Benefits include baggage, accident, life, trip cancellation, sickness, bankruptcy, strike, weather conditions, employer termination or layoff effecting you or a person sharing the room with you, terrorist incident in your departure city or city of destination, jury duty, you are subpoenaed, hijacked, or quarantined, your residence or traveling companion residence is rendered uninhabitable, emergency military duty, traffic accident, single supplement upgrade when your traveling companion cancels their trip, trip interruption, trip delay, missed connections, itinerary change, emergency medical benefits, medical evacuation, baggage delay and loss, pre-existing medical conditions if enrollment is within 21 days of your invoice date, burglary of you or your companion before departure, felonious assault of you or your traveling companion before departure, 24 hour hotline emergency assistance, emergency cash transfer and more. We will supply you with a travel insurance brochure with rates and application when we mail you the invoice after trip deposit is received. Travel insurance protects your vacation investments and is a very good investment for your travel and vacation money. US law allows us to offer this insurance to all persons Worldwide. We will accept a "refusal of travel insurance wavier" if you do not wish to purchase any travel insurance. FOR CUBA: Because of the nature of these tours travel insurance is MANDATORY for everyone. We have a special American travel insurance company that will insure all folks going to Cuba on legal US approved tours. This insurance information will be sent to you upon receiving your booking.

RESPONSIBILITY AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY: Accepting your payment represents an agreement that you understand all the conditions, to be a member of our tours. TTI gives notice that they are acting agents for the owners, contractors and suppliers, providing the transportation and all related travel services and assume no responsibility for injury, sickness, damage, loss, additional expenses accidental delay or irregularities which may be caused through willful or negligent acts or omissions on the part of the companies providing or engage in transportation, accommodations or services related to the accomplishment of the tour. Nor do we assume responsibility for natural disasters, social or political upheaval, acts of terrorism or acts of nature. TTI reserves the right to substitute hotels, tour leaders, equipment, motive power, trains, onboard accommodations, routes and to alter the itinerary when deemed necessary without notice. The right is also reserved to cancel any trip or train prior to departure for any reason . TTI is not responsible for expenses incurred by tour members in preparing for the tour, including non-refundable airline tickets, visa fees, planning, phone calls, or any other expenses. TTI reserves the right to decline to accept, or ask to leave a tour, any person whose actions impede the daily operations of a tour, welfare or enjoyment of other tour members. TTI cannot give any refunds for any unused services. The terms contained herein shall serve as a waiver of liability to TTI. Assumption of risk on behalf of the client, their heirs, executor, administrators, successors, and assigns for any and all known persons injuries

RESERVATIONS: A deposit is due in our office within 14 days after you make your bookings. Full payment is due 90 days before departure. You will receive an invoice, reservation form and current tour bulletins with your confirmation and travel insurance forms. No notice for final payment will be sent to you. It is your responsible to make the final payment on-time.

CANCELLATIONS: TTI does not accept cancellations on the phone. Cancellations must be received by postal mail, email or fax before any refunds will be considered. Allow enough time if sending your written notice by US mail postal system. When a written cancellation is received in the Trains and Travel office this will be the effective date of the cancellation. Please take note that it can take up to 60 days to to process some refunds. Cancellation refund rules: 100 days prior to the start of any tour you will receive a full refund less a $100 per person administration fee. 99 to 61 days before the departure of any tour there will be a 80% cancellation penalty based on the full cost of the tour. Cancellations received 60 or less days before the start of any tour will not receive any refund. GW Travel Ltd has their own cancellation rules and these will apply. If booking on GW Travel Ltd ask for cancellation rules.

PRE-DEPARTURE TOUR BULLETINS: Tour bulletins will be sent to clients that have booked on tours operated by TTI. Bulletins include travel info related to the tour. Final documents will be sent out about two to three weeks before a tour begins. We offer tours operated by other companies and they may or may not send out tour bulletins and updates and most send out final documents only one to two weeks prior to the start of their tours.

PAYMENTS: Payments can be made with personal check drawn on a U.S. Dollar account, money order for U.S. Dollars, bank wire transfer, or credit card. We accept Visa, Master Card, Discover or American Express. Final payment for all tours is due 90 days prior to departure. If final payment has not been received 7 days after the due date, a late fee of $50 per week will apply.

SINGLE SUPPLEMENT: All prices are based on double room occupancy. We will try and match you with a roommate if one is available. If not, you may be charged the single room supplement listed for the tour you are booked on. Single rooms may not be available in some remote locations and on some trains.

TOUR REFUNDS: If for any reason tour members amend or delete any arrangements during travel, and leave the tour on their own, we cannot give any refunds on unused portions of the tour. If buses and trains are cancelled by the carrier or there is a labor strike or they go out of business, we cannot be held responsible and we cannot give refunds. Travel insurance will protect you for any of these reasons. If TTI needs to cancel any tour everyone will receive a full refund. Please take note that in some cases refunds can take up to 60 days to process.

PARTIAL TOURS: We will allow passengers to join or leave a tour at certain points. It will all depend on the tour and the conditions. Give us a call and we will try and work up a custom option for you.

MILEAGE COLLECTORS: Mileage collectors please take note that TTI does not cater just to mileage collectors. We cater to all folks that enjoy trains and Rail journeys. We give strong warning that itinerary and route changes do happen and this is totally beyond our control when it does. If the only reason that you would want to book a tour is to collect the rare mileage, you need to understand that possible route changes do happen.


     

01377  visits since April 15, 2010.

Last modified: Thursday, 12-Jan-2012 08:18:14 PST