The more I think about our China trip while telling folks at work about the trip, reviewing the photos I took, etc., I think the quality of this trip might be like you and Ashford Castle. I'm still going to compare itineraries, and if there is a comparable itinerary offering a smaller group experience from a company that gets great reviews, would very likely default to the company that will let me pay by credit card, but despite the extreme heartburn it gave me to write that check, I think I would do it again for a Thomson trip that matches our fantastic China trip experience. I have to say that I think this China trip probably ranks within my top three favorite trips of all time (along with Africa, which DH and I did with a company called Civilized Adventures in 2001, and our Scotland ABD); if not top three, then certainly top five. And unlike Africa that I am dying to go back to, and Scotland that I could go back to over and over and have actually been back a couple of times since our ABD trip there in 2013, I'm not sure if I'll ever go back to mainland China. So it isn't the destination itself that is making this trip rank so high with me. It was just a really really well-designed trip that, for me, offered a perfect mix between seeing the "must see" sights for a comprehensive, possibly one and done trip to China and really fun activities. And it provided the small-group experience that has become key for me. Obviously, having only done the one Thomson trip, I can't say that all of the Thomson itineraries would offer a comparable experience. But if so, I might just have to suck up the credit card thing, as much as it kills me to do so, LOL.
For us one of the big advantages of doing tours with ABD is the fact that we can pay with Disney gift cards. At the very least I can straight up buy Disney GCs at 5 miles/points per dollar. Usually, we take it a step further and buy Target GCs at 5 miles/points per dollar, use the Target GCs to buy Disney GCs online and get an additional 5% off the cost of the trip. So the river cruise and post Prague ABD got us 68,900 airline miles and wound up costing 5% less out of pocket and we will get an additional 2% back in the form of Disney GCs for paying through the DVA account. Our Ireland trip was not too far off the mark from the cost of ABD Ireland and I hated that we couldn't pay it with Disney GCs to get 5 miles/points per dollar. At least they took credit cards so we got 2 miles/points per dollar. Your trip sounded absolutely awesome though. I dunno, I guess if Ashford Castle only took checks for a stay there and doing the hawking I'd deal with and pay it because it was so amazing. We are SO going back there.
