I cannot emphasise how much i would NEVER recommend this group to anybody planning on travelling.
To start off with, the night we arrived they had miscalculated the number of beds booked and did not have enough space to accommodate all the people on the group. Beds ended up being shared which is uncomfortable in small cheap accommodation and with new people. I do not expect nice dorms when travelling but i expect when paying such prices to be at least given a bed.
This happened on quite a few occasions and I am appalled at how the tour guides handled it.
When it came to the first day our guide was actually late and very disorganised, ruining our evening plans. This also happened when being woken up to hike the wall of China to see the sun rise. They woke us up too late because they overslept (a HUGE let down for us as we were all excited to see the beautiful view) and proceeded to lead us up a wall that was forbidden to walk up as it was unsafe and unstable.
They allowed us to camp outside when there was a huge storm with lighting striking the ground in front of us, we had no protection.
There was also a super-typhoon headed for china and so we had to end our trip early to head back to hong kong. They organised us to travel back to hong kong on the day the typhoon was meant to be hitting mainland china. The bus was shaking as we were being driven back and it was TOTALLY unsafe. When we arrived in hong kong they had put us all up in different rooms and some did not even have beds. They then told us to find our own rooms if we had issues with having no place to sleep. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND AFFORDABLE ACCOMMODATION IN HONG KONG AT 10PM.
The trips carried out were charged at extortionate prices in comparison to their true values and for the meals they took us out for at locals, we were ordered to pay the guides (who overcharged us and kept the remaining money for themselves).
I was absolutely horrified by this group's organisation, concern for our safety and value for money. I do not know where half of my money went but I would never recommend this to anybody who is planning on travelling with a group.
Response from Real Gap Experience
We are sorry to read this post and to hear again how disappointed you were with your experience. As you know we were in communication with you at the time to address your issues.
Our China Experience is hands-down one of the best and most popular trips we run and our feedback is amazing. Just look on our website. We hope that one person’s experience won’t discourage people from joining this fantastic adventure in future which is rated 9/10.