Pre-trip: Choosing Travel Companions

Choosing the right travel companions is as important as choosing the right travel agency. You're going to get stuck with them for a period of time whether you like them or not and vice versa. If you are completely strangers, it is difficult to determine your get-along rate. Traveling with your close friends is the best option. They know you well and they could bear with your unbearable behaviours. Unfortunately, It didn't happen in my case. My close friends decided to skip this year for our next epic trip to Everest Base Camp in Nepal next year. I could not wait that long. I was turning 30. I wanted to make it BIG and memorable. 

Time

Initially, I was planning to go before my birthday (4 Aug), but things got pushed back (due to the insane price from all the travel agencies). Also, I received a piece of useful information from one travel agency about the best time to visit Tibet.

Best Travel Time

The best time to travel Tibet is between April and October.
The peak touring season is from May to September.
The best months are May, June, September and October.
July and August are the rainy months, so hikers should try to avoid the rainy season. 

Better late than never. At least, I wanted to go within this year. September or October would do. And better go no later than October coz I wasn't born with the genes that could tolerate the cold weather. November would be too cold for me.

The departure time from the Latvia couple group seemed to fit my condition the most. Depart in early Sep, so my trip would finish in middle Sep. The LP group would depart at the end of August which was also fine for me, but I had to confirm back to them within a day or two. It was quite rushing as I didn't prepare any documents for the permit yet.

Cost

Money-wise. The price from the Latvia couple group was excluding the accommodation, while the LP group already included the accommodation. The price for the accommodation would cost around 100 RMB per day. So, after adding up, the prices from the two groups were about the same at around USD 1,600 for 15-17 days.


Travel Agency

SnowLion Tours from the LP group seemed to be more popular than Tibet Highland Tours from the Latvia couple group.


Itinerary

At that time, I didn't know about all the places to visit yet (lakes, monasteries, towns, etc). It didn't matter much to me as long as they included Kailash and Lhasa in the program. 


Trip Confirmation Progress

The Latvia couple group didn't confirm with TBT yet. They were still under negotiation about the trip details. They might accept more people to make the 4-pax group to save cost. The LP group already concluded the trip details with SL. They wanted to add one more person to make the 4-pax group also to save cost.


Get-along Rate

The Latvia couple group VS the mixed race backpacker group. I wouldn't want to travel with any couple for I knew the nature of every couple. There would be good times and there would be bad times. During good times, I might feel a bit jealous at them, but during bad times, I would surely want to get the hell away from them. The other group. One guy seemed like the funny and outgoing type. Plus, his Aussie accent sounded sexy on the phone (OK I know he is a lot younger than me, but you can't blame a single 30-year-old woman, alright? Harry Style 1D y'know?). The other two in the group seemed like those fun backpacker type as well based on the email communication they forwarded to me.


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I didn't want to be an ass by saying yes to both sides, and turned one of them down at the end. With the limited time that I had to confirm with the LP group, I had to decide quickly. The Latvia couple group could still wait for a few days I guess. If things went wrong with the LP group, I still could go with the Latvia group. So, I said yes to the LP group.