Summer Fun ▏Self-guided Tour 自由行zìyóuxíng

There are two months over the course of a year that I really enjoy browsing the moments of my friend circle on Wechat, something equivalent to the updates on Facebook or Twitter in case you wonder. These two months, January and July, are my favorite when it comes to social media activity in that people travel and share a lot of beautiful pictures taken from their trips around this time of year.

For a week, whenever I open my Wechat moment page, there they are, these pictures in which my friends with big smile and in all kinds of greeting posture are surrounded by breathtakingly beautiful scenes. This July my family doesn’t have any vacation planned and I’m busy working on my summer goal (in case you are wondering, welcome to revisit my post talking about 暑假 to read more about it), so seeing these stunning images reflecting my friends’ travel experience is a wonderful way to feed on my fancies.

Given that, I have chosen the word for today’s post all about travel. Self-guided tour, 自由行zìyóuxíng in Chinese, has always been the choice of me and my husband. With my parents, it’s a different story since they enjoy joining in a tour group, which I also see why. Being part of a tour group (旅行团lǚxíngtuán in Mandarin) has its merits. Members don’t need to worry about accommodations and transports, or entrance tickets of scenic spots for that matter. But it lacks something fun that a self-guided tour offers.

In comparison, it’s no brainer that being on a self-guided tour requires a lot of preparation beyond just about what to pack for the trip. You need to start from scratch deciding on the means of transportation, where-to to cover the vacation days, and what the most realistic budget is etc. It can be mind boggling in this process especially when it comes to travel to another country. But that’s also where the fun is! You get to choose where to visit and if mood strikes, you can be impulsive to stay somewhere for a little longer while visiting a place that really draws you, or call that experience off if it doesn’t feel right to you. Our trip to the Phi Phi Island during the winter holiday in the beginning of this year is the testimony. It’s a sweet memory where a lot of problem-solving was behind, because of which the memory will stay with us forever.

Now let’s look at this phrase self-guided tour, 自由行zìyóuxíng, in case you are a Chinese learner who wants to dig a bit deeper on learning this Chinese word. 自由zìyóu means freedom and 行xíng refers to travel. The term is function as a noun, so we may use this term in such example as below.

如今，许多人选择自由行去旅游。Nowadays, many people choose self-guided tour to travel.

Alright, that’s today’s word! As usual, click below to hear how it sounds by a native Chinese. Also, feel free to leave your comment on this topic. I would love to hear about all your thoughts!