But in early 2011 I saw a trip that would cost $1000 to Beijing, China! It would cost $950 for kids. The other side of the world!!! The trip included tours of the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, Tianamen square. It also included the hotel stay with breakfast included. There would also be lunch included on your days.
All that I had to do was put down a $200 deposit and pay of the remaining balance over the course of several months because the trip had dates well into March of the following year.
I emailed several family members and friends and got one immediate taker. My cousin would accompany us with her three year old daughter and husband. We decided to go February 2013. I would have to take my kids out of school. At the time of the trip my son would be 10 and in the 5th grade and my daughter would be 7 in the first grade.
At the last minute my sister, who lives in Tortolla decided to come along with her husband. Wow. A family reunion of sorts in another continent. After stressing out on last minute payments, VISA applications and long plane rides; I created a list of my top 10 tips for the pampered NYer on a trip to Beijing through China spree.
1. China is a huge country and many of the tourist spots that we went to ie:/ The Great Wall, the Forbidden City, etc had many Chinese tourist from abroad. Therefore, little brown children are an attraction of their own. My children and little cousin were photographed, touched, etc. People were intrigued by their hair and features. Most seemed like friendly curiosity but it is something to be mindful of.
2. The hotel was an amazing 5 star hotel. My kids loved the food. We were able to fill up on a hearty American breakfast or a Chinese breakfast. The place was clean. The staff was lovely. The hotel was awesome.
3. The lunches on the tour weren't as great. Many of the local places on the tour route meant well. But as a native NYer whose parents would take her to China town to eat marvelous Chinese food with chopsticks this food fell short. Other than the rice most of the foods had to be explained to us. And some of the meats were questionable. One lunch my kids and I actually found hair in our food and ended up being really sick. Our stomachs looked for immediate exits for what we had consumed. I would definitely bring granola/meal bars to get through lunch. Or maybe just eat rice.
4. Wear good walking shoes. The locations were all huge and entailed a lot of walking. We brought the only children who had been on this particular trip. The children were fine but some of the retired members had difficulty keeping up. One member had even fallen.
5. Do your squats!!!! The toilets in China were porcelain and the flushed. Some had sensor flush. But they were on the ground. The toilets in China were on the ground. My knees weren't ready for it. When I head back, I will build up my quads and take glucosamine for my knees.
6. Be prepared to be amazed. Most of my Chinese reading a cinema were baste on ancient China or the Chinese countryside. I imagined that Hong Kong and Shang hai would be modern but I had no idea that Beijing would be the metropolis that it was. I kind of felt that we better step up our game in the US. They had a skyscraper that looked like pants!!!!
7. Be prepared to spend. Some of our tours ended in a jade store and a pearl store. I really didn't but much in those locations but my sister and I went to a market that had 5 floors of small shops. It was NY China town times 10,000. There were shoes, "designer" bags, electronics etc. all for a bargain but prepare to haggle down prices.
8. Venture out. I love taking public transportation when I travel. I get a chance to look at regular people heading to work etc. It was hard to figure out how to pay for my fair but someone immediately helped me with gestures and smiles. I took my kids to the Beijing zoo. What a blast! You can learn south culturally from how animals are kept. Even in NY the zoos have change greatly in my lifetime. More thought and care goes into what animals we place in a zoo due to the size and climate. And also the facilities are better. Some things could be improved but its better than it was in the eighties. Well, in Beijing there were signs not to feed the animals but people were feeding the zebras lettuce and carrots and my kids and I were able to pet zebras. We had a brilliant time at the zoo.
9. Watch the music videos and television programs. So much of our US culture is our entertainment. We love our pop stars and movie stars. You know why? They are charismatic. The Chinese stars were charismatic as well. We loved the Pop music videos. Even without knowing the language we loved singing along with the songs. It was also to see the "hip hop" flavor in China.
10. Take your camera and take old school "digital" photos!!!! Since cell phones come whipped with decent cameras, sometimes we fail to tote our good old cameras. This time, I took my camera and was able to come away with far more pictures that I would have with my "camera phone".
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