• Be sure to book flights early. If you haven’t booked your flight already, you must do it ASAP. Not only will it be difficult to find flights you want, but the longer you wait, the more expensive they will be.
• Have a travel backup plan. In the northern hemisphere around this time of year, the weather can be rather tricky and unpredictable with snow, blizzards, and ice. Have a backup plan in case your flight is canceled or the roads are too slippery to drive.
• When traveling with children, have multiple games and activities packed. Make sure some of the games do not require batteries so that if your flight is delayed and the game dies you won’t have a screaming child on your hands. Also, think about games you can play together as a family. This can make airport waiting time and car rides seem shorter and more fun.
• Always pack additional winter clothes. It always gets colder than you think it will.
• When driving, its a good idea to have some chains for your tires in the car in case you run into bad weather. If your in need of a quick fix getting out of a patch of icy road, keep some roof shingles in your trunk. Place them under your tire to help gain some traction over the icy patch.
• Bring an extra suitcase or one that is half full. Don’t forget you will be getting presents and be needing to get them back home somehow.
• The “I Have Never” game has saved long car rides of falling asleep drivers many times. How you play is everyone in the car has 10 fingers up, and every takes a turn saying something they have never done. If you have done it, you put a finger down. The first person with all fingers down wins (or loses depending on how you are playing).
• Make sure you turn off your holiday lights and unplug them before you leave so you don’t start a fire.
• If you start to feel like your family is getting to you, offer to play a board game together or work on a craft together to bring you all to a common ground.
• Don’t feel like you have to do everything. Sure you’re back in town and everyone is having a holiday party, but be sure to pace yourself. This is your vacation, and you need to make to sure to have some time to yourself.

Stay safe and happy travels. Happy holidays!!

Alas, we are coming to the last leg of my China trip, Shanghai. The city was so modern I almost forgot what country I was in. The plane touched down on another rainy evening. Our car sloshed through the puddles and over to our hotel near the railway station. Stephen and I settled into our gorgeous and nice hotel. After surveying the monsoon outside and our nice living room and hot water maker, we opted to run across the street to pick up some ramen for dinner. Being a vegetarian, I casually threw away the meat containing spice packets and rocked that ramen raw. We curled up for sleep and were ready for the next day.

Old Style Building

6-15-11  Shanghai

We woke up and met our tour guide in the lobby. We headed over to the Shanghai museum to get a nice view of Chinese history and culture in that area. After our speedy walk through the museum, we journeyed over for a foggy view of the Bund. There were so many interesting buildings of varying shapes sticking up into the clouds. After our sojourn down the river in the rain, we headed to the ancient main shopping district in the city. The old style buildings were beautiful with their carvings and pointed roof flourishes. It is quite a pity that style of building is almost non-existent in the city any more giving way to high rises and western buildings. We saw an ancient beautiful palace with carved wood and amazing waterways filled with large goldfish. The market was full of every trinket imaginable and a large amount of delicious food. We headed over to the main modern shopping district where Stephen splurged on his love of clothes. Our tour guide brought us back to our hotel, and we spruced up for our night out. We dressed to the nines for some delicious dinner and clubbing. We took the metro back over to the shopping district we were at earlier and grabbed some dinner. We then walked over to the Bund for a view of it lit up at night. The rain had mostly let up, so we were able to see a lot of the buildings in all their glory. It was quite an intense sight to behold, even for this New Yorker. Stephen and I headed up to Bar Rouge to get our dance on. There was some good beats playing and a small crowd when we walked in. I ordered a vodka ginger ale, he ordered something straight. We took a table towards the back, but with still a good view of the Bund lit up outside. The liquor flowed, the people poured in, the beats kept playing. Stephen and I danced the night away to those sweet techno beats. After clubbing quite late, we grabbed a cab back to our hotel. It had begun to rain again and the metro was closed by that time. We made it back to catch a quick hour or 2 of sleep before it was back up and to the airport.

The Bund

6-16-11  Shanghai/NYC

Stephen and I packed all of our things and headed to the airport on our way out of China. The trip was long, but very satisfying. Even if the government denied me entry into Tibet, I still had fun at the cities I did visit in China. China is such a huge country and I feel like I barely caught a glimpse of all it has to offer. Special thanks also to our tour company, Travel China Guide for a really fantastic and amazing tour. I would recommend them if you ever get the itch to head over to China.

I’m sad to see this chapter in my blog entries to end. I don’t know when or where I’m headed to next, but I’m always thinking of the next adventure. Stick around for some helpful travel tips until the next adventure. As always, live big and travel safe. Peace love unity respect. Until next time.

On our flight from Xi’an to Gulin we ran into quite a bit of thunderstorms and turbulence. I could start to see lightning in the distance as our plane moved through the sky. I was reminded of that poster in the Truman Show where the airplane has a lightning bolt through it. Luckily though we landed safe and sound in the city of Gulin, located in the southeast of China. It was a relief to finally leave all the big cities and come to an almost jungle-like atmosphere. We arrived in the city too late to catch any dinner, given that of course the airline never serves me vegetarian meals in any country on any flight no matter how much I tell them…so we just had a quite dinner and some drinks in the hotel.

The Mountains of Yangshou

6-12-11  Guilin/Yangshou

Stephen and I woke up and headed over to a dock for a boat ride adventure down the Li River. The boat ride was simply amazing. Jungle crept over the sides of the banks as towering peaks and mountains jutted up around and in the distance. Water buffaloes and peasants came to the water to pluck their chickens and drink. It was as though I was watching a scene from an ancient movie, or I had suddenly been transported back 500 years. Our boat ride ended in the small backpacker town of Yangshou. We dropped our things off at the hotel, and then it immediately began raining, but we forged ahead! We rented bikes and rode far into the country side with ancient farm houses, workers wearing conical hats in the rice paddy fields, and ending at a small tributary to the Li River. We parked our bikes and took an ancient log boat ride down the river. The mountains were again surrounding us and our boat man started singing ancient river songs in a strange dialect as we floated down the river. After our relaxing boat ride, we biked back through the country side to the city and headed for some dinner. Stephen and I got delicious Chinese food and huge beers at a cute little corner cafe. Our waitress was excited we were foreign and kept practicing her English with us. It was fun. We headed back to the hotel to freshen up, and then went down to the river for a night light show. There is beautiful song, dance, lighting, and choreography all tied together with the river and the mountains. It was quite beautiful. We got some ice cream and walked back to the hotel for a good night sleep.

My Bike Ride Through Yangshou

6-13-11  Yangshou

This was Stephen and I’s lazy catch up day. We slept a lot, took nice hot showers, and wandered down to this delicious vegetarian restaurant called Lotus. I had delicious eggplant, and the food was so amazing. I was starting to really like this town with its hippie backpacker feel, the closeness to nature, amount of veggie places to eat, and the amount of English spoken. We wandered through the markets and the shops, and I bargained and bought a pair of flowy pants. After walking, we found a nice indian place to stop for dinner and then bar hopped the night away.

6-14-11  Yangshou/Guilin/Shanghai

We woke up and drove back to Guilin to see Elephant Trunk Hill, which is an interesting rock formation worn away by the river. Stephen and I hiked to the top of the hill and found an ancient pagoda. We came back down and saw where they made rice wine. Whew it stank! We then took a drive over to Seven Star Park where we saw wild monkeys in the trees and they came right up to you! We saw some interesting rock formations and where Bill Clinton gave a speech, and then headed over to Reed Flute Cave. The ancient and beautiful cave was lit up with hundreds of colored lights. It was impressive and amazing. We packed up our things and jumped the plane to Shanghai! Stay tuned for my last China trip update!

My Feets and I Sailing Down the River

We arrived in Xi’an in the evening our taxi gliding down the streets looking off into empty housing complexes going on for miles in every direction. Ghosts of novels like Neuromancer and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? start running though my head. We got to our hotel, which was over the top gaudy and in the middle of what looked like a poor area. We wandered around the neighborhood looking for some dinner, but only found abandoned buildings with neon signs and women washing their underwear in bowls on the street. We headed back to the hotel for some food and beer, and ended the evening with a relaxing foot massage.

Terracotta Warriors

6/9/11  Xi’an

We woke up and headed over to the terracotta warrior ruins. It was amazing to see all of these stone figures and horses lined up to pay tribute to the emperor. There are so many figures, many of them haven’t even been un-earthed yet. We were luck to see an archeological team digging up some more warriors at the site. The warriors were built by the 1st emperor of the Qin dynasty (same dude who built the Great Wall and unified the modern Chinese language). After our warrior adventure, we headed to the Shanxi History Museum to learn more about the periods in history and see some artifacts. We then headed to the Wild Goose Pagoda, which was a Buddhist Temple made to house the 1st scriptures that came to China from India. We climbed to the top of the pagoda and looked out over Xi’an…it seemed to go on for miles.  After our exciting day, we headed over to the Tang Dynasty Dance Show was some AMAZING vegetarian dumplings and traditional Tang Dynasty music and dance performance. It was very satisfying.

Wild Goose Pagoda

6-10-11  Xi’an

We woke up and headed over to the Muslim Temple to look at the Islamic influence that came from the Silk Road. We wandered around the bazaar for awhile and then headed to the southern wall to see the city gate. The next part of our tour consisted of going over a local woman’s house and having her cook a traditional Chinese meal for us. It was slightly awkward, but the food was REALLY good. I think I turned into a dumpling afterwards. Stephen and I then decided to walk through the entire city on foot. It was quite hot, but we found some cool places like a chill hippie bar near the south wall, a large expensive mall, and then a local mall for young people. Traffic in China is CRAZY. Cars drive in the bike lanes, bike drive on sidewalks, and people basically do whatever they want. Given this, I was unfortunately struck by a scooter that was going the wrong way on a one way street. Luckily, I was ok save for some minor bruises, and we continued our walk on. We then made it to the area around the Wild Goose Pagoda and had some dinner at a chain ramen place. We then went on the square to see everything lit up at night and people gathered in various areas to dance the night away. We walked to the other side of the temple to see a water and light show set to music. We then celebrated Stephen’s 27th birthday by bar hopping in a small bar area near the pagoda. It was quite a pleasant day.

Happy Birthday Stephen!

6-11-11  Xi’an/Guilin

We slept in a little after our adventures from the previous evening. Packed up our gear and headed on to the airport. On the way, we stopped at the Yangli museum to see a Han emperor’s tomb with different looking warriors surrounding it. On the way to Gulin! Stay tuned for the rest of the Chinese adventure!

This was a long 14 hour plane ride. Air China did not give me a vegetarian meal, and the inflight entertainment was awful. I also sat next to extremely rude lady who thought it was acceptable to continue to elbow me the entire time and play Angry Birds on her iPhone with the volume turned up as loud as it could go. I finally arrived at the Beijing airport only to realize I was meeting my friend Stephen at a different terminal. I had to get on a long and epic bus ride, but I was able to meet up with him and our tour guide Sara where we then headed to our hotel to stay. I’m normally used to staying in hostels, so this hotel was super fancy. It had a mirror in the bathroom where a circle of it didn’t fog up, delicious continental breakfast, bathrobes and other amenities. I felt like I was living like a queen!

6-6-11  Beijing

I didn’t sleep too well given the jetleg, but Stephen and I were able to wake up for our delicious breakfast and meet up with our tour guide. She took us to Tienanmen Square where Chairman Mao was buried, and then into the Forbidden City.

Forbidden City

The Forbidden City is where the emperor lived with his 3000 concubines and 9000 eunuchs. The concubines were lucky if they ever got to sleep with the emperor just once! The Forbidden City was huge with many walled gardens, statues, areas for concubines, etc… After the palace we headed over to a fairly fancy looking restaurant where Stephen experimented eating donkey meat and other such foods. Rain started to come down as we headed over to the Temple of Heaven. We walked through the park to the temple where they sacrificed cows to the god of heaven. The number 9 was favored in architecture of this temple. It was considered lucky. In Chinese culture men were considered dragons and women were considered phoenixes which is why you see so many statues of them. After the Temple, we headed over to a tea house for a tea ceremony. It was really interesting regarding the different teas and how you taste them. My favorite ended up being the oolong tea followed by jasmine is close second. I bought some tea and some tea cups and we were on our way to the Red Theater for The Legend of Kung Fu show. It was the story of a young boy and his quest for learning kung fu and becoming a master. It was a really great show demonstrating fantastic acrobatics and kung fu skills. After the show, our guide dropped us back off at the hotel. Stephen and I walked down the street to a small hole in the wall place where I ate some fried rice and egg and a 24 oz. beer. Our communication skills included menu pointing, finger holding, calculator displaying, and a nifty Lonely Planet Mandarin iPhone app I downloaded.

6-7-11  Beijing

We woke up to another fantastic breakfast and our tour guide started out the day taking us to a jade factory. She explained how jade was very important in Chinese culture. Women wore certain pieces of jade to show if they were in a relationship or they would wear their zodiac symbol for protection and good luck on certain calendar years. After taking a look at the factory and I bought some jade chopsticks, we realized that the place was pretty much a tourist trap and we were disappointed we had been taken there. After the factory we headed over to the Sacred Way where stone animals lined the pathway, guarding the way to the emperor’s tomb. We entered the Ming Tombs to see where one of the emperors from the Qing Dynasty was buried. People threw money in different parts of the burial place for good luck. After the tombs we headed to a hotel that had a delicious spicy tofu and broccoli dinner. Beijing cuisine is notoriously salty. After our food, we headed to the Great Wall of China!

The Great Wall of China

Stephen and I climbed the difficult part where there were not too many people. Despite the heat, we were able to get some stunning pictures of the wall. The Wall was originally built to keep out the Mongols from the north. It stretches for thousands of miles and can be seen from space! After our walk on the wall, we headed back to our car for the journey back to the city center of Beijing. Our guide dropped us off, and we headed to the Lama Temple (the largest Buddhist temple outside of Tibet) to meet up with a friend of a friend and her husband. She took us to a delicious vegetarian buffet near the temple and the food was delicious!! Apparently Buddhist monks have been making fake meat for thousands of years to help make their meat-eating guests feel more at home. We picked up a hostel staying friend at the veggie place and he joined us on our trip to the night market.

Scorpions on a stick

The market was crazy! You could get anything from a sheep penis to a centipede to a live scorpion on a stick! The power went out at the market, so we headed over to a bar for a few drinks with our new friends before grabbing a cab back to the hotel for some sleep.

6-8-11  Beijing/Xi’an

We woke up early again and checked out of our hotel. We made a quick stop at the Beijing Zoo to see the 4 pandas they had there. Panda Bears are endangered and there are only about 1000 left in the world! We then headed over to the Summer Palace to see what the Empress Cixi used as a retreat to pray to Buddha. She built a temple on a hill overlooking a lake with a female Buddha inside. We walked through the longest corridor in the world that contained over 14,000 hand-painted murals of certain events in Chinese mythology and literacy. Stephen was very happy to see all of these paintings. We then climbed to the top of the temple to the Buddha where we could over look all of Beijing. It is a huge city! We climbed back down and headed to our last meal in Beijing. I tried a 100 year old duck egg, but it smelled, looked, and tasted like death. I was happy enough to eat some gluten and peas instead. We headed to the airport and were off to Xi’an!

Stay tuned for updated from my stay in Xi’an and other parts of China!

Summer Palace

American Passport

Ready for renewal. Now what?

1. Visit  http://travel.state.gov/passport/forms/ds82/ds82_843.html and fill out the forms there. If your passport it undamaged, you are older than 16, your passport was issued within the last 15 years, and your passport has your current name on it – you are able to submit by mail
2. Print out the forms
3. Attach one 2 in x 2 in (passport sized) color photograph of yourself in the appropriate location on the form
4. Include a check written to the “Department of State” for the appropriate amount (currently $110 for an adult passport book)
5. Mail the forms, the photograph, the check, and your old passport book to the address indicated on the forms. Be sure to use a very secure and traceable method of mailing in case anything should happen to your passport.

Processing and renewal will take about 4-6 weeks to complete, so be sure to allow yourself enough time before your next trip. You can expedite the process down to 2 weeks for some additional fees.

To obtain a visa, you must contact the embassy or consulate general of the country you are traveling to within the region you are living in. The country will usually have a map similar to this http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/hzqz/t84229.htm to show what embassy is nearest to you, and which one you should visit.

You usually must obtain the visa in person and using a credit card. You will need to bring:

• your passport (with usually 6 months remaining before expiration)
• a small photo of yourself
• credit card
• the filled out visa form

Processing usually takes about a week and the visa lasts around 90 days depending on the type of visa you have obtained. The visa will be placed in your passport, so be sure to have a blank page available.

Example of a Visa

Do not overstay your visa or you could be subject to heavy fines and possible charges.

Once you have your visa and your other documents, you should be ready to go. Bon voyage!

Fremont Troll

I started out my evening in Seattle by meeting up with my friend who works at an amazingly delicious organic fair trade chocolate factory called Theo. After getting a wonderful tour and lots of free chocolate samples, we headed out past the Statue of Lenin, and past the Fremont Troll (who appropriately enough lives under a bridge) and back to Becca’s house where I could drop off my stuff. True to Seattle mythos, it rained the entire time I was there, but that did not stop me from having a good time! We took the bus to Capitol Hill to a delicious bar and grill called Smith, and then called it a night.

The following day, Becca had to return to her work at the chocolate factory, so I continued on my own mission around Seattle. Getting the hang of the bus system was a little complicated because sometimes you paid when you got on and sometimes you paid when you got off depending how far out you were from the city limits. If possible, I would rent a car, but the bus system is totally doable (with of course a little help from the GPS).

I grabbed the bus into the downtown area and got off to wander around the Pike Place Market. I found lots of fresh fish, produce, a wall of gum, and tons of floors of strange shops selling interesting things. I continued my wandering through the rain next to the harbor making my way further into town. I arrived in Village Square where I happened upon a tour of the Seattle Underground. There really wasn’t a whole lot to see underneath the streets, but the stories were fascinating. I learned all about the invention of the “crapper,” the fire, the flooding, and the rebuilding of the city 12 feet higher than it was originally.

Space Needle

After the tour I headed back the way I came to the Seattle Center to take a gander at the Space Needle, but most importantly to visit a science fiction museum. It was a nerd’s paradise. My ticket also allowed me to get into the Experience Music Project (I love being a student again) where I was able to view and experience a variety of technology and instruments. I met up with Becca again and we had a lovely dinner at a delicious French restaurant and called it a night.

The next day Becca did not have to work, so she was my own personal tour guide! We went to Puget Sound to see the lochs and the ships get raised and lowered from the fresh water to the salt water and out to sea. It was very interesting to watch. This was also the place where they put the salmon ladders. This allowed the salmon to continue their migratory process upstream and through the loch. We sadly did not see any salmon jump, but we did see a giant wild sea lion chomp down and devour a salmon! I was lucky enough to catch it on video. We then met up with Becca’s mom to go on a hike through the forest with her. We saw a couple walking a goat, but no vampires After refueling at her mom’s house, we headed out to a lovely Mexican restaurant for dinner. This was followed by a brief wedding reception and then gay karaoke. I cannot tell you how amazing gay karaoke is in Seattle. We were rocking everything from Lady Gaga to Garth Brooks.

After 3 hours of sleep, I managed to take the bus to the lightrail to the airport and head on back to New York for countless hours of homework and studying during my first term in grad school. Until next time globe trotters.

What you also need to be aware of is from whom did you purchase the tickets? If you purchased them directly from the airline company, you deal with the airline company regarding the rescheduling of your flight. If you purchased them from an outside vendor such as Orbitz or Travelocity, you need to deal with that company. Dealing with the company can sometimes get tricky, and they may want to toss you around a bit.

When rebooking the flight, you must unfortunately use the phone. Try and have your old plane reservation information available so you can answer any questions they may have for you. Choose your new date, confirm, and make sure they send you a confirmation email containing your new itinerary and you’re all set.

Company

Pros

• Do all the work for you
• If you are going to multiple locations or countries without good public transportation, it is definitely the cheaper and more safer way to get around
• Airfare, meals, lodging, and transportation are all usually included and it usually makes for a better deal for your pocket $$
• If you are unfamiliar with a country they will usually take you to all the hotspots/places to see
• There are usually guides to show you cool and exciting places
• You don’t have to know the language of the country you are visiting

Cons

• You are stuck to the company’s rigid timeline and schedule. You can only see what they bring you to see when you see it
• You don’t usually get a flavor for the people, nightlife, language, and the culture
• You are a tourist
• Not a lot of free time

Solo Traveling

Pros

• You are in total control. You are free to change your schedule, extend your stay, fly to another country, end up in a local’s bedroom, wind up in a crazy hostel, stumble into some awesome party, etc…
• Since you are able to explore at your own pace, you get a better feel for the people and the culture, and you might be able to meet up and hang with some of the locals.
• You really get to discover a country
• Find your own adventures

Cons

• Choosing your own path will probably cost you a little more than had you gone with a company
• Ending up in public transportation alone in certain countries can be dangerous
• If you don’t form a schedule or itinerary for yourself, you could end up bored or unhappy with your trip

However you decide to book your trip and travel, stay safe and stay happy. Great travels my friends. Peace.