courtesy of travel-direct.com
With our China trip just around the corner, we have nearly everything prepared. Even though we don’t leave for a month, it’s best to check items off of your to-do-list as soon as possible. Here is a condensed version of what needs to be done-
1) Book Flights- You can never tackle this one too early. If you want the best deal on flights you have to check at least twice a week from 2-6 months out. Prices for our flights fluctuated 40-50% within a matter of weeks. I start my search with kayak.com and if that doesn’t work I will type my home airport code and the destination airport code, including date, directly into the web address bar. Something like this- PDX to CTU April 12, 2014
2) Hotel/Room Reservations- This is another task that should be handled very early on. Do not wait til’ the last minute. I’d give it a minimum of a month out, but prefer to make my reservations immediately after booking my flight. Once again, Kayak.com works well, but this year we found the best deal using ctrip.com. Click on the American flag to view their page in english.
3) Passports and Visas- If your passport doesn’t expire for a while, you are off the hook. But, when it comes to a visa, which is required for China, you’d better be ready to fill out some paperwork. If you live near a Chinese consulate, you are in luck and won’t have to have a middleman/company submit them for you. Since we do not live near one, we elect to use a outfit called Travisa. They have a spectacular website that explains the entire process and have a dedicated team to help you out if need be. The cost usually runs several hundred dollars per person and takes a little over a week. Be sure to submit your application in about a month to a few weeks before takeoff.
With these three items checked off of your list, you are well on your way. There are plenty of other tasks that must take place, but these are by far the most time consuming and costly. Good luck and be sure to have fun.