It's official China, July 18, 2010

[It's always cold]

We are officially booked as of today (just under the wire to get the free cruise). I am so excited, we are going to tell the kids at dinner, they knew it was probably going to happen but now it is really, really going to happen.

My travel agent was on the phone with Adventures by Disney for an hour today booking (have to use a travel agent as we are from Canada). She asked how many people were booked and with our booking of 4 there are now 20 people on the trip so 50% booked, so we are probably safe from cancellation due to not enough bookings.

 

[sayhello]

We are officially booked as of today (just under the wire to get the free cruise). I am so excited, we are going to tell the kids at dinner, they knew it was probably going to happen but now it is really, really going to happen.

My travel agent was on the phone with Adventures by Disney for an hour today booking (have to use a travel agent as we are from Canada). She asked how many people were booked and with our booking of 4 there are now 20 people on the trip so 50% booked, so we are probably safe from cancellation due to not enough bookings.

Congratulations! This trip is high on my list of "must do someday". It's a really fabulous itinerary! Enjoy.

Sayhello

 

[toothbrush]

You are going to love it, we went on the same date in 2008 and had the trip of a life time.

 

[It's always cold]

I'm a little concerned about it being the rainy season (but I have done a tropical depression in Disney World where it rained for 5 days straight). Just wondering how much rain you saw and also what kind of footwear you took?

Also concerned about packing, I know they want you to pack light, is everything pretty casual? How does this play into shopping, are you able to take an extra duffel in your suitcase and add it to your packed bags as you may buy things throughout the country?

 

[toothbrush]

We lucked out no rain except for one day of drizzle in shanghai.
it was hot but not terrible. We dressed shorts,t-shirts, sneakers hats and sunblock. disney had it pretty much covered for heat they knew the shady spots to stop and rest and even had the "clean" bathrooms mapped out.water on the bus, etc.
everywhere was basically casual a few places i wore a shirt with a collar and my wife a sun dress. Espescially the last night when you have the farewell dinner in Hong Kong when people like to get a bit more formal, but it certainly is not expected. there is an upscale restaurant in shanghai that you could dress up for if you were so inclined.
we packed one medium size suitcase each and one back pack each, almost everyone on the trip bought some type of suitcase etc.while in china to bring back all there stuff. It is extremely cheap to buy suitcases in china , we picked up one for $15 (probably could have haggled lower but by them we were tired of the game), most people waited until Hong Kong stanely market , later in the trip but some bought in Shanghai. Not the best quality bags but they work.

 

[Nikisha421]

Congratulation!!!

 

[It's always cold]

Thanks for all the info Toothbrush, I am also following the other questions and answers the other China travellers are asking, you are a plethora of knowledge. I did think of another question, did all the hotels have blow dryers or should we bring our own travel one and then do you require a convertor to use it?

 

[toothbrush]

I asked my wife and daughter what they remember since i really don't have enough hair to use a blow dryer. My wife says that she remembers all the hotels having blow dryers. We did bring convertors for lap top,ipod recharge ,phone recharger, camera batteries with 5 of us there was always a fight for convertors, some hotels may have had one in the room but it was usually by the desk and not movable. Two different girls burnt out very expensive flat irons connecting to their outlets without convertors they just used a three prong adapter and supposedly switch a button on the iron which says 220v but didn;t work!! my daughters flat iron made clicking sound but never burnt out not using convertor and just changing to 220v lucky i guess
My wife said packing for each move was a *itch because the suitcases have to be out in the hall ready to go very early in the morning for disney to take them away. so she had to think what we needed for getting ready,shower,etc. clothes,valuables, because what ever didn't go with the bags ,you were stuck carrying around and as carry on at airport. usually the blow dryer didn't make the cut and they would just use the hotels blow dryer. as an aside, a warning airport security is wishy washy, they change and make up rules as they see fit. one has very little recourse. if a security person does not know or recognize what you are carrying they may take it away and i am sorry to say if they like what they see they "confiscate "it! my wife lost many make up items to female security people nail polish, mascara,foundation,deoderant etc. they even took away a few american books , really nothing you can or really want to do.Hard to replace what you lose because they do not carry same brands types.as the tour progressed one could always tell a travel day nobody looked quite the same so the dilemma is what to carry ,what to pack, We did not experience any valuables being taken such as ipods,computers,cameras,money i think they know not to cross that unwritten line. So let the packing vs. getting ready games begin!
i guess the short answer is bring convertors and a blow dryer just in case. Sorry about all the info but there are few small answers ;like China they are usually big.

 

[It's always cold]

Do they have the liquid ban on in China flights?

That is good to know about the makeup, I may have to pack extra items in packed luggage, this does put a whole new spin on packing.

The more information I have going to China the better, I like to plan and I know what to expect on all my travels, I don't do well with bad surprises like confiscation of make up.

 

[toothbrush]

To this day we have no idea if china had a liquid ban??? disney told us to just use american rules, do not think that they know the rules. Never seemed to be any uniform policy between airports. I walked onto one plane with a full size ,filled spring water bottle water sticking out of my backpack without incident but they took away a tiny bottle of hand sterilizer.

 

[kim532]

Congratulations!!! I would love to do this some day.

KIm

 

[It's always cold]

More questions toothbrush, are your checked bags safe at the airport. We had an experience years ago where our bags were gone through at a Mexican airport and while our stuff was moved around, everything was there, but other people in our group did have stuff taken.

Also wondering about currency, did you exchange money before you went and what did you do as you went along. We are so used to using ATM's when we need to I kind of forgot about that until I saw someone elses post on that subject.

Thanks for all the help!!

 

[garyqu]

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[garyqu]

welcome to china...