The Itinerary - Day 1 & 2

Preface
This book is being provided to you for your own personal use and enjoyment.  When your tour guide is standing at the front of the bus as it bounces along to your next sight, it's kind of difficult to get an appreciation of what you are about to see.  The objective here is to give you a better understanding of the sights and sounds that you will be seeing on your trip and therefore add to your enjoyment.  This book is not to be used for commerical purposes as I hold the copyright.  Your itinerary may be different from ours so you will have to adjust your sights accordingly.

My suggestion would be to print these pages off on your printer, take them to your local Staples or stationer's store.  Make additional copies for your personal use (your spouse or partner might like a copy).  (Print the front and back pages on white cardstock if you have any.)  Then have the Staples people add a clear plastic cover to the front and back and have them coil-bind the pages into a book.  During your tour, read and digest what you'll be doing the next day so that you are familiar with what you'll be seeing.  It will add to your enjoyment and appreciation.  Take your book along with you so that you can make notes in the margins.  Be sure to take lots of photos.

When you arrive at Beijing Airport, your challenge will be to get off the plane, pick up your luggage, navigate your way through customs and immigration (make sure you have your passport and visa handy!) and make your way out into the arrivals area.  The arrivals area will be crowded!  Your job is to look for signs and coloured flags that shout "Sinorama" at you.  Once you've found your Sinorama guide, you can relax.  Your tour is about to begin.  You'll be guided every step of the way.  Your challenge will be to always keep in sight of that Sinorama flag.  And listen up!  If you lolly-gag along the way, taking your time to shoot that perfect photo, you're going to get lost.

Throughout your trip you will have two types of guides.  You'll have a national guide who will be with you throughout the whole trip.  And for each locality, you'll have a local guide.  Get to know them and their names.  And make sure you read our last post first.  It has some very important tips on health, eating, and information on bathrooms and toilets.

In spite of all our caveats and cautions, you are about to take off on the adventure of a lifetime.  Your are going to see two types of China - old China which is over 3,000 years old, and new China which is only 30 years old.  You are going to see why and how China has come so far so fast.  And you will get some insight into what the future of China will be.

Enjoy your trip and have fun!

Saturday & Sunday, 21 & 22 September
For Day 1 and part of Day 2, we'll be in the air flying from Ottawa to Beijing.  Our flight departs Ottawa On Saturday, September 21st at 06:00 with a 4 1/2 hour layover in Newark New Jersey - 331 miles away.  From Newark, we fly non-stop to Beijing 6,817 miles.  This will be a 14-hour flight.  All-in-all, it will take us about 20 hours from the time we leave the airport in Ottawa until we land in Beijing at 13:45 local time.  Arriving in Beijing, we've got about half a day to get settled into our hotel, unpack our bags, recover from the jet lag, and perhaps do a bit of a walk-about around the city.  Or maybe just recover from the jet lag.

Our Hotel - Ramada Beijing North
For the next several days, we'll be staying at the Ramada Beijing North, 319 Changping Road, Changping District, Beijing, 102208, Beijing.

Ramada Beijing North

Just so you'll recognize the distance we'll have travelled just to get from Ottawa to Beijing, here's a map of the route. 

Ottawa To China & Back

The adventure gets underway late in the afternoon when we have a welcoming dinner and get to meet the folks who are going to be on the tour with us. 

Tomorrow things get underway early in the morning when we visit Tiananmen Square.