Before I get into this, want to give credit where credit is due. I usually enjoy planning our trips very independently, then taking off, arriving and learning the ropes of a new city on the fly while stumbling across unique sites and experiences. However, given the language barrier and total culture shock I anticipated with China, I purchased off Amazon the most recent edition of Lonely Planet Beijing. This little book was an INCREDIBLE resource. I read it through before we left and earmarked pages and penciled everything from restaurants to shopping to natural and historical sites that fit in with our travel style and interests. My boyfriend (well, fiancé after this trip!) speaks some Mandarin, but if he hadn’t, I would have been pointing to various phrases in this book at every turn. Well worth the purchase, and definitely lead us to some spots we never would have found on our own.
GETTING AROUND A VERY LARGE CITY
Beijing is a sprawling city, so walking can be pretty intense, depending on the day you have planned.
We heard from many reliable sources, and then again confirmations within Beijing, that taxi drivers there would time and again really rip you off and charge extremely high fees for even the shortest rides. To that end, we confidently recommend taking advantage of the very comprehensive metro system on your trip. The system even has English characters, which helped us understand which direction we were heading by looking at the map and seeing stops along route to whatever our destination was on the day. However, beware buying Metro cards, the machines are VERY finicky and will not take all bills. We found consistently that the machines would reject every bill except for 10 or 20 yuan bills, which worked smoothly every time! Try to ensure you have a few on you reserved for this purpose (enough to get there and back!)
If you are traveling somewhere, such as the airport, during off hours (like us, we had a 5am flight), we highly recommend downloading Didi, the “Chinese Uber”. Getting to/from the airport very early or late morning, this was a great option! We were given super reasonable prices, and that price was set before we agreed to the car service. The fare was charged to our card on file with the Didi app, so no precious cash reserves needed here. That said:
BUDGETING
We were prepared to use our no-international fee credit card, as this helps us track our purchases and expenses post trip, but we found that we were made to use almost exclusively cash! Even places you would not expect, such as entrance to historical monuments and parks, required cash. So plan to have extra on hand, and if you need to take out extra, we used a Bank of China ATM which had very minimal withdrawal fees.
See below the budgeting template I used, including around how much we spent on each experience. I filled this out before our trip and used it there to decide how much cash to bring with us, depending on our plans for the day.
AIRPORT LAYOVERS
Flights to China can be super pricey, and the only way we were able to make this trip happen was by choosing non-direct flights with very long lay overs. On the way there, we had a layover in Chongqing, on the way home, a full day in Chengdu. Knowing this going in, we decided we would make the most of it, and planned full itineraries in each, planning to store our luggage, leave the airport, and get a taste for another Chinese city. For full details, please see itineraries for A Day in Chongqing and A Day in Chengdu.
DECIDING WHERE TO STAY
When visiting Europe, we always opt for Airbnb’s or Bnb’s. Not only are they more often than not cheaper than hotels, we prefer the taste for local living, having our own space, and the opportunity to have a direct connection with residents. However, the more I read about the Airbnb scene in China, the more I became worried about logistics. It would of course depend on what part of the world you are visiting from I’m sure, but coming from the USA, part of our Visa application process is declaring the address, contact information, and proof of where we would be staying during our trip to China. It looked like if you went the Airbnb route, you would need to connect with the host once you arrived in China and go with them to the local police station and complete paperwork on site declaring where you would be staying. With my wild imagination and detail-driven personality, I started to imagine every possible thing that could go wrong. So not to discourage! I’m sure there are many success stories. We, however, opted for the hotel route this time. We booked through Priceline and found a really great deal at Hotel Kapok; an amazing location in the Dongcheng district down the street from the east gate of the Forbidden City! I feel like we struck hotel gold, with very friendly staff, and a very unique room with full ceiling skylight (and remote-controlled cover for privacy). Trendy hotel design aside, the location is really something to rave about. There were many public transit options nearby, plenty of convenience stores and food options, and we also found we could walk easily to some of the main sites we wanted to see. So whether you go with this hotel, or opt for one of the many hostels nearby, can’t go wrong with the area at least. Unless you’re cooler than us and looking for a raging night life (This is a pretty quiet area. More on nightlife options here, and if you get the Lonely Planet Beijing book, you can see some great overviews of the various districts and the vibes they come with.
(See my hotel review on Trip Advisor- There is extensive advice and insight on this decision in the Lonely Planet Beijing guide as well)
COMMUNICATION
Not to be looked over! This isn’t like Paris where many locals can get by with basic English, or Barcelona where if you don’t speak Catalan, basic Spanish can just about cobble together a conversation. VERY few Beijing locals spoke any English, and if they did, VERY little. As mentioned, my fiancé speaks basic Mandarin, and that made a huge difference for us! We love to travel independently, so took a leap planning this whole trip on our own and joining only one tour group experience while there. If you plan to do the same, I can’t recommend enough how important it is to learn and practice at least some essential phrases in Mandarin (Duolingo time!). Of the few other English-speaking travelers we saw on this trip, my fiancé was looped into a few convos helping translate between travelers and locals. Aside from this advice, I would say be patient. Be friendly, and attentive, and don’t be embarrassed to get by with a little pantomime.
Home&Away 