New Year--travel time

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year! Nothing much happened here in Wenzhou. Spring Festival is coming up though so I recommend making travel plans now rather than waiting until Spring Festival time. The trains and airplanes tend to be packed during the Festival and there is no guarantee that you will be able to get tickets. Also, hotels and hostels fill up rather quickly so be sure to make reservations if you are going to stay in one of them. If you don't know how to make a reservation, some hotels offer online booking but you should get a person who speaks Chinese to help you. For airfare, most airlines offer online booking and some of the webpages are bi-lingual. Be sure to double check the dates. if you are supposed to be back on the 8th, don't wait until the 7th to return. Instead book tickets for the 5th or 6th. The rule for travel in China during any holiday is to expect unexpected delays.

Personally, I don't know if I am going to travel for Spring Festival. I may decide to save my money and instead travel during the summer. I want to go to the Amur River region along the border with Russia to see the Northern Lights at some point, but that is a bit expensive so I think I will stay here in Wenzhou for the time being. Wenzhou has great access to both air travel and rail lines. The city is located in the middle of China, along the coast so there is easy access to all modes of transport that will take you to anywhere in China.

Also, if you are buying a train ticket, you usually can not but a round-trip ticket. If you have to change trains (say in Shanghai or Beijing) the train station you begin at can only give you ticket for as far as Shanghai. When you arrive in Shanghai, you will have to buy another ticket for the next leg of your journey. You have to do this every time you change trains. The same goes for buses. Airplanes don't have this restriction.