My Free Trip to China…. Well Sort of :)
Ahhhh China the land of the rising sun…. Also the land of peking duck, spring rolls and wontons and a ton of other cool stuff but I’m hungry so those are the most important to me right now. I’m certain my growling belly is not why you clicked on this story so let’s delve into my free trip to China. Let me start by saying it wasn’t entirely free but it was wayyyyyy more affordable than most of my trips.
China has in recent years started one of the most inventive ways to get your tourism dollars that I’ve seen in a while… how you may ask. Well they make it free of course and who doesn’t like free. Yes you still have to pay to fly there,well sort of, but I’ll tell you more about that in a minute.. And you have to pay for your accommodations, but those are extremely affordable and really nice but I’ll give you some tips about that too. What China has done is waive the Visa fee for 24, 72 and even up to 144 hours. This saves you approximately 140$. That’s more than you’ll pay for a room in Shanghai. This allows you to see the country for free. While its not an all inclusive tour it does allow you to make the most of a long layover.
One of the hottest places to visit for 2019 is Thailand and coming from the United States its almost a guarantee you’ll stop in either Beijing or Shanghai. While you may be able to get a quick layover you should probably reconsider and book the flight with a long layover and put a little mini vacation in your vacation.
While I have heard horror stories about people getting to China and not being able to get the free Visa here are some tips to make sure you’re eligible. First you need to check out the Chinese Embassy website for the eligible countries. If you’re coming from the US or Canada your on the list but you also have to pay attention to where you’re headed. Your connecting flight is also important. If your going to Thailand you shouldn’t have a problem but some of the middle eastern countries make you ineligible so make sure you check the list. The next thing you will need is proof of accommodation if you’ll be there overnight so book it ahead and print out the information. Next have some plan of what you want to see because at any point they may ask what you’re there to see or do and you better have an answer. Like any other country you will fill out entry paperwork and wait in line to have it approved. Then you’re free to the beauty that is China.
Our layover was in Shanghai. Now finding a hotel in Shanghai isnt hard at all. We chose one near the airport with free shuttle service but if you have the time one closer to the city center may allow you to see and do more. It takes approximately an hour to get from the airport to beautiful and CLEAN downtown… I’ve never seen such a clean city. Because I wanted to be a bit bougie we stayed at a fancy hotel but there are many for under 75 a night. Shop around and Im sure youll find one that’s perfect for your wallet and your level of bougie.
We arrived around 5 and after getting our visa and getting settled in to the hotel we headed downtown. While there’s many wonderful things to do we headed straight for the Oriental Pearl. This HUGE tower looks like something out of an alien invasion but the view from the top is absolutely breathtaking. The tower complex is surrounded by shops and street vendors. We took an elevator up the 351 meters to a viewing area with a lot of space themed decor but while that was cute the view from the windows took my breath away. From that height we were able to see one of the most astounding skylines in the world. After spending some time taking pictures we headed down to the second viewing area and it was also amazing.. It had a clear floor… so FYI not for those who are scared of heights. I have to say that this area of downtown a must for those with just a little time to spend.
The food is also unbelievable we found a wonderful restaurant that had handmade noodles…. They were soooo delicious. Make sure you check out my next post where I give you the recipe along with a few more dishes native to China … I tried to recreate several Chinese dishes with varying degrees of success but the recipes I’ll give are good even if my cooking isn’t.
All in all we were there for less than 24 hours but it was definitely a wonderful experience that I hope to do again. While not a totally free trip to China I hope you will try to make it while the free visas are still available. Maybe one day I will tour the entire country but until then a free layover visa is pretty good to me.
