Mark has kindly allowed me to guest on Lost In China. I’m aiming to visit him in July and I thought it would be fun to catalogue the trials and excitements on the way. Part of the challenge will be to keep in touch with work whilst I’m halfway round the globe. So far I have spoken to my mobile phone provider (more…)

OK so the Dr advised making an appointment with the travel nurse, my first thought was I hadn’t intended to take a nurse with me, Night Nurse perhaps (I’m afraid the jokes won’t get any better); I’ve made an appointment in May so that’s sorted. Now I’m looking at Visas (see here); it seems I have to book an airline ticket in advance of getting a Visa so what if they don’t let me in? Is that money down the drain? (more…)

So here starts the search for insurance to cover me while I’m away. After all, If I need an ambulance to bring me home from China I’m going to have to have big bucks. My current travel insurance is with the Post Office and covers me for Europe. (more…)

It won’t be long now until I set off on the old silk road! Or to put it more accurately Air China flight CA856  to Beijing and then on to Fuzhou. It goes without saying that China is a first for me but so will the long haul flight. The longest I’ve spent flying to date is under 2 hours. The travel nurse that gave me my Hep A, Typhoid and Tetanus jabs advised me to wear travel socks and move about a lot so I plan to take bags of sweets with me and make my way up and down the aisles offering them to all the passengers. Perhaps a song and dance routine might go down well too, it would certainly keep the blood clots at bay. (more…)

Well the good news is that my Visa has been granted and my passport has been returned, Ilana at CTMS Travel has done the job in an exemplary way. Now I have a lovely label attached to page 18 of my passport. Why page 18 I wonder especially as all the other pages are blank. Is there any logic that argues against using the first blank page I wonder? Is it perhaps a subtle way of saying to us lowly visaees that visaors are so busy and important they don’t have time to flick through and find the next empty page? I’m sure not!! (more…)

Well it was looking like a disaster. Somewhere between the back door and the living room I put my last glass of wine down. After 30 minutes of increasingly frantic walking back and forth glancing (almost) everywhere I was coming to the opinion that it would have to stay wherever it was until I got back from China. AND then (more…)

Imagine my surprise just now when I noticed how worn the pocket was. OH NO I thought (more…)

Well I’m here waiting for my wings. The journey up was uneventful no traffic hold ups to speak of. Electronic check-in was flawless and the luggage was half a kilo underweight! (more…)

I was sitting, reading, waiting for my gate to be announced when my attention was drawn by a commotion. A young Ethiopian woman was struggling with luggage two children I guess around 2 an 3. (more…)

Phew thought I might get a cool welcome from Mark. Should be ok now 🙂 (more…)