Travelling to china.....how much??

[Souljah]

Just wondering how much you think it will cost..... and where the cheapest is. (traveling from the UK-LONDON)
I've checked a couple of ticket sites but the cheapest I can find is about £700 (about $1000 or something) when travelling between febuary and may (off-peak), this is for a trip between 1 and 4 weeks.
Has anyone found a cheaper place?
Bare in mind that this price doesnt include accomodation so a full trip would probably be upwards of £1000 (estimate) if it were over 2 weeks staying in a guest house.

Any help would be most appreciated.....:D :rolleyes: :D

soul

[TaoBoy]

I paid about AU$2,500 for 2 weeks all inclusive. But we are fairly close to China - relatively speaking. Hope that gives you an idea of what can be achieved.

[Pakmei]

Souljah,

You might want to have a look at some of the travel agancies in China Town.

They usually do some really good deals if your travelling to China, Hong Kong or the Far East in general!

One of the last deals that I saw in one of the travel agencies were air tickets to Hong Kong for about £300 - £350.00.

So you never know your luck, they might have some really good deals for trips to the Mainland.

Good Luck.

[Souljah]

yea thanks for that pakmei, i'll have a look (I'll have to do abit of a search for the china town travel agencies, any clue where abouts they are in china town?).

Taoboy where in china did you go to?
If I were going it would probably be to beijing.

[Pakmei]

There is a travel agency in Lyle Street, and another where the pagoda is, in the square in China Town.

I'm sure there some more around there, you just need to have a look around.

[bong]

If you go right after Chinese New Year, you will be out of luck because many
of the tour operators shut down for a few weeks holiday right after the CNY.

Check and CONFIRM all your lodging and transfers as in the Mainland, they
take your money first and may not come though with the goods and services.

[Andrew]

Flew for about 400 quid. look at the online sites, also I flew in july. look online its the best option.

[Souljah]

where did u get that andrew??

I've looked at so many places online and lowest i could find now was 630.

If you could tell me where that would be great, i cant go out too early (feb-may) and june/july would be an ideal time because my friend mentioned this time and my teacher will be there too.....

[Andrew]

www.travelmood.com Flew to H.K, hung around a bit traveled to the mainland, travelled to Beijing flew home. Can also try the flight part of www.lastminute.com. Still you have to hunt around a bit.

[Souljah]

so all in all how much did you trip cost andrew? And how long for?

Just need a rough estimate.....

soul

[Andrew]

LOL, the tour cost about £1110. £350 for flights and about £300 for red pocket, presents, taxi cabs, meals, nights out. So around
£1800 in total. But china is very cheap, if you did it off your own back it would cost far less. The average salary is about 30 quid a month............

[cha kuen]

What are you going to be doing in China? Just traveling or for martial arts purposes as well?

Sounds fun, maybe you can film yourself doing a form at the great wall! BTW- the great wall at Simitai is a good place because it's pretty much in its natural setting without all that reconstruction and businesss marketing.

ALso not many people go to that one so you won't have 200 people running around taking pictures. The bus ride is about 2 hours but very well worth it.

Rare Kung Fu Books (http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&userid=taichimaster06&include=0&since=-1&sort=3&rows=25)

[Souljah]

thanks andrew and cha kuen...

Cha, the main reason we're (me and my friend from our style) going there is to just see how the place is co we've never been there b4, MA would be the ultimate focus... but if we can go there and see how it is and perhaps find somewhere where we feel comfortable then it'll make it much easier next time we go there to practise and stuff.....

[GeneChing]

I'd really recommend dropping the extra bucks (or pounds or whatever) to go with some kind of guide if you've not gone before. It's hard to penetrate the martial circles if you don't have some kind of in - you'll just get wushu lessons and crappy ones at that. So find someone who can introduce you. Otherwise, check out Rough Guide and Lonely Planet - those are the bibles for budget traveling.

[Souljah]

thx gene.....
my teacher will most probably be there at the time, and if needed I could practice with him. He can do the introductions to his teachers but i'm not finished my style yet and it would just seem pointless, however a friend of mine is just about to finish and he will get the formal intro.
The trip is basically an intro to china as a whole, I'mo not going to study MA yet, perhaps in a few years, this trip is just so when I do go there to study I will know where im going when I get there. (what i mean is I'll know where I want to go, etc)

I'm looking into the lonely planet website as I write this.....
Thanks again

soul