After we returned from a full day of sightseeing we went for a walk just a few blocks from the hotel to the Wangfujing Market. The market is actually a huge pedestrian walkway that looks much like Time Square in New York. It’s filled with very polished high-end stores, huge indoor shopping malls, and lots…
Day 2: Beijing, Summer Palace
After a very busy morning and another awesome lunch we headed to the Summer Palace. We were fortunate that the drizzle stopped and we just ended up with a cloudy day. The crowds were very heavy today and it is still hard to get used to how the Chinese culture is so different from ours…
Eat, Drink and Sleep
So, as you probably noticed Chuck is tackling all of the touring and I’ll be working on the hotel and food posts… Our first experience with Gate 1 Travel was our trip to Thailand a few years back and we found that the hotels and meals were very good. We were actually REALLY surprised when…
Day 2: Beijing, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City
We started the day at 7:45 and were at Tiananmen Square by 8AM. We had a light drizzle to contend with but we were fortunate that it never got worse, just very gray. Between the drizzle and the cloud cover pictures seem a little dull. Smog was not bad today, they say the rain helps…
Beijing: Day 1, The Great Wall
After our visit to the Temple of Heaven, we stopped at a local eatery and had an awesome lunch. Mark is posting about all the food. The next stop was the Great Wall; we were so looking forward to checking off another item from our bucket list to see all of the modern-day Great Wonders….
Day 1: Beijing, Temple of Heaven
The morning started off with a hearty breakfast and we had the opportunity to meet many of the people from our tour group. One crazy thing happened; I saw someone who looked familiar but then I thought, nah, can’t be. But sure enough, a co-worker was on the same tour and we didn’t even know…
There Are Starving Children…
If you are like me you grew up hearing your mother say ‘ Clean your plate, there are starving children in China!” Yesterday was day one of our China vacation and I think Gate1 Travel and our Chinese hosts are out to prove that theory wrong. Our first function of the trip was breakfast in…
NiHao China
We have arrived. Our journey started after work on Tuesday. We first headed to Kissimmee to drop Kali off at the sitter and then met friends for dinner. After dinner we checked into the hotel at the airport; 5AM comes pretty early and a late night was not in the books. We arrived at…
You Know You Are A Foodie If…
A major part of our vacation research involves stalking YouTube food vlogs for our upcoming trip to China. Now truthfully, we’ve booked a complete travel package with Gate 1 Travel. We worked with them on our trip to Thailand two years ago and could not have been happier. We know that all of our flights are…
I Can’t Keep A Secret From Chuck
We’ve been diligently researching for our upcoming trip to China. While Gate1 Travel does an amazing job with all of our travel plans, transportation, hotels, and sightseeing, they still offer a decent amount of free time. While Chuck’s birthday isn’t until August, technically this vacation is in celebration of his milestone birthday. He’s turning 60!…