China | tomorrow!

Checking-in right before I leave, as promised. This time tomorrow I'll be eagerly awaiting departure from Melbourne airport onwards to Shanghai.

How's my packing going? Not too well. I feel 'overpacked' as always, if anything. It's definitely all the winter coats and clothing, I feel like I should layer up 99% of the time. So that means bringing twice as many clothes as I should.

Am I excited? It still hasn't fully sunk in yet. It's getting there. I can imagine the hustle and bustle of airports now. I'm dead tired right now, I'll be dead tired on the flight from Adelaide to Melbourne, I'll probably drop dead on my international flight. I just want to SLEEP! - I'm too tired to be excited.

What have I got planned? I've got lists of what I want to do in each city. The only thing I've really sussed out (and by 'really sussed' I mean transport/location/pricing) are the Hello Kitty cafes/restaurants. There's one in Taipei and a couple around Seoul (I think the one in Beijing is long gone). There's also the infamous Hello Kitty house in Shanghai that I've been linked to on Facebook a billion times. Also hunting down K-Pop artists in Seoul, K-Drama filming locations (Stairway to Heaven's carousel in Lotte World) and roaming the streets of Taipei in hopes of seeing my decade-long boyband crushes, F4.

What camera(s) am I bringing? For past trips I've bought my Pentax K-R DSLR and my little Samsung ST700 digital camera. DSLR for sightseeing days obviously and the Samsung for selfies/everyday use (and as a back-up when my DSLR/phone runs out of batteries). I've been lusting for the Nikon J1 for years and finally bought it a few months back. I'll be replacing my Samsung with that one for every day use and hopefully it'll be good enough to take sightseeing too. The only reason (and I mean quite literally, the only reason) I'm bringing my DSLR is so I can continue on with this 'thing':

I call it 'posing in front of landmarks with my pink DSLR'. It could probably do with a more creative name. But I figured, hey, I've got two photos and a lot of trips lined up - might as well make it a 'thing' (And seriously, how cool would it look at the Great Wall of China? .. or maybe that's just me).

Am I looking forward to business class? I guess so. I read some reviews about business class on China Eastern and most of them were pretty average. One reviewer said business class was like "economy on any other airline". I'm not too fussed, hopefully it's a bit better than economy and the price of the ticket isn't anything to get worked up over (tickets were quite cheap IMO). The last long-haul flight I went on was from Singapore to London and vice versa with British Airways. It was about 12 hours or something of flying alone and being cramped up against the seat in front - not too fun. So 'business class' from MEL-PVG, even if only average, I anticipate will be a much better long-haul experience.

I just activated my new global SIM yesterday. The one I was using previously cost me 60 bucks (!!!!!) and didn't have data enabled. The rates on my new one (from Covermore) are a tad bit more expensive, but I'll have data. Here's hoping that WiFi is easily accessible in Shanghai, Taipei, Seoul and Beijing though, as I'm already cringing at the thought of being disconnected from Facebook along for the majority of my time overseas.

May check-in during the trip, may not. Back in three weeks!

China | 8 days to go

It's hard to believe that this time next month I'll be on a plane back to dreary Adelaide.

I impulse-booked cheap return flights to China before I left for Malaysia earlier this year (around January). Time has dwindled down to single digits and in just eight short days, I'll be on my way to the land where all things are made.

Jokes aside, really, it's just over a week already?! I don't even feel like I'm about to embark on a three-week trip to unknown territory: to a lovely big city, the country where my 10-year celebrity crush is located, the land where everyone is constantly running through the streets crying, and going to look at a wall. Shanghai, Taipei, Seoul, Beijing, it's almost time!

At this point, I don't really have many expectations. I'm not really sure what's there, even though I've sussed out what I want to visit. What will the people be like? Will the streets be clean? Will it be easy to get around? How do I order food? Google searches can only answer so much. I think that's why I enjoy travelling - I like to be able to answer these questions, and more, by myself.

For starters, I know it will be cold. But how cold? 'Average Adelaide' cold, 'Freezing Tokyo' cold or 'London in Summer but still cold' sort of cold.

This trip will mark a lot of firsts for me: first time to China, Taiwan and South Korea; first time in business class (yay!); FIRST TIME ON A HELLO KITTY PLANE!; first time experiencing sub-zero (so I've been told); and probably the first real challenge of getting around non-English friendly places.

I'll check back in here in about a week or so, right before I leave. It still hasn't sunk in that I'm leaving soon, but I'm glad I will be - 35 degrees expected top tomorrow, I may melt before I make it to Shanghai.