Greg's 2017 Shanghai trip

[calisota]

It's hard reading about other peoples trips so I've pulled the trigger and just booked my flights and hotel for Shanghai next month. 

It's the only park I haven't visited so I'll be able to tick it off the bucket list.

4 full days there so I figure 2 days in the city and 2 days in the park.

Now I just have to arrange a visa.


Greg

[ajp]

Should be good, look forward to hearing about it.

[KeithS]

Nice one Greg! Can't wait to read your impressions of it.

[calisota]

I'm looking forward to it. I'll be there 5 weeks from today. 

Unfortunately I have an overnight flight, arriving there at 5.30am so I figure on spending that day in the city, after finding my hotel. That way I can pull the plug early if I'm too tired or just drink lots of coffee as I'm walking.

Day 2 and 3 in the Park.

Day 4 in the city again. I won't be getting much sleep that night because I have a 6.50am flight back home the next morning.

So...2 days in the city and 2 days in the Park.

The hotel I found is only 17 minutes from Peoples Square and 36 minutes from Disneyland by train.

Greg

[calisota]

I'd love to live tweet the whole thing but that could be problematic in China.


Greg

[DisneyKaren]

Sounds exhausting but fun!  Having heard about Keith and Della's trip it does sound great but it may be a few years away for me yet ..... so many places to see... so little holidays.  Will enjoy reading about everyone's experiences in the meantime.

[calisota]

Sounds exhausting but fun!  

It sounds exhausting to me too!  I need to remember that I'm not as young as I was.

I also don't sleep well (or at all) on planes so that first day is going to be a tough one. That's why I've earmarked it as a city day. At the very least I can use it to reconnoiter, figure out how to get around and what to see, sit in coffee shops and then head back to the hotel for a sleep. I want to make sure that I am as awake and rested as possible for the Park because I'd hate to feel I wasted the ticket money by leaving early and not seeing and experiencing as much as possible. 

I am looking forward to walking the Bund though. So much history and it's somewhere I've wanted to see ever since looking at pictures in old National Geographics.

Keith, did you use the Shanghai Disneyland app while you were there?

Greg

[calisota]

Just dropped my passport at the Chinese consulate. Hopefully I'll be picking it up on Monday with a Chinese visa in it. It cost about $40 which is pretty good considering it costs almost $200 if you're American for the same visa!!


Greg

[calisota]

Just got back from the consulate and they've decided to let me into China! Shiny new visa in my passport that unfortunately takes up a whole page of valuable real estate. 

3 weeks until I fly out. 

Greg 

[DisneyKaren]

I miss the days of full page visas in my passport and a nice full little book when it's time for decommissioning, nowadays I get so few stamps.  Must make it all the more real now, so close!

[calisota]

Less than 3 weeks to go!

I'm on a New Zealand passport and a couple of years ago i had to get a new one because i had managed to fill the current one up in about 2 years, mostly with all the full page visas from working in SE Asia and having to travel. Luckily you can apply for a NZ passport completely online, photo included, and have it sent to you. I had it courier delivered to where i was staying in Laos. The only issue i had was an email from the NZ Government saying that i still had 3 years to run on my passport and asking why I wanted a new one. I emailed back saying that I'd filled it up and got a reply saying "okay, no worries, we'll get it out to you."

The problem I have with passports is that you pay for 5 years (for a NZ one, don't know about the Australian) but it is really only valid for 4.5 as you can't travel with less than 6 months validity. I also had blank pages in my filled up one where the immigration guy had flipped past a page that was empty or only had one stamp and started a brand new page with a tiny stamp. Really annoying.

I have 77 stamps in my current passport which is just a bit less than 2.5 years old. It still feels weird to end up with 4 stamps after a flight that's only an hour or two long.



Greg

[mushu mama]

Aussie passports are 10 years and mine is up for renewal soon... the worst part is, since I got my passport last time, the laws have changed and you have to give them your old one to get the new one ( I believe... please someone tell me I'm wrong) and I don't want to lose all those hard won stamps and visas.. I kept my last one and want to keep this one too. 

[calisota]

When I got my new NZ one they included a large "cancelled" sticker for the old one and asked me to cut the corner off the cover. 

I still have all my old passports stored in various places but I'd be too scared to look at the photos in them. Even the current one is pretty rough because I took it myself using my tablet and couldn't see what I was doing. Took a few attempts to get one that actually showed my head. 

Greg 

[DisneyKaren]

Aussie passports are 10 years and mine is up for renewal soon... the worst part is, since I got my passport last time, the laws have changed and you have to give them your old one to get the new one ( I believe... please someone tell me I'm wrong) and I don't want to lose all those hard won stamps and visas.. I kept my last one and want to keep this one too. 

I renewed mine a couple of years back and didn't have to give it up.  Although I don't get many stamps anymore I would still hate to give it up - fingers crossed for you!

[KeithS]

How is the count down coming along Greg - you must be about to head to Shanghai aren't you?