I have already said that we thought the cost would be within our budget but already it was getting a bit close and we were wondering what we could do. We did not want to take out any of the elements of the trip as we don't think we will pass that way again.
Ruy Baretto invited us to stay with him in Hong Kong, which is wonderful. It is exciting to be meeting him as we have corresponded by email in the past and his granny and mine are related somewhere back up the family tree. I could give you details but unless you are family I suspect you won't be interested. This is a big saving so I hope Ruy will be looking forward to having us to stay as much as we are looking forward to it.
Tone then thought about the fact that we have been saving airmiles from our Tesco shopping for a long time and had not used many. He suggested we investigate using them towards the flights back from Hong Kong. We had 69.000 airmiles and we were really pleased to find that two single flights with BA from Hong Kong cost 60.000 airmiles. So we booked them! Great saving and more to spend on pcs and doing things when we are away. Result!
Monday 19 November 2012
From Moscow to Shanghai
I got the first proposal from Chris Moore of Audleys. As his company don't do Europe the trip starts for them in Moscow. More of how we get there later. Chris proposes that we visit the Moscow Metro and sent us some pictures of the architecture of the stations which if you google them you will see are fantastic. Apparently we won't be able to take pics but will buy post cards. Grandpa talks a lot, in his diary, about buying pcs. They take about three weeks to get home and I wonder how long they took in his day.
During the trip, once we get to Moscow, we will have a driver and an English speaking guide except on the trains. Given the fact that we have so far failed to get the gist of the Russian alphabet or the signs, this will be a good thing. I suspect that it will be even more essential in China. We are due to visit the Kremlin, and Red Square and of course the wonderful churches. I want to go to the ballet but am not sure it is quite up Tones street so we will have to see. If you have been to Moscow and have any ideas do let us know please.
We will take the Trans Siberian Express (not really an express I don't think!) and be on it for 4 nights in a first class two berth cabin.
Grandpas train was derailed by terrorists blowing up the track just after Moscow. This is one of the elements of the trip we do not want to replicate.
After four days on the train, we will stay on Lake Baikal for two nights before taking the Trans Manchurian Train to Harbin. Then on via another two separate nights on trains via Dalian to Shanghai.
We will spend four days there before a Yankzi cruise visiting Beijing, the Wall, the Warriors, the Panda project and an irrigation project built 250 years BC that has caught Tone's imagination. Then to see the Dragons backbone rice fields before going to Hingkong. We will stay with Ruy Barretto there and fly home on about 7th June.
In Shanghai we want to try and find places Grandpa and Granny knew. Thanks to my cousins who have given me copies of stuff they have. If anyone has anything else please can I borrow it so that we can spend less time searching for places when we are there.
During the trip, once we get to Moscow, we will have a driver and an English speaking guide except on the trains. Given the fact that we have so far failed to get the gist of the Russian alphabet or the signs, this will be a good thing. I suspect that it will be even more essential in China. We are due to visit the Kremlin, and Red Square and of course the wonderful churches. I want to go to the ballet but am not sure it is quite up Tones street so we will have to see. If you have been to Moscow and have any ideas do let us know please.
We will take the Trans Siberian Express (not really an express I don't think!) and be on it for 4 nights in a first class two berth cabin.
Grandpas train was derailed by terrorists blowing up the track just after Moscow. This is one of the elements of the trip we do not want to replicate.
After four days on the train, we will stay on Lake Baikal for two nights before taking the Trans Manchurian Train to Harbin. Then on via another two separate nights on trains via Dalian to Shanghai.
We will spend four days there before a Yankzi cruise visiting Beijing, the Wall, the Warriors, the Panda project and an irrigation project built 250 years BC that has caught Tone's imagination. Then to see the Dragons backbone rice fields before going to Hingkong. We will stay with Ruy Barretto there and fly home on about 7th June.
In Shanghai we want to try and find places Grandpa and Granny knew. Thanks to my cousins who have given me copies of stuff they have. If anyone has anything else please can I borrow it so that we can spend less time searching for places when we are there.
The planning starts
The decision was made back in the spring this year. We would follow Grandpa's route from Barry in Wales to Shanghai using his diary as a guide. And we would do it 100 years to the day after he did the trip. The more I think about this the more exciting it is!
We googled the Trans Siberian railway, we looked in our huge world atlas and we spoke to Sonia and Ray our friends who had just come back from China and we got very excited.
We also spoke to Sonia and Ray and to Charlie and Michelle (my son and his wife) who had just returned from a big trip to Australia. Without telling them what we were up to we wanted to get some clue about how much this would all cost. I don't think they were taken in, as, once we told them of our plans they did not seem too surprised that we were going to China. They were surprised, as I continue to be, at the adventure we are setting out on next year! Fortunately we concluded that the budget we set could be met.
We also spoke to friends who take "tailor made" trips to various places in the world and having spoken to two or three companies that they recommended and who might be able to help us we chose Audleys and put our proposal to them.
When I first spoke to Chris Moore from Audleys I am not sure that he fully understood what we wanted. However giving him a list of the cities from Grandpa's diary set him off and he quickly got the bit between his teeth and gave us a draft itinerary.
I told Chris that we did not want five star travel but that we did not want to eat sandwiches all the way. He seems to have got that right too judging from the places he is suggesting that we stay. Keep following our blog and we will tell you when we get there.
Audleys don't do Europe so Chris's plans started in Moscow. (More of the bit from Barry to Moscow later) He proposed three nights in Moscow followed by four nights on the Trans Siberian Express and a stop off in Irkutsk for a couple of days. Here we can visit Lake Baikal which is the biggest fresh water lake in the world and sounds amazing. Apparently it is said that you can see it from space and, incidentally, that you cannot see the Great Wall of China.
More overnights trains and a proposal that we go to Shanghai via Beijing. From Grandpas diary we could see that he did not do this. It seems that in 1913 you could not go via that route. Grandpa went to a town called Dalian and from there took a three day boat trip to Shanghai. We can't find a boat for this bit of the trip but will take the train to Dalian and then on to Shanghai.
We googled the Trans Siberian railway, we looked in our huge world atlas and we spoke to Sonia and Ray our friends who had just come back from China and we got very excited.
We also spoke to Sonia and Ray and to Charlie and Michelle (my son and his wife) who had just returned from a big trip to Australia. Without telling them what we were up to we wanted to get some clue about how much this would all cost. I don't think they were taken in, as, once we told them of our plans they did not seem too surprised that we were going to China. They were surprised, as I continue to be, at the adventure we are setting out on next year! Fortunately we concluded that the budget we set could be met.
We also spoke to friends who take "tailor made" trips to various places in the world and having spoken to two or three companies that they recommended and who might be able to help us we chose Audleys and put our proposal to them.
When I first spoke to Chris Moore from Audleys I am not sure that he fully understood what we wanted. However giving him a list of the cities from Grandpa's diary set him off and he quickly got the bit between his teeth and gave us a draft itinerary.
I told Chris that we did not want five star travel but that we did not want to eat sandwiches all the way. He seems to have got that right too judging from the places he is suggesting that we stay. Keep following our blog and we will tell you when we get there.
Audleys don't do Europe so Chris's plans started in Moscow. (More of the bit from Barry to Moscow later) He proposed three nights in Moscow followed by four nights on the Trans Siberian Express and a stop off in Irkutsk for a couple of days. Here we can visit Lake Baikal which is the biggest fresh water lake in the world and sounds amazing. Apparently it is said that you can see it from space and, incidentally, that you cannot see the Great Wall of China.
More overnights trains and a proposal that we go to Shanghai via Beijing. From Grandpas diary we could see that he did not do this. It seems that in 1913 you could not go via that route. Grandpa went to a town called Dalian and from there took a three day boat trip to Shanghai. We can't find a boat for this bit of the trip but will take the train to Dalian and then on to Shanghai.
Tuesday 6 November 2012
Spring 2012
As you see from the title of this blog we are going to China.
This is possibly one of the most exciting things we have done and we have a rainy day to thank for giving us the idea to take a trip and Grandpa's diary which enabled us to make the decision on where to go.
We were sitting in bed one morning (you may not want to know this) and it was raining hard. We were chatting about all the sensible things we had been doing with some of our savings. Double glazing, solar panels etc. The rest we were saving for a rainy day, like you do.
Turns out we had both been thinking that saving for a rainy day was not a great plan and that a BIG trip would be a good idea.
Having decided on that part all we had to do was to decide where.
“You have always wanted to go to Shanghai to see where your dad lived” said Tone. “You have always wanted to go to Australia to see your cousins” said I
There is also Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. How shall we choose?
As it turned out the choice was pretty easy in the end.
Last year my cousin Phillipa had transcribed some notes my Grandpa had made when he travelled from Barry in Wales, where he had lived all his life, to Shanghai, where he had got a post in the Municipal Surveyors Department. She had sent the notes to various of her family and they make very interesting reading.
When I saw the date that Grandpa left Barry the decision was made.
He left on 20thApril 1913 on the 3.40pm train and travelled to Shanghai. Amazing!
He travelled via London, Ostend, Cologne, Berlin, Warsaw, and Moscow where he got on the Trans Siberian Express. Soon after Moscow the train was derailed by terrorists and that is something we don't want to repeat! He took the Trans Mancurian train and other trains to a town called Dalian where he caught a boat to Shanghai.
100 years on on 20th April 2013 on the 3.40pm train from Barry Tone and I will travel to Shanghai.
Now how do we make that happen.
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