Getting ready for China

Getting ready for a big trip is always hard. For me, I'm an all-week type of packer -- I started laying things out on a bed about the beginning of last week, started planning my outfits and double checking the packing list that Todd and Rachel gave us. Even though I've been planning all week, I suspect that I'll be packing all night on Tuesday anyway. Well, at least for me, I'm packing for my children to go to their inlaws too.

I have to keep remembering that China now is not the China that I remembered from 1993 when I was studying abroad. They have a lot more of the modernizations that we take for granted today than they had over 15 years ago. You can almost get anything you need...except maybe the brand of hair gel or lotions that you are used to. My brother, who moved to Shanghai in November, has asked me to bring hair gel. Of all things that I could bring to him, that was on the top of his list!

Here's the itinerary for our trip:
Itinerary
Day 1 > April 15 > Start Tour -- Flight to BeijingDay 2 > April 16 > Ni Hao Beijing
Meet your Tour Director and check into hotel
Day 3 > April 17 > Beijing
Tiananmen Square
Local school visit
Forbidden City visit
Peking duck dinner

Day 4 > April 18 > Beijing
Tai-Chi Exercise
Summer Palace visit
"Snack Street" visit
Day 5 > April 19 > Great Wall
Travel to Great Wall of China
Sacred Road
Day 6 > April 20 > Beijing--Xian
Fly to Xi'an
Bike the City Wall
Greater Wild Goose Pagoda visit
Day 7 > April 21 > Xi'an
School visit
Muslim Market visit
Mosque visit
Dumpling dinner
Day 8 > April 22 > Xi'an
Terra Cotta Warriors Museum
Tang Dynasty Singing and Dancing Show
Day 9 > April 23 > Xian--Shanghai
Fly to Shanghai
French Concession walk
Yu Yuan Garden
Bund evening cruise
Day 10 > April 24 > Shanghai
Shanghai museum
Nanking Road
Acrobatic Show Day 11 > April 25 > End Tour
High-speed train to airport

As we prepare to leave, we want to express our appreciation of the support of the school administration, all our families and also WEEFC which has helped fund our participation in the Pathways program for the last two years.