Of all the planned sights and destinations on our trip, the one that I was most nervous about was finding the Great Wall. Most people who have been to the Wall would probably be laughing right now. It is like 3,000 miles long, after all. Reading travel blogs and reviews, it seemed like there was no way to avoid seeing the wall... "Just ask your concierge to book you on a tour tomorrow!""Find the 'Great Wall' tourist bus that leaves every morning at 9am.""Just pay a taxi to take you there.""It's hard to wander south of Tiananmen Square without encountering the many buses going to (the Great Wall at) Badaling." - Fodor's Beijing O yes, I've read them all. But if you read this blog much, you will know that I don't like to do things ... read more

In most large cities, we typically forego the often expensive car rental in lieu of public transportation. While this usually requires a bit more planning in hotels and events, it is also a great way to see the city and people. It was at a Beijing subway station during rush hour that I figured out if you are heading against the crowd, you are probably going the wrong way. There are no shortcuts. During rush hour, the well labeled subway stations are at their finest, shuttling hundreds of people on and off each train within 10 seconds. Passengers are very civilized, efficient, and know exactly where to go - so we just follow the crowd. If a large percentage of the exiting passengers heads to one of the exits, then there is probably either an escalator ... read more

Flying into Beijing Capitol International sounds like a daunting experience for a first timer in an Asian country. Suprisingly, it was really no different from any other airport, other than the larger number of security guards and checkpoints. We arrived on a Tuesday morning, probably a really good time to experience smaller crowds, and basically followed the crowd through the long chain of moving sidewalks to the international security and customs lines. All signs were in Mandarin and English, so there was really little confusion until we got to the Airport Express train. Before we get there, I stopped at an ATM to withdraw my bank card's daily allowance of Chinese Yuan, which I had precalculated based on the current conversion rates. It was kind of weird typing in 2,000 at an ATM, but this is ... read more

Our first Berlin experience, as with most visitors, was in the main Berlin train station, or Haufbahnhof (Berlin HBF). This is a place where you could spend hours shopping, eating, and people watching. It is basically a 5 story mall with high speed ICE trains, S-Bahn (commuter trains), and U-Bahn (subways) coming in at every level all from over the country. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to spend a lot of time there, but we did stay long enough to get lost, which isn’t a bad thing. My advice is to pay close attention to directional signs to make sure you end up on the right level for your connection. It may be obvious that the subway is at the lower level, but sometimes the S-Bahn commuter trains come in at different levels above ground along with ... read more

I've been asked more than once in the past year how we manage to travel with kids, jobs, and a real life. My quick answer is usually something about how we have decided to prioritize traveling as our "hobby", and therefore we make sacrifices elsewhere in our lives. The truth is that I can attribute about 70% of our current lifestyle, plans, and experiences to a fundamental shift in my mind that occurred at about the time that I finished a particular book, almost exactly 2 years ago. The book is The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau. The funny thing about this book is that I started it as a very light-hearted read in order to pass the time that winter. The book really grabbed me and I began to think about my own life, ... read more