Preparing for Beijing (round 2 with toddler in tow)

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Well I have been planning my second trip to Beijing for 4 months now and now its getting a little too close a little too fast. Some may call me insane (I know part of me thinks I am) but I am taking along my 1 year old. The plane is probably one of my biggest challanges. That and the trip to the hotel. After a couple of months of searching for some kind of transfer and getting turned down because of my landing time, I have found and paid $50 to have an english speaking guide there to pick me up. Not that we will be seeing much at 1 in the morning! Like I said...insane :-)

Thankfully I am blessed with a very adaptable young man who seems to be open to new experiences, foods and places. We have been on the aeroplane to New Zealand but this will be a whole new experience for us skyward. He will be 11 months older for one and instead of crawling he runs. It is definately going to be an interesting experience but Im praying for a good one! Its the customs I fear. That was the hardest thing about flying last time and that was with a sleeping baby strapped into the stroller! Im hoping for a similar situation when we land in Beijing considering the time and all.

I have booked a lovely (well Im hoping) 3 star hotel in the same area Phil and I stayed in in 2008. That way I will know the area a little which will definately help with the whole settling in with a toddler part. Ive also loosely planned my sight seeing. Very loosely. As all with children will know it will not go to plan no matter how hard you try but I know the places and approximately the day/time I want to go. Im determined to make this a better Beijing holiday then 3.5 years ago. That holiday wasnt planned and came very close to being a disaster. Not this time though!

I am trying to physc myself up for the hundreds of photos that are going to be asked of my son. Oh yes the Chinese love babies/kids (I mean who doesn't?) and they love light hair. Hopefully it wont be so bad now I have cut off all his gorgeous curls :-( I can only imagine how many times we will be stopped. After spending 7 of my 10 months in China with Phil (who has blond hair) and seeing random people want photos with him I cant help but go eeeeep when I think about Eli. After all he is soooo much cuter ;-) My kids from my school in Yantai used to get stopped and touched sooo many times by random people. I'll have to wear my running shoes!

So what do I have planned?? Really its just places. I am in Beijing for 6 full days before moving onto what I consider to be my second hometown, Yantai. The first day I wont be venturing far as I am going to be very tried and drained. Time difference isnt much, Beijing is only 2 hours behind Brisbane, but I do believe 17 hours in transit will drain what little energy I have left. I also need to take into consideration that I'll have a 4am(AEST) start and my head will not hit the pillow until after 3am(AEST). Thankfully we are less then 1 km away from The Forbidden City, Beihai and Jingshan park (one of my favourite places from 2008) so our itinery will be anything but boring.

So we have 3 more sleeps and 2 more days. As I said before this has popped up so quickly! The packing has come to a halt. It's sooo boring lol. I just know I will forget something important. Its all good when your by yourself. Not so much with a young child.

Hold onto your seats and prepare to read about our 3 week adventure through north/eastern china.

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Photos

My Cheeky little companion
Full of mischief and fun!

Mum and Elijah
We are definately going to miss Nanna! We wish she could come too.