5 Things That We Did to Prepare for Our Trip to Asia
When we go on a trip, we are always prepared, but it takes a while getting there.
1. Hmmm… Where to go?
Figuring out where you want to vacation can be hard. Sometimes it takes going online and googling “best place to visit with a family”. Sometimes it takes visiting a place and wanting to see more of it. As for our big ah-ha moment, we got home at the end of the trip that we took summer 2017 and instantly knew: we want to go to Asia. It was a place that none of us had visited ever before, so we were all dying to visit.Off of that, we scoured many books and sites. We found places that we wanted to go to. We wanted to go to so many places. Most of those were in Japan, China, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Off of that, we scoured many books and sites again. We were inspired by things my brother and I had learned in school. I had a unit on Japan and my brother had a unit on China. We wanted to see the Great Wall. We wanted to see the Twin Moon Pagodas and chill out in an onsen. There were so many things to do!
2.Hmmm… What to pack?
This takes a lot of research to figure out what to wear and when to wear it. One thing that we did was look at places we wanted to visit and then see what people wear there. At Mt. Fuji, we knew that it was very hot. What we found out was that as you gain altitude, it gets colder. This information is so important because it would be very hard to admire the sunrise from the top of the mountain if we were all turned into icicles.
3. Hmmm… How to pack?
In our family, we have a special way of packing. We roll up our clothes so that we have more room in our suitcase. It works quite well, especially if a suitcase is not so deep. We use the suitcase brand Lucas because the suitcases are very light and often expandable. They also make good carry-on sizes that we use because we never check bags so that we do not have to get our luggage separately. A Lucas suitcase has a lot of organization (especially the original). I also use packing cubes for added organization. I like to lay out my things on the floor before they all go into the suitcase so that I can make sure I am packing all that I need.
4.Hmmm… Where to stay?
What we do to find a place to stay is research top hotels. We look at reviews on blogs, booking.com, or hotels.com. We try to find ones that can accommodate most of our needs, like a helpful concierge, english translators, and of course AC (that’s a big one!). We also like to find cancelable and full-refund hotels, in case we make last minute plans, such as to camp out near the Great Wall of China (we actually are going to do that and had to cancel our hotel for a night). We used Airbnb in Europe last year. This year Airbnb just didn’t feel right because no one would be speaking english. It was more important to have a front desk with a concierge. For this trip, we got lucky with another way to find hotels. My father worked with a woman named Ellen. She has a friend who is a boutique travel agent and concierge named Rob Delllibovi (@robdellibovi). His email is rob@rdbvip.com. He was SUPER DUPER helpful with finding lots of hotels for us!
5.Hmmm… How to plan?
What my Mom does to plan (she spearheads it all) is that she writes up an itinerary, cutting and pasting from sites, but also including photos and captions. What she also uses to help her plan is a website, Visit a City. It helps her imagine how the day will go, from how long the walk will take to what order to do things. What my brother and I like to do is grab a big kid’s atlas and post it note all of the places we want to go or see that summer. This helps make planning a trip fun. I also ask adults what they did in the places that we are going. My science teacher has eaten bugs and snakes in Vietnam. I found that information very helpful, because I can now know what to expect at a restaurant, even if I might not eat it. This means that I can be ready for what ever comes my way!
This was an especially helpful blog. I loved the idea of rolling up clothes and I tried it once. It worked, but found out must be done carefully, even if you have to re-roll two or three times. I did not do that the first time and some items of clothing (the ones I was not careful with, arrived wrinkled. Now I know better.
I cannot wait to hear Asia trip details, as they unfold, or are unrolled. Keep us all posted and enjoy your journey.
I really found this blog helpful. I wasn’t sure how to pack at first but now I know how to pack lightly and efficiently. This post was really helpful.