Hong Kong - Trip Preparation

Nervous. That’s the only word that can describe my feeling while planning this Family Summer Trip. Yes, people. I’m going to Hong Kong for the first time in my life. Actually, I shouldn’t have worried that much. My mom and dad had all prepared. We booked our “Garuda Indonesia” airline tickets since February (that’s six months before our actual flight) in order to get a lower price. We have also booked three different places to stay, since we decided to move every three nights so it will be easier to explore new cities with new surroundings. We get bored easily, so I think this is a good plan. Here is our moving schedule to be exact.

August 17th (Night 1) : A not-so-big apartment at Kingston Building Starline – Causeway Bay

August 18th (Night 2) : still

August 19th (Night 3) : still

August 20th (Night 4) : Sintra Hotel – Macau (We’re staying in Macau for 1 night)

August 21st (Night 5) : Novotel Hotel – Nathan Road, Kowloon

August 22nd (Night 6) : still

One week before our departure, my mom asked me to make a simple itinerary and study the map. To be honest, it’s not an easy holiday task to do. Sure I’ve got a lot of time since my campus holiday won’t end until September 10 and my mom was kind enough to give me something to do rather than watching me rotten in my room every single day. I’m NOT a good map-reader. I can’t even remember my best friend’s address after such a long time. Luckily, my dad allowed me to buy some Hong Kong – Macau Travel Guide Books to help me (and to help us) survive later on. Some of my friends who have been there before also gave me a bunch of recommendations and personal guide. They told me about their magnificent experience, what-to and what-not-to do stuffs, tips, even taught me how to read maps. Yes, I did my preparation as I learned from my last year’s family trip to Singapore for the first time. It didn’t go very well and that’s my first time having a holiday abroad (first flight experience too, if I’m not mistaken). My family had never been in a tour before. We prefer an independent trip. Our survival weapons are maps, money, and body language (in case we’re troubling with the language there). We did that too in Singapore, but since it’s not a so-complicated country, we can handle it. In Hong Kong, the survival-challenge level raises.

Preparation:

• First of all, of course you’re going to need your passport and visa. Keep those in a safe place.

• Book your flight early, also your places to stay. I’m having a quite hard time looking for affordable places to stay because some of them have been full-booked already, even 4 months before holiday season. Crazy, I know.

• Make a simple itinerary for each day. It will help you make your trip more efficient. I did it by marking all tourism attractions I can found in each certain places first, so that I won’t miss any worth-coming places and never bother to visit a certain area twice in case I miss one or two attractions. Internet and travel books are great sources. You just have to take your time to study them. Google, TripAdvisor.com , even travel blogs are such big helps.

• Language. I can say that English is a must, but sometimes you can’t just rely on it all the time. It’s also important for you to know (or at least, save it in your phone) some basics conversation phrase in their origin language. For HK people, it’s called Cantonese. Just the basic ones, such as “Where’s the bathroom?” “Sorry” “Thank you” “Excuse me”. Don’t worry if it’s not enough, we all still can do body language. It’s the most universal language after all.

(to be continued)

More:

Trip Preparation

Day 1 : Let’s Get Lost

Day 2 : City Peak, City Skyline

Day 3 : A Self-Endurance Drill

Day 4 : I Love FREE things!

Day 5 : Free FOOD!

Day 6 : Childhood Reunion