Help Meri plan a Grand Adventure (tm)

[merithyn]

I've decided that I want to go on a Grand Adventure(tm). I'm thinking a trip to Shanghai next April. Flight and hotel for 10 days then is only $1100 at the moment. I won't be able to book for another couple of months, so I'm keeping an open mind.

My budget will be around $1500-$2000 for flight from Portland with hotel, and I'd like to go somewhere very different than anywhere I've gone before. If the flight is more than 8 hours, I'd prefer to go for 10 days. If the flight is less than 8 hours, I'd prefer to go for 7 days.

What say you, Languish? Where should Meri go to experience life beyond her ken?

[merithyn]

Seems that I can do nine nights in Krakow for about the same price AND spend a night in London as a "layover"!

[Richard Hakluyt]

9 nights in Krakow is probably too much. But the airport there has cheap flights out, you could maybe visit Budapest and Vienna as well (or Prague); come to that you could travel between those places by rail, the distances are not great.

To put in a good word for the UK, the exchange rate is very favourable for Americans right now.

[Monoriu]

Shanghai is great but there is no way I can spend 10 days there.  If you are in the region anyway, you should go to Hangzhou and Suzhou as well.  Those are just one hour away by high speed rail.  If you go to China anyway, Beijing is basically a must-see.  The flights between Shanghai and Beijing are cheap and frequent.  I think you should spend 3-4 nights in Beijing, 6-7 nights in Shanghai/Hangzhou/Suzhou. 

If you have, say, two extra days, then come to Hong Kong 

[Josquius]

9 in Krakow is definitely too much.
As said Prague isn't too far, 9 between the two...that should be OK for a leisurely visit.
Or you could do southern Poland in general. Auschwitz is something powerful to see and driving distance from Krakow. Wroclaw was quite pretty.
I was in Krakow 10 years ago and it was nice though I hear it has changed in the past decade, budget drinking tourists from England have invaded.
Europe being Europe you can always go practically anywhere in the continent in those 9 days with low cost airlines.

I've been wanting to do China for ages. Though the visa hassle and the potential for air and food pollution keeps putting me off. I'd like to go into Beijing or Shanghai and travel to the other one by train, stopping at one or two interesting cities along the way.

[Monoriu]

9 in Krakow is definitely too much.
As said Prague isn't too far, 9 between the two...that should be OK for a leisurely visit.
Or you could do southern Poland in general. Auschwitz is something powerful to see and driving distance from Krakow. Wroclaw was quite pretty.
I was in Krakow 10 years ago and it was nice though I hear it has changed in the past decade, budget drinking tourists from England have invaded.
Europe being Europe you can always go practically anywhere in the continent in those 9 days with low cost airlines.

I've been wanting to do China for ages. Though the visa hassle and the potential for air and food pollution keeps putting me off. I'd like to go into Beijing or Shanghai and travel to the other one by train, stopping at one or two interesting cities along the way.

I think rail between Shanghai and Beijing is like 5-6 hours minimum, even on the more expensive high speed rail.  The thing is, Shanghai and Beijing are much more interesting than any city along the way.  A lot of it is just industrial wasteland.  It is much better to arrive at either Shanghai or Beijing as soon as possible. 

[Eddie Teach]

I'd probably want to do Italy or Japan, but this is your trip.

[Liep]

Shanghai is great but there is no way I can spend 10 days there.  If you are in the region anyway, you should go to Hangzhou and Suzhou as well.  Those are just one hour away by high speed rail.  If you go to China anyway, Beijing is basically a must-see.  The flights between Shanghai and Beijing are cheap and frequent.  I think you should spend 3-4 nights in Beijing, 6-7 nights in Shanghai/Hangzhou/Suzhou. 

If you have, say, two extra days, then come to Hong Kong 

This sounds like a good trip.

[garbon]

Yeah unless you are picking one location where you are going to lounge about a good portion of the time, 10 days time will probably be overly long for most single locales. So you want to spread about as mentioned with cheap continental flights or rail.

[Zanza]

Spending more than half of your budget on a flight seems very expensive and will prohibit you from doing much in the location you go to. And I can find a flight for like 600 USD from Portland to Shanghai and back in April next year, so whatever you are looking at seems ridiculously overpriced.

[Josquius]

9 in Krakow is definitely too much.
As said Prague isn't too far, 9 between the two...that should be OK for a leisurely visit.
Or you could do southern Poland in general. Auschwitz is something powerful to see and driving distance from Krakow. Wroclaw was quite pretty.
I was in Krakow 10 years ago and it was nice though I hear it has changed in the past decade, budget drinking tourists from England have invaded.
Europe being Europe you can always go practically anywhere in the continent in those 9 days with low cost airlines.

I've been wanting to do China for ages. Though the visa hassle and the potential for air and food pollution keeps putting me off. I'd like to go into Beijing or Shanghai and travel to the other one by train, stopping at one or two interesting cities along the way.

I think rail between Shanghai and Beijing is like 5-6 hours minimum, even on the more expensive high speed rail.  The thing is, Shanghai and Beijing are much more interesting than any city along the way.  A lot of it is just industrial wasteland.  It is much better to arrive at either Shanghai or Beijing as soon as possible. 

Qufu? There's some history there what with Confucius no?
The whole area is the historic core of China, I'm sure I found a few interesting looking places when researching. All forgotten now alas.

[Monoriu]

Qufu? There's some history there what with Confucius no?
The whole area is the historic core of China, I'm sure I found a few interesting looking places when researching. All forgotten now alas.

After a few thousand years, dozens of wars, and the cultural revolution, most things in Qufu are fakes. 

[garbon]

Spending more than half of your budget on a flight seems very expensive and will prohibit you from doing much in the location you go to. And I can find a flight for like 600 USD from Portland to Shanghai and back in April next year, so whatever you are looking at seems ridiculously overpriced.

The prices she gave were flights + hotel. The budget she mentioned was for flight + hotel.

[Zanza]

You are right, I misread that.

[Josquius]

Qufu? There's some history there what with Confucius no?
The whole area is the historic core of China, I'm sure I found a few interesting looking places when researching. All forgotten now alas.

After a few thousand years, dozens of wars, and the cultural revolution, most things in Qufu are fakes. 

Meh, it's the same for most things in Japan and Korea, I expect nothing better from China :p