Rio De Janeiro Bora Bora – Brazil
Rio De Janeiro Copacabana – Brazil
Rio De Janeiro Copacabana – Brazil
The Uber took about 45 minutes to 20km and the last 10km seemed to take for ever, as we entered Copacabana the traffic got heavier and heavier, unless you were a motorbike which blasted their horns and travelled a break neck speed driving straight down the middle of the road (the horn was to warn cars not to change lane).
Pulling up at our hotel, the Mirador Rio Hotel, we were welcomed by the hotel’s concierge dressed in attire that looked like we could be in a 4-star hotel in London. All checked in and we were shown to our room. An entrance room with 2 double beds, a bathroom with shower, toilet, sink, bday and a sauna!
Anyway, suitcases unpacked, we headed to the hotel restaurant, of which we were the only people in there to start, which was slightly worrying, but we needn’t of worried, the waiter was really nice and the food was amazing too.
Then Bethany decided she wanted to go for a nighttime swim, so up to the top floor and into the pool Bethany went. She is braver than I, as it wasn’t a heated pool, but she enjoyed herself, and I marvelled at the views from the top of our hotel, including a lovely view of Christ the Redeemer.
Up for breakfast, which was of a continental variety and although the hot selection was less. than you could get in the UK, it was still very enjoyable and there was also a large selection of cake on offer too which was almost on par with the ice cream in Tokyo.
So now it was time to go to the beach, and another reason to come here – only a 5-minute walk from the hotel we were there. Now it is a Saturday, so it was packed and there were plenty of companies offering chairs (not loungers) and umbrellas, but we found space at the front, about 20 meters from the sea.
Also, we walked past at the top of the beach, several beach volleyball courts which were being used by competitive teams, which was great to see; the players were very skilful.
The children enjoyed playing in the waves although no swimming as the red flags were out, now although we started off about 20 meters from the water over the 2 hours we were there the occasional wave did start making its way up the beach which made us wonder why know one was sat inline with us – I think we had our answer. Anyway, the beach was really busy when we arrived at 11 am, but by the time we left at 2 pm, it was a lot quieter.
A great time was had by all, but being honest, the only thing that spoiled the experience was literally being offered the opportunity to purchase pretty much everything and anything every 5 minutes. From all the food under the sun, to drinks, to sunglasses, towels and souvenirs – it was just a distraction and although everyone was nice when we said no, it was just a pain.
So after we left, we made our way back to the hotel and to the pool for a few drinks and a snack. No one was at the pool, and as ever, the barman was great and very attentive. I did spot that the road at the front of the hotel had an amazing tree line that, as you can see from the photo, looked impressive from above.
And moving on to our day out – we fancied a day out where everything was structured and provided, and had seen an option on Booking.com and the say offer again in the reception of the Hotel we were now staying in, so we booked the previous day and was picked up at 8.30 am.
First stop was Escadaria Selarón, also known as the Lapa Steps, in Rio de Janeiro. These 215 steps, connecting the Santa Teresa neighbourhood to Lapa, are covered in vibrant mosaic tiles from all over the world. They are a tribute to Brazil by Chilean artist Jorge Selaron. A really good start to the tour, colourful and cultural.
Next up was Sugarloaf Mountain, which is a peak situated in Rio, on a peninsula at the mouth of Guanabara Bay. Rising 396 m above the harbour, the peak is named for its resemblance to the traditional shape of concentrated refined loaf sugar. 2 cable cars are required to make it to the top of Sugarloaf mountain, but what views you get from both mountains.
Christ the Redeemer is an Art Deco statue of Jesus in Rio de Janeiro, created by French-Polish sculptor Paul Landowski and built by Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa, in collaboration with French engineer Albert Caquot. Romanian sculptor Gheorghe Leonida sculpted the face. Now it is about 2 pm, and the road up into the mountains was long with what felt like a couple of hundred twists and turns.
Once we had queued after being dropped by our transport, we got into another transport which took us up to the top of the mountain. Once there, you can either use the lift or walk the 200 steps to the summit (we chose the steps).
As we started the steps, we could already see that the cloud base had dropped, and by the time we got there, photo 2 shows you what we were left with. The cloud was problematic at the start, and the outlook was also white. There was also a service going on as you face the statue, so amazingly busy.
But Matthew managed to get a great shot as the cloud moved for a couple of minutes during our visit.
Next, we stopped for lunch (no photo) and then onto Principais Atracoes, which goes left and right on either side of the main road and is the location for many Brazilian carnival celebrations and practices.
Finally, onto Maracanã Stadium, just a photo at the main entrance. But a great venue to visit before we made our way back to our hotel after a 9-hour adventure.
Rio De Janeiro – Brazil 11th – 15th Bora Bora Resort
At the airport, I had booked a taxi via the booking.com website when I had booked our accommodation online. After landing, I had a WhatsApp message from them asking me to confirm the number of people and suitcases, back and forth with a few messages, and they found a taxi that would fit us and our luggage. Don’t think people carriers like we were blessed with in Auckland. Think bog standard car with a small roof rack! We all squeezed in along with the luggage, and off we went – about a 30-minute transfer, and we arrived armed with more WhatsApp messages from our property owner about how to find the apartment and how to gain keyless entry.
By 11.45 pm, we were in! Now again, there was a slight variation in what I had booked compared to what our hotel booker books.
A 3-bedroom apartment on floor 1 of a 12-storey block in a complex, which looked very nice as we made our way to the apartment block. I’m going to call the accommodation dated, but perfect for 4 nights. Unless you were Bethany, who slept on a mattress which was hard (think concrete). Anyway, for now, sleep called.
On our first morning, I went to the on-site supermarket with the children to get breakfast. A good mix of options, zero Portuguese spoken, but we managed to get supplies and feed ourselves.
A relaxing day looking around the complex, which literally had everything. The Bora Bora resort looks to have been built to coincide with the Olympics, which were held here in 2016. The complex has 3 blocks of 12 storey apartments and includes a Cinema, bowling ally, bar, resturant, gym, indoor swimming pool, outdoor swimming pool, spa, beuticians and a few more (video and photos below) and then onto sports, 3 tennis courts and half a court to practise solo, beach volley court, 5 a side football court and finally a basket ball court, a really nice location although there is a but….I am not sure the facilities have had constant maintenance on the pools that are needed, but as a concept, what a facility! Oh, on another note, all complexes here are protected by security, so know one gets in or out without clearance.
We choose to have a wander to the local supermarket about 400 meters up the road in the afternoon. Think Asda or Tesco. We also were staying opposite an Olympic stadium (1 of 3 stadiums next to each other within 1000 meters on the opposite side of the road.)
On the way in, all the kids said Why are people queuing – By this, they meant that on each check out there was a staff member packing up items that had been scanned by another member of staff. No self-checkout, just loads of checkouts open!!!
Items selected, we queued for about 2 mins and were served, the ladies on the till scanned everything and then bagged it for us – excellent service and then payment.
Now in the on-site supermarket, we used our Currensea credit/debit card, and this didn’t work now, nor did any of my other cards or Apple Pay! Turns out they only accept cash or a payment system like we used in China, but a Brazilian equivalent called PayPix problem is you need a Brazilian bank account to use that. So we needed cash, so the only English-speaking member of staff in the supermarket told us. Luckily, there was a cash machine on site, so I jogged off to find it whilst leaving the children at the checkout.
Used my bank card and withdrew some money (this was the first time I have had to withdraw local currency in over 3 weeks!) Jogged back and paid for the shopping, and left swiftly, but the job was done.
As well as having some well-deserved downtime here, we tried out the restaurant on site and it was amazing, struggled a little with ordering as all the menus were understandably in Portuguese.
We also found a shopping centre/mall within walking distance, so off we set. Now, a few observations as we walked the whole area where we were staying was created/received investment for the Olympics, lots of other security-controlled high rises on route and across the road from our location were a total of 6 arenas/stadiums, and on the way, we passed what we believe was a swimming stadium.
On the road, they had their version of a metro, and again, like in Auckland, it was a bus system rather than a train or tram. A separate lane in the middle of 3 lanes, each side of the road, it seems to work well and is well used.
They also had people selling things at each cross-section. When the lights went red, a local would go car to car with Mintos or other snacks looking to sell, and they did!
Also, as we got closer to the shopping centre, a Hilton Hotel and an Ibis, again leading me to believe this area was historic and built with the Olympics in mind.
The shopping centre itself was huge and was fenced off and had security on each entrance, which was somewhat unique. The car park outside didn’t look busy, but there was underground parking too. When we entered the centre, it was lovely, bright and shiny and had a mixture of well-known shops as well as local providers too – but at 11.30 in the morning had next to no one in there.
Looking at the average wage/salary in Brazil, maybe you can see why, but for now, we had a great couple of hours walking around and exploring the ground floor. As lunch approached, we went to the second floor and found at least 25 food vendors and also the location where everyone had been hiding was very busy!
As ever, we ate local and had McDonald’s and KFC – when we finished and went downstairs again and continued making a few more holiday purchases.
Bora Bora resort was nice for our first few days, but now we’re progressing to Copacabana – we looked at how to get there and thought Uber was cheap.
Travelling Back in Time!!! – 11th to the 11th!
So on the 11th, we made our way in the hire car back to the airport after a bit of shopping in a mall in Auckland (Westfield), followed by a park of which there were many green spaces (one of the things we liked about Australia) which included an awesome train feature – cannot say how much this made me smile (Dad).
So on the 11th, we made our way in the hire car back to the airport after a bit of shopping in a mall in Auckland (Westfield), followed by a park of which there were many green spaces (one of the things we liked about Australia) which included an awesome train feature – cannot say how much this made me smile (Dad).
So to the airport, checked in with plenty of time, and our flight time was 7 pm on the 11th of August, a 12-hour flight, which saw us travel to Chile. Alexander had the ticket for the window seat (the children take it in turns for that seat and also to record the takeoff and landing) of this leg, and well, there was no window. What made it worse was that on the way into Chile’s international airport, the views from my limited view out of the next row’s window were amazing. Firstly snow snow-topped mountains and as we got closer, these changed to green mountains – I have some photos below that again don’t do it justice, but amazing.
2 hours to wait, which went quite quickly, as we went through security for international flights, brought another fridge magnet, and as normal, they started to load the plane 45 minutes before departure.
At this point, I will be honest, I had no idea what the time was as my phone was still showing New Zealand time, and I just knew I was tired. But the next flight, Chile to Rio De Janero was 4 hours in length.
Alexander took the window seat and at least had a window to look out of! So, a quicker second flight and a slightly smaller plane, but it looked as though most of the other passengers on the first flight were also on the second.
And then when we touched down in Rio De Janeiro, it was 8 pm, still on the 11th August – a whole 1 hour after we had set off from New Zealand (by the clock anyway), when we had actually flown for 16 hours and had a 2 hour break on top of that in the middle! – I think we have officially time-travelled 🙂
7th – 11th August Hobsonville Point Enchanter, Auckland
Having slept for some of the 12 hours, we arrived late in Melbourne, and from leaving the gate, we were escorted from one plane to another by our very own plane employee. Going through 1 passport control point, which was for international transfers rather than domestic transfers.
Safely on the plane and the last passengers onboard, Adam had spotted our bags coming off the original plane. About 15 minutes passed, and then we were off – Adam saw the bags making their way across to our plane, but lost sight of them. And then for the next 3.5 hours, we moved from across Australia to New Zealand, landing about 3 pm local time and now 11 hours ahead of the UK.
Electronic visas already acquired whilst I was in China, we also had to complete a card with any items to declare, nature of visit, etc. Luckily, these could be done electronically and were done on board our flight, and for the first flight of our trip, wifi was provided to our devices whilst en route.
Now, through a few checkpoints where the lines kept moving and we ended at the luggage conveyor belts, and there was a single case going around on its own, it didn’t take long to realise our late flight and us making the plane and seeing the cases didn’t actually mean that our cases had made it to.
So a quick chat with the package handlers and leaving our address, we were assured that our cases were indeed still in Australia and would be placed on the next plane across, and they would be delivered to our accommodation the next morning.
Now, with our bit of paper provided by the bag agents, we then had to go through another 2 checkpoints and say that our cases were still in Australia and it was just us with hand luggage (think those border control programmes were a family of 6 turns up for family holiday without any luggage – yes that was us).
But all good, and then onto picking up our car. When I booked it, it was large enough for 8 people and 2 large cases. This was going to be easy, as we only had 6 of us and 6 really small bags – and it was. (before I had visions of trying to play Tectris with the 6 of us, 5 large suitcases and 6 smaller cabin bags, and the hiring company trying to get me to upgrade to a minibus). We are now in possession of a Hyundai Staria – a great vehicle with plenty of room for us all, not quick off the block, but amazing for us for the next 4 days.
We set off from Auckland airport as our accommodation was about 25km away, but sat nav (Waze on my mobile) said an hour, and within about 10 minutes, I could see why. At 430pm, everyone seemed to be driving home on the main road that runs around/through Auckland, so a steady drive was completed as the rain came down in patches. Our impressions of the roads were a lot like the roads in the UK, and the scenery about the same too, and for the hat trick, the weather was too.
As we were 5 minutes from the accommodation, we decided to call at the local Woolworths (think big Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s etc) to stock up on a few supplies. We were thinking maybe some toiletries, given that ours we still in a different country, but the kids were thinking snacks and lots of them.
When we arrived at our home for the next 4 days, it was dark and we were all tired, but everyone was delighted at what Dad had booked for once! A 3-bedroom new terrace house with plenty of space, a big TV in what looked like a nice estate. All tired, we had pizza and went to bed.
Spent the first morning waiting for cases to be delivered, and at 1 pm, they arrived as instructed and all intact. We had ventured out to Woolworths again for some food items for lunch, so after this, we were ready to go.
The weather was still bad, but when it did break, we jumped in the car and went for an explore. I always like to drive around when in an area, as you can see so much more than taking public transport, and a quick Google found me a route to the North of Auckland – this drive took us through the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park, offering views of native bush, waterfalls, and the rugged West Coast beaches. But I will be honest, it was throwing it down all of the journey, meaning venturing out of the car was a non-starter. But great viewing of the region, driving up into the mountains. We will try again as the weather seems to be slightly better for our remaining days.
So, as ever, we want to try out the local cuisine and call in at McDonald’s! Larger building than most, with ample car park and drive-through. Now inside is where it gets interesting, the children spot a room off from the main area – Lucy and I know it’s their party room, and then have to try and explain that having a birthday party used to be all the rage in the UK for children’s birthdays. Well, in New Zealand, they have a dedicated room for this!
Also, there is an inside play area, think a local play park inside an air-conditioned room within McDonald’s. We have seen these before when we visited Australia.
As for the food, different drinks on the menu and also McRibs seem to be a regular occurrence, as for a vegetarian, Matthew is left with either ordering a salad or having a McChicken sandwich without the Chicken patty, which is what he goes with.
It is now 6 pm, and the sun has gone down, and we drive the 30 minutes home via Woolworths just to get a few snacks for watching a video when we get back.
It’s Saturday, so off we go on an adventure – first up, a trip to the Auckland Museum to find some history and to learn about New Zealand as a country. Split over 3 floors (they are literally updating half of it at the moment, so they are only charging 50% of the normal entrance fee). We wandered around taking in the displays for 2 hours. Favoutires for us were the facts about local wildlife and each with a graph of how close they were to extinction (really makes you think), along with taxidermy creatures of various animals from the location, another highlight and a ponienant moment was a whole floor dedicated to the role that New Zealand played in the world wars and now s they play peace keeper when required, Lucy also liked the stats about the amount of people who live in Auckland over the years and the considerations of utilities and building going forward. There were also several good interactive elements, which included a setup of an old shop with things they used to sell locally long before the big corporations set up shop (literally) and then Alexander’s favourite of a rope with varying tensions that was used to show the strength needed to pull boats assured.
The sun was out and Adam wanted to find water and a beach, so we had a quick Google and Adam found Hamilton Beach Reserve, which was located at the end of a cul-de-sac. I must confess it didn’t look very inviting from the road, but oh my – walking down 30 steps opened out into about a 30-meter secluded beach – breathtaking, with some great views and an open beach for the children to run about on and let off some steam. Honestly, the photos didn’t do it justice.
After an hour, we jumped back into our transport and made the quick 10 km drive to the city to find the Auckland Sky Tower – easy to spot! The Auckland Sky Tower is 328 meters (1,076 feet) tall, making it the tallest building not just in the city, but the whole of New Zealand! In fact, it’s also the second-tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere. (thanks Wikipedia!)
£82 in all for the 6 of us to gain tickets to get up to the observation tower floors of 53 and 60. As we headed up in the lift after 20 floors, the concrete outlook was replaced with glass looking out over Auckland as we rose to the first observation point.
Must of only been about 30 on the floor, and looking out over Auckland was a real eye opener, from all the buildings close to the structure and the view further away, which included an inactive volcano, was amazing to view.
The reason for turning up later in the day was that Lucy had investigated that sunset was a great time to experience the views, so with about 20 minutes to go we went up a further lift to the 60th floor, unpacked the professional camera, usually reserved for concert photography and we observed again through the 360 degree views the amazing outlook of Auckland.
As the sun started to set and the lights from all the buildings started to be switched on both automatically and manually, the amazing sight of Auckland at night was revealed. We stood in awe as, for the next 45 minutes, each view changed again and again, from the bridge, which was suddenly illuminated, to the sports ground below, where we arrived had 20+ people playing football on now just being a dark square being highlighted by the lights around it. It really was a great experience, with selfies and photos done, we had a quick drink still up the tower and then left with large smiles.
The children are all starving to death at this point! So, within 30 meters of walking to the car, there must have been a choice of at least 50 places to eat. We spotted 2 Indian restaurants within 3 shop fronts of each other and had the choice of a plain, rather nice looking restaurant and a colourful alternative which looked well used, so the 6 of us headed in, all ate well, with delicious food and great service. £80 in total – nice price too.
And that was our day done, apart from me, who is going to stay up and watch Southampton triumph against Wrexham in the opening game of the Championship season, fingers crossed 🙂 – we got 3 points just for the record!
Sunday and are penultimate day after a hectic day yesterday, we thought we would get out into the open as the weather forecast is no rain. So we Googled local walks and found a few to choose from.
The coastal walk is in the same location as Hobsonville (about a 4-minute drive). We parked our car in a free car park and walked past what was advertised as a Market, which was in the same location on a Saturday – it would have been good to see it. Maybe next time!
Anyway, we walked down the hill to the start of the walk and found 2 things – a lovely block of apartments overlooking the river and a play area. The children who had walked about 100 meters went straight there! It had a zip line, tall slide, and pull-up and bar apparatus. A good 30 mins spent there before we dragged them away. Got down to the start of the walk to find a sign “Coastal Walk detour” on display – the first/last section of the walk was under repair, so we had to go back to the car park following the detour signs.
But on this lovely day, the weather was great with only the wind slightly blowy, day we walked 3.3km, kind of following the signs (that was my only complaint, it was advertised as a 5km walk, but it wasn’t really signposted that well. So we did have a very enjoyable walk, but according to my watch we didn’t go round the full route, not sure if that was due to the detour signs either, who knows, but having a family walk, which we hardly ever do was most welcome and a little win and a memory to cheres.
Drove back home for lunch and spotted that the cafes here, on a Sunday seem to do be doing a really good trade. Went past 4 and all of them had patrons sitting inside and outside of each one. But we had to go home as we still have lots of food to use before we leave tomorrow.
After lunch, we set off to find another great beach, and Google recommended Cheltenham beach as it has no real tide and was long and sandy beach. So off we went, on a 25-minute drive by car, and like before it was situated at the end of a road within an estate. Again, walking onto the beach, it was lovely and we could see the homes that edged onto the beach were making full use of the outlook from their property by having seats set outside or having huge windows looking out over this picture-perfect view.
That said, the children wanted a rock pool type beach that we had driven past about 5 minutes in the car – so off we went.
This beach was called Narrow Neck Beach and again had free parking, a cafe which wasn’t open as it’s still winter here (August), a park, a beautiful beach area and toilets which in the winter were open between 6 am and 9.30 pm each day. Kids were happy skimming stones and looking for pearls – I was happy to let them hunt, just in case! After spending over an hour here and the kids all getting wet, we had another 20 minutes on the play park, and as the sun was going down, we called it a day and set off.
Being by the beach had brought back memories of going to our coast in Lincolnshire and getting fish and chips, so we Googled (thank God we have internet access over here) and set off to pick up tea.
We followed the sat nav, finding a location about 5 minutes from where we are staying. Now picture this, although we didn’t realise until we pulled up to it. An automated car wash on a large spot, which also included 2 car vacuums, oh and 3 vendors selling fish and chips, Chinese and Mexican food. Luckily, I took a photo or you would all be thinking greasy spoon at the side of a road. The food was delivered after we ordered directly to our car! It’s the future 🙂
And as you can see, given we went for fish and chips, given the choice, only 50% ended up with this! Another great day.
2nd August – 6th August Tokyo Disney Resort Hilton Hotel
Flight was delayed by about an hour and 20 minutes at the airport and then another 40 minutes on the plane – but at the other end, all was good.
Had to complete arrival cards to tell them where we were staying, but excellent passing through the checks and onto package collection.
Onto collecting our Taxi – as ever had to get 2 taxis given our family and case sizes. About a 40-minute ride and £65 per taxi – a world away from previous taxi rides in China.
Checked in with the Hilton, looks like a lovely hotel, and it is, we are in a family room which sleeps 6, plenty of room until we get the suitcases open and in the room too.
The next morning, when we open the shutters, the view we have is amazing, like an amazing picture, such a breathtaking picture picture-perfect view. I could spend hours looking out at this view. Not sure if the photo below does it justice.
Breakfast is included each day, which is a nice touch, but seen as we got into our room after midnight, only Alexander, Lucy and I made it for dinner and for mornings 2 and 3. This is the same, but on our final morning, we all made it down!
Nice selection of food, including local dishes, but everyone’s highlight has to be the ice cream for breakfast, it’s a game changer 🙂
On our first day, we decided to head into the city, so the complimentary bus run by the hotel, 3 times an hour to the Disney metro station. We find the ticket office and then, with 6 tickets, make our way onto the metro. Not quite the underground system of China (which has the stations written in English too,) but fairly easy for us to navigate. The only issue is that the metro is run by 2 different companies, which means that you need to separate tickets if you cross the network, which we did.
Anyway, we used ChatGPT to find some places of interest and found our first location, a bank with various vending machines. Please see the picture, which looked like something out of a horror movie, but plenty of tourists were doing the same as us.
The heat at this point is quite unbearable, so we find the tech street of Tokyo and have a wander. Within about 5 minutes, we find an amazing building which is quite narrow in length but is spread over 7 floors.
Over the floors we find everything tech, both new and old, including my favourite, old gaming systems pre-owned and loved, including the games for them too. A great history lesson for the children and a lovely through pack to Lucy and my youth.
Although we didn’t spend any money in there, we spent an hour in there looking at all the wonders that were in there. We moved then onto a tourist type shop – think London selling everything from London buses, statues to beefeater figurines.
We made a couple of Tokyo purchases (magnets) and then headed for a local meal – McDonald’s! A few different things on offer, but definitely back to burgers as the main dish of the day. Even Matthew managed to create a vegetarian option by creating a McChicken sandwich and then taking out the Chicken. Grape Fanta and Hawaii blue blast – all in huge portions, which, given the fluid we were looking to replace, was amazing.
28th July – 2nd August Beijing Pudi Hotel
Once we arrived at Beijing airport, we went straight to get a taxi (or 2) for 6 of us and with as many suitcases, it meant that even a larger vehicle couldn’t accommodate us. So a large and regular taxi was required. The larger taxi was £35 and the smaller was only £10 – a bit weird in my mind, but we arrived at our hotel safe and sound.
Now this hotel had been booked by a third party, and in the lobby, Lucy recorded Adam thanking the third party as the hotel was about 20 steps up from the accommodation I had booked in Shanghai in vibes and looks, although as I pointed out, probably a lot more in cost.
As we went to our rooms on the 11th floor, it was a different world, the rooms were huge and en-suites just as nice.
So after a night’s rest, we took a walk to a local shopping mall about 30 minutes away using Apple Maps. It was very warm walking, and we were glad to find the mall. Now it was like Debenhams of old, with numerous outlets spread across 4 floors. We spent about an hour looking around at the various shops and then moved on to have some lunch. We found a McDonald’s and the children always like to go and see the difference between abroad and vs UK.
For the children, Bethany and Alexander didn’t stray too far from the UK menu, and Matthew, who is vegetarian, struggled to find anything he could eat (chips and a drink, was it). Lucy had read that if you don’t eat meat in China, you are considered poor. Adam went for some chicken drumsticks (think KFC). Everyone had a bober drink.
Fed, we then hit the next mall just across the street, 5 floors this time with different shops laid out on each floor, again easy to navigate but a weird experience where shop assistants follow you round the store offering you a basket and being very attentive. The bottom floor of the mall was an ice skating rink, which I had seen once before in Dubai on a previous visit. Took a bit to get used to, but we got there in the end, several purchases made and then a quicker walk back to our hotel, again using Apple Maps.
Now, the lovely family we met in Shanghai had made their way back to Beijing on this day via a 9-hour train journey vs a 2.5-hour flight and had invited us for tea at their home. They came to collect us from the hotel and then, within 20 minutes were in their local home in a high-rise apartment block.
Our host had a conversation with 2 locals on the way in, and they asked if they were selling their home to us (I think they were worried). Anyways, on entering their apartment, it was like a Tardis for the Doctor Who fans out there. Small on the outside but large on the inside with 3 bedrooms, a bathroom, a living/dining area and a kitchen.
They also had 2 birds who were very tame and flew about the main room and were happy to be picked up, touched and stroked by the children.
Catching up with them all really was lovely, and we also met the father, who couldn’t speak any English, and nor could I speak any Chinese, but with a translation app, we managed a great conversation over the 3 hours we were there. They cooked us an amazing local meal, which included noodles, which is I am told, is really an honour to be served within the home environment (a celebration meal of sorts)
We had purchased some gifts for the family, and in return, we were given some local drawings and a stamp that the father had made. It was an honour for him to have guests in his home, and likewise, we were honoured to be invited.
An experience we will never forget, and as we found out, a friendship that will keep going for many a year, and we hope to see them in the UK soon!
The following day, the family invited us to their local waterpark, Happy Land, which really was a sight to behold. We made our way on the subway, which was really easy to navigate:
Find a self-service machine, press the English button, find the stop you want to go to, press the screen, type in the number of tickets required, pay using an app and then off you go. And the best bit for about 40 minutes on the subway it costs about 60p each!
Following the signs for each line was easy, and deciding if you were going in either direction was also easy given the graphics on display.
The water park ran from 10 am until 10 pm, it had everything from a lazy river, to numerous slides, to a massive wave pool with the best bit a DJ to entertain all the people in the pool all evening and a light show on for the final hour.
Oh, and also there was other entertainment with dancing girls and boys, and also there was karaoke for the younger generation, which was great to hear and see.
Our adopted family organised the food around tea time, and I found lots of great food. My favourite was the banana bread, to the other extreme of being offered chicken feet! Now we all had a taste, but I think, as we had heard about this before, I think even if it had tasted like the best food ever, we would have struggled to eat it.
Given a lift home with a couple of people in the car, over the number of seats there were, I asked to be driven past Tiniman Square. Being of my age, I remember the square being on the news many years ago, so it was nice to see it at night and from the outside.
On Thursday we were going to see the Great Wall of China which was 1.5 hours from our hotel, but whilst waiting to be picked we were informed that given to the extreme weather and floods the country had over the previous 3 days the walls werent currently open due to bad weather both during the journey there and whilst on the top of the mountain. I must confess I am slightly disappointed, but at the same time it just gives us another reason to return…..
So instead, we pivoted and went to the Beijing Zoo and Summer Palace.
The Zoo entrance fee to visit included all animals except for the Aquarium for literally £3 per person. I thought it was a mistake, but visitors with passports (not local) get £50% off the entrance fees!
So on entry our highlights were the Pandas – Lucy’s reason for wanting to attend, and by chance it was the morning when they tend to be more active, and within entering the build we saw 2, 1 having a banboo snack and the other already out for the count, and in this heat who could blame them. Now, unfortunately, the giant pandas weren’t up for coming out, so they weren’t letting people into the viewing area, which was a shame, but Lucy could tick pandas off her list.
Other highlights included the monkeys, of which all the little rockers said can they have a baby one as a pet. Now, having had to leave a rabbit, a tortoise and 20 fish to a lovely neighbour for 28 nights, I think any other kind of animal to add to this list just may push our wonderful neighbour over the edge!
The elephants, too, were a sight to behold, and this rounded off nicely our visit; the grounds are lovely for a walk around, too. Now, from inside the zoo, you can take a water taxi to the Summer Palace, which takes about an hour and includes 2 water taxis. Sounds idyllic, and it was, but I must confess that being charged £66 in total for the pleasure was a bit steep, given that everything else in the city was a good price. I think what made it harder for me was that there was, over the boat’s speakers, Chinese information being broadcast – but for us, we could just look out of the window and in the heat, we all had a snooze.
The final stop of the boat trip was the summer palace, a very large and picturesque location created over the centuries for the emperors, and it really was a great space. Thousands of locals are making the most of this beautiful area and scenery.
We were there about 3 hours and then called it a day and headed to the subway (about 20 mins walk from one of the exits), and after another 60 mins were back at the hotel.
Now, after 3 full-on days, I don’t mind saying that today has been somewhat of an organisational/work day. But still the kids have managed the pool and we have been out for a meal in the restaurant of the hotel. Oh, and 1 final time, our new Chinese friends came literally for a 15-minute stop by the hotel at 9 pm so we could say our final goodbyes.
I also wanted to highlight that almost every signpost is actually written in Chiense and English, from road signs to menus to the subway – given that we probably saw about 100 people who potentially could have read the signs during our stay it was amazing, and anything else that wasn’t we used the translation tools camera function for a pretty good translation. If we met someone who wasn’t that great at English, then they spoke or typed into the same translation app and out came the English, then we typed in our response and away we went.
And also Adam and Bethany, our twins, definitely, along with Lucy and Alexander, having lighter hair, got more than 1 or 2 second looks. Adam and Bethany got more than their fair share of attention, and they were the photographic stars of many a photo of adults taking pictures of them next to their children – they always asked.
Even funnier was that on 3 occasions he was told he shouldn’t be in the male toilet and male changing room – must be his amazing long locks of hair. On reflection, we didn’t see many Chinese with hair longer than 3 inches. He didn’t mind, and I’m always going to be jealous of his gorgeous hair.
Finally, our new friends may never see this, but they have made our Beijing experience so much better by showing us around and being so kind to us. We will get to return the favour when (not if) they come to the UK. They have been amazing.
For now, as I write this next stop in 11 hours’ time is our flight to Tokyo.
25th July – Shanghai Disneyland
24th July – Day of Rest
23rd July 2025 – Arriving in China
Our second flight from Helsinki, Finland, to Shanghai, China was 13 hours, but completed in 12, a few films and a lot of sleep for all the family and included a couple of meals too. A nice flight. Had to fill in a small bit of paperwork for each of us to get ready for immigration when we arrived.
When we arrived, we stepped off the plane onto the walk way you were hit by the heat. As I was expecting, everything ran like clockwork through the airport. Queues were minimal; in fact, the 6 of us spent more time standing at immigration having our passports and paperwork checked than queuing for this to happen! It was all good, and with bags collected, we were out and picking up a taxi to take us to our accommodation. £35 for a 30-minute taxi that was large enough to fit all 6 of us in with accompanying bags.
Now, as we pulled up at our accommodation, which I had booked, it’s fair to say the family’s emotions were mixed.
Greeted by single-track roads and an iron gate, when this opened, there were two painted pictures of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck – better than I could do, but a feeling of DIY sprang to mind. No clear sign of reception, but after having a wander, we found it.
The guys behind reception were brilliant and as soon as we spoke our first word of English out came a translation device (about the size of a small phone) that allowed them to speak Chinese into the device, and out it would speak and in text give us the English equivalent and vice versa.
When we had checked in, we were then shown to our rooms x2 on separate floors with no lifts. (remember the heavy bags we had!) The rooms were nice enough, basic with a bathroom and a kettle, but no fridge. The aircon already turned on in the room was a welcome blessing.
Once we dropped our bags, we then went to the restaurant, which was already busy – as before not a word of English spoken (we did expect this) so the guy from reception helped us use an app to order the food and what can only be described as the best value Chinese food we have ever had was served. It was delicious! Yes, we all had chopsticks (not a knife or fork anywhere), and some of us used their serving spoons (same spoons we use for soup in Chinese restaurants), and everything was very basic, including getting your own plates and bowls out, but there was a certain charm and welcoming family feel to the place. The staff were so nice to us and really looked after us. The bill for all of us, including drinks, £24, and we couldn’t eat everything we had ordered. Oh, and we brought 5 ice creams from reception, which were included within this price!
There were a lot of looks from the other patrons of the restaurant (about 20 people, all from China) and us 6 British nationals, with 3 that have blonde hair, which here is a rarity. It was nice to have locals in the restaurant with us, so we could see what the etiquette was and follow suit.
And now full of food and tired from our travels, we headed to bed.
22nd July 2025 – Travelling
At the Little Rockers’ house, our lovely neighbour Emma B and Mark’s Mum have arrived ready to give us a lift to the train station, and we are still trying to get the cases closed, and each room of our house has the feeling of chaos!
Why the train? Cost pure and simple – parking for 28 nights comes in at over £500 plus fuel, the train return about £250 including insurance.
We arrive at Lincoln train station 30 minutes early, and of course, we are on the furthest platform, so we have to take 2 lifts each time to the other side of the station, as we won’t all fit in 1 lift
The trip is 3 trains – Lincoln – Peterborough – Kings Cross, the underground to Paddington, and then finally the Heathrow Express. Nice weather helps, and of course, we are all happy about the adventure we are going on. Our only minor frustration is having to take the lift at each station and a few times on the underground, as our cases are very heavy to take up and down the stairs.
But we made it to Heathrow with 3 hours and 20 minutes before our departure time. Nice!
Checking in for our first flight is with Finnair, where we have to check in at those wonderful machines to print out our own luggage labels, label them up and then go to the self-service bag drop. Only 1 case is slightly over 23 kg and needs an orange label (Lucy’s case). We do this 3 hours before our departure time. This is indeed a first for us – as a family, we have had our fair share of running to check-in to make sure we don’t miss the flight.
Departures is fine, a quick bite to eat and onto the plane, and we are off!
A 2.5-hour flight that evening sees us arrive at Helsinki airport, where we have just under 2 hours to get onto our new plane and onto China.
This must be a fairly standard route (cost vs time) as the majority of the passengers are of Chinese descent, and being that Finnair does both of the flights, meaning that are bags are transported from one plane to the other. A slight niggle is that there is no food on the plane – I thought there would be as it was a scheduled flight. Luckily, Bethany had the forethought to pack each of us with a snack bag, and Adam made wraps for us all before leaving home, so we did have food with us.
At Helsinki airport, we then discovered that there were no food restaurants open, which, as someone who enjoys looking at business, I found slightly strange. Looking at the arrivals and departures boards, there we several flights coming in and out overnight. As a restaurant owner, I would be looking to open with minimum staff to serve people from these planes, but that’s just me.
We did, however, find a robot pizza-making machine – now Tokyo is on our list this trip, and this is the kind of tech we expected to see there, but not in Finland’s airport.
Only 10 Euros for a pizza of 8 slices, and we all enjoyed seeing it being made and placed into a box with a wooden knife and served out of a hatch ready for us to eat and rate. Video attached.
Pre-holiday comments
This is part of my 50th birthday celebrations and an aspiration to travel the 7 continents in my 50th year. We managed to tick off the African continent (twice) and the Asian continent quickly and fairly cheaply. The 3 continents we are covering on this trip, I will be honest, have pushed our original budget more than I thought possible. I won’t go into costs too much, but let’s just say I have shed a tear or two!
Starting with obtaining visas for China, which included 3 of us (over 14 years of age) attending Manchester China’s visa centre so fingerprints could be obtained, and this cost £945 in total for the pleasure. – The visas last for 2 years, so I may go back again and again and again. 🙂