Planning vacations is hard work

March 27 – Today I stayed home and worked on planning vacations. With my mom & sister arriving very soon & the boys coming in another month, it was time. It is a lot of work finding hotels. I made good use of a web site called TripAdvisor.com. It is great. It is just regular people’s reviews of hotels, restaurants, everything. It is not sponsored by any chain or anything, so you get honest & very useful information. I high recommend it. But it does take a lot of time reading & searching.

I found what sounded like a great hotel in Beijing for the “girl” trip. It is a local hotel that used to be someone’s mansion. All the reviews were glowing. It is a little away from the main part of town (The Forbidden City area), but not bad. I emailed about booking & of course they were full. But the woman who emailed me back, Wendy, nicely suggested a sister hotel. I looked it up & it only had 2 reviews, one good & one OK. It is also right near the Forbidden City, so better location. I told Wendy I’d take it. Then I asked Wendy about going to the Great Wall & what she would recommend. She emailed me back immediately with some suggestions. She said that if I wanted she could prearrange for a car & guide to take us & gave me the rate. It was a good rate compared to some I’ve heard from other people who have done the trip. I’ve heard getting a car & guide is the way to go since you can hit parts of the wall that are not so touristy.

I told Wendy I’d go with the car & guide. We had several more emails back & forth. I even tried some of my Mandarin on her. I’m trying to learn just a few words, just out of respect. She corrected my Mandarin & we’ve been having some great email conversations ever since. It is funny how close the internet can make the world feel. Wendy also has arranged for a car to pick us up at the airport. I’ve read it is more expensive than taking a taxi, but if they know the way to your hotel that is often well worth the extra cost. It’s nice to have someone standing there with a sign with your name on it when you arrive in a strange place.

Next I checked out places to go to in Thailand for our trip with Jesse, Brooks & Brooks’ girlfriend, Jen. We all decided that Thailand beaches would be a good place for a family vacation. It’s been along time since we all vacationed together, so we thought this would just be relaxing & allow us to spend time together. The snorkeling is excellent here & I guess there are lots of water sports to participate in.

Our friend in Thailand suggested Ko Samui (Ko meaning Island in Thai). This is where his travel agent suggested. It is a large island on the Gulf of Thailand. This season is not so good for the other side on the Andaman Sea, as it is more stormy & rough there now. I first had to decided which beach on the island we wanted & then which hotel. It was a full day of reading reviews, but I think I found a good spot. We went with the most popular beach, but the part of it that is not so busy. Sounds like there is plenty to do to keep us busy or we can just veg if we want to. The hotel is a resort, the same chain John & I stayed at when we went last year to Thailand. It looks really nice & got good reviews. So that is done & I feel a lot better.