packing tips for china oct 2014

hpadveen

my husband and I are traveling on the hong kong/yangtze river china trip oct 2014 . Please post suggestions re: packing for men/women.. are the airports really that strict on luggage weight or does all of the bags get processed together? are the evenings dressy or does a nice pair of black slacks (nice jeans) and a dress shirt appropriate. we don't want to over pack and would like to use the hotels to do our laundry every few days if necessary, but I'm not sure if they will do it overnight and give back to us the next day...anyone use this service on the trip??

rxgale

Did the trip last year in October and was also concerned about packing. Here is what we experienced. All checked luggage goes together and, to my knowledge, there were no excess baggage fees charged for over 44 pounds. But luggage must be reasonable size and weight. They do not seem to care about a few pounds one way or another. As for carry-on weight limits, carry-ons were never weighed. Just make sure the size is an acceptable ("legal") carry-on in the US in coach and will fit the overhead bins. I had trouble in one airport with a small canister of compressed air (for camera use) but eventually got it through. As for dress, anything seems to go. Last night banquet was a bit dressier and some men had sport coats, but most were in business casual. As usual, women were a bit more dressy than men. We had no trouble with hotel laundry service as long as we were staying 2 nights. We found prices to be typical high end hotel pricing for laundry and dry cleaning. One hotel even had an option to request a few hours service. Did not need to use. Did not notice people in jeans at night. May need sweater if windy on Great Wall walk. We also had to use our umbrellas and rain wear in Shanghai and were happy that we had packed some light weight umbrellas and throw-away rain ponchos. The best thing you can do is to simply prepare yourself for a great time and then let it happen. Be sure to bring any medicine you might need; both prescription and non-prescription in your carry on. I tried to buy some cortisone cream in Bejing and got a great experience but no cortisone cream.

Tiffany01

I don't have any idea about laundry. But one thing I can tell you, all most all airports are that strict on luggage.

sidecar

Luggage weight is not up to the airports. Each airline has their own weight allowances and restrictions. Go on the website for your airlines and check what their weight limits are, both for checked luggage and carry ons.

emmyjon

hpadveen! I don’t have enough knowledge about packing for China but I will recommend you to don’t forget to keep torchlight, camera, water bottle, umbrella, emergency medicines, cell phone, snacks or dry fruits and extra cloths in your travel bag before going to travel. I think these are the most essential thing.

asellus

I traveled there rather long time ago but I remember that luggage to check goes together and as far as I know there were no excess baggage fees charged for over forty pounds. But luggage must be reasonable size and weight, but they do care about a few pounds one way or another. I used this 35L bag and it was OK.