Well, unfortunately for us, the answer to that question is "bust." We had the best of intentions, like selfies at the Great Wall, but it was not to be.
It all started a few weeks ago when Paul and I realized that we had a free weekend and a long wish list of countries we still hope to visit while we're here. Mainland China is relatively close to Japan - only a four hour flight vs. six+ to other Asian countries. A three-day trip to Beijing would be very manageable given we just pulled off three days in Hong Kong and that destination was quite a bit farther.
I researched the airfare and while it was VERY pricey, the allure of seeing the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square caused me to look the other way. I also found reasonable accommodations right downtown. So, why not? Right?
Paul has been to China for business maybe a half-dozen times throughout his career, so I considered him "in the know." However, to his credit, the last time he was there was in 2017. And as we are all keenly aware, a lot has happened since then. So, when I asked him if we needed a tourist visa, he said he didn't think so but wasn't entirely sure.
Google, my trusted itinerary planner and travel agent, advised us that China has eased travel restrictions for Americans (likely a post-pandemic necessity) and effective January 1st of this year, travel visas are no longer required as long as you stay in a designated major city no more than 72 hours. I figured with our plans for quick three-day jaunt to only see sights in and around Beijing, we would qualify. I busily looked into tours, and found a private one that would take us to the Great Wall in the morning, and the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square in the afternoon on Sunday - a full 9 hours and fairly expensive - but when will we ever get to China again? So, I clicked on "Purchase Tickets" and secured all our arrangements. Funny thing though, even after doing my "due diligence" and making all the reservations, I kept telling Paul I was genuinely nervous about this trip, but couldn't pinpoint why...
Our China adventure was supposed to take place this past weekend. When Saturday morning rolled around, we made the 45-minute trek to Haneda airport via the subway and monorail. We arrived on time, at 7:30 a.m., and found our way through the early morning chaos to the Japan Air ticket desk where we intended to check our one bag of combined belongings. The agent, who thankfully spoke decent English, asked where our documents were. I explained that we only had passports - that visas were no longer required for short stays like ours (and I wondered for a moment why she didn't know this). She researched our return flight and enlisted the help of a manager, while I hopped on Google again to make certain I had read things right. Sure enough, I pulled up the same article I had seen before and showed it to Paul - it confirmed the length of stay - no more than 72 hours. After about 15 minutes of waiting, we were issued boarding passes and our bag was checked in. All systems go - or so we thought.
The next hurdle was actually making it to our gate. I'm not kidding when I say the security line was easily 300-400 people deep. But, we didn't have time to panic about that because no sooner did we find the end of the line we were pulled from it - by our Japan Air ticket agent who apparently continued researching our situation even after we left the counter. She explained that while our trip did indeed fall within the 72-hour maximum stay requirement, we were traveling there to and from Japan. The fine print apparently says you must fly in from one country and fly out to a completely different country. Essentially the 72 hours is nothing more than a prolonged "layover" in China. Needless to say, that little fact was not highlighted in the article I read.😣 I don't entirely understand what China is hoping to prevent with this little layover stipulation - it's not like spies are unwilling to work an extra stop into their espionage travel plans.
Anyway, the reality of this debacle then began to settle in. Would we get our bag back? Is it too late to cancel the tour? Will the airline give us our money back - or give us a credit toward a future flight? What about the hotel reservation? What a mess - and a costly one at that.
The agent sat us in a busy corner of the airport while we waited for our bag to be retrieved and returned. It eventually arrived and we boarded the monorail back to the city center. Once we reached our apartment, we decided to lick our wounds and treat ourselves to a true American breakfast at a place around the corner. Our dampened spirits were immediately lifted when a delightful couple from St. Paul, MN were seated next to us. I can't begin to tell you how much we needed a long conversation in proper English with friendly Midwesterners!
Good news is, as of today, we have been fully refunded for the nine-hour tour, and only had to pay for one night (same day cancellation fee) at the hotel. We're still waiting for Japan Air to tell us about the plane tickets...fingers crossed on that one. So what's the moral of the story? I'm not entirely sure. Do better research? Get a travel visa no matter what? Trust your gut?
The only positive thing that came from this experience was that we never actually set foot in China document-free. I can only imagine what we would have endured had we arrived there with only passports, no travel visas and return tickets to the same place we departed from. Incidentally, my in-laws warned us in advance of this trip to behave ourselves because they don't have enough money to pay a ransom or post bail.😂 Glad we evaded capture and jail time!
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