Getting Around

Long-haul: into and out of the country

Inbound: US west / east coast → Hong Kong (HKG), arriving Oct 16-17

• Most of the brigade is departing from NYC (JFK / EWR), Los Angeles (LAX), Burbank (BUR), Seattle (SEA), or San Francisco (SFO).
• Nonstop options:
  • SFO ↔ HKG: Cathay Pacific, United, Singapore Airlines (some routes via SIN). ~14h.
  • LAX ↔ HKG: Cathay Pacific, American, Singapore. ~15h.
  • SEA ↔ HKG: Cathay seasonal direct; otherwise connect through SFO, LAX, NRT or ICN.
  • JFK ↔ HKG: Cathay nonstop ~16h (one of the longest commercial flights in the world).
  • BUR ↔ HKG: No nonstop; connect through LAX or SFO.
• Connecting via Asia (often cheaper than nonstop): JL/NH via Tokyo (NRT/HND), KE via Seoul (ICN), CI/BR via Taipei (TPE), CX via Bangkok or Manila. Generally costs 15-30% less than direct.
• Arrival timing: the group is now consolidating in HK Sat 10/17 to Mon 10/19, so landing Oct 16 or Oct 17 both work. From the US west coast, daytime departures naturally land Oct 17, which lines up with the group window.
• Nick is the only one routing from Dublin (DUB): Cathay seasonal direct, otherwise connect via LHR or AMS.

Outbound: Shanghai (PVG) → home, departing Nov 1 (after two firm Shanghai nights)

• PVG (Pudong) handles all the long-haul. SHA (Hongqiao) is mostly domestic; confirm before you book.
• Nonstop returns:
  • PVG → SFO / LAX: United, Air China, China Eastern. ~12h.
  • PVG → JFK: United, China Eastern. ~14h. Returns are noticeably faster than the eastbound.
  • PVG → SEA: Delta, China Eastern, Hainan.
• Returns generally fly out late morning to mid-afternoon, landing same calendar day on the US west coast.
• If you book a late dinner Oct 31 (Obscura / Fu He Hui), depart no earlier than mid-afternoon Nov 1.
• Arrive PVG 3 hours early; international check-in plus immigration plus security takes the full window.

Internal: rail and air

The route used to be rail the whole way and it died on the Yantai leg: nine to eleven hours to Hangzhou, most of a day spent to reach one stop. Four domestic flights fixed that. Rail still does the short and medium work, where it beats flying outright once you count the airport at both ends.

The full board, with times and the trap on each leg, is on Departures. What follows is the reasoning.

The four flights

• Shenzhen (SZX) → Zhangjiajie (DYG), Mon Oct 19. Booked: Suparna 7573, 16:40 → 18:40. One airline flies it nonstop, a single 737, one departure that day, so it is still the single point of failure in the itinerary - missing it costs the day, not an hour. The fallback has to be decided in the morning: rail from Shenzhen North, about 6h.
• Zhangjiajie (DYG) → Xi'an (XIY), Wed Oct 21. Booked: Sichuan 3258, 11:05 → 12:30 - the earliest nonstop, and the one that saves the only Xi'an day there is. The late bank runs 22:45-23:50 and lands after the airport metro shuts at 22:20.
• Beijing (PEK) → Yantai (YNT), Mon Oct 26. Booked: Shandong 7602, 10:05 → 11:20. Capital, not Daxing: Daxing runs the same route three times a week in a narrow midday window. The 10:05 spends the Beijing morning, which leaves Sunday the 25th as the only whole Beijing day.
• Yantai (YNT) → Hangzhou (HGH), Tue Oct 27. Booked: Loong Air GJ8822, 16:35 → 18:35. Straight into Hangzhou Xiaoshan - this replaced the old Shandong 7617 into Shanghai Hongqiao and the evening train that had to follow it. The whole brigade is on it. It still costs the Yantai afternoon: the airport is 43 km out, so leave town early afternoon.

The four rail legs

• Hong Kong West Kowloon → Shenzhen Futian, Oct 19: 14-15 min, roughly every quarter hour. Futian rather than Shenzhen North: closer, in the CBD where lunch actually is, and Metro Line 11 runs from that same station to the airport in 36 min. Border clearance opens 90 min before departure and normally takes 30-45. Budget the full 90 for fifteen foreign passports.
• Xi'an North → Pingyao Ancient City, Oct 22: booked on G2456, 15:15 → 17:40. Direct - no change at Taiyuan, whatever the older guidebooks say. Check the ticket reads Pingyao Gucheng, not the old conventional-line station. A 15:15 departure leaves Xi'an one afternoon and one morning, and the morning ends at a ticket barrier.
• Pingyao → Beijing, Oct 24: booked on D1038, 09:29 → Beijing Qinghe 14:27 - just under 5h, not the ~4h a faster service takes. Only four trains a day: 07:12, 09:29, 17:43, 19:01, and they land at three different Beijing stations, so check your ticket says Qinghe. After the 09:29 there is an eight-hour hole.
• Hangzhou East → Shanghai Hongqiao, Oct 30: 45 min to an hour, 200-odd a day, unbooked on purpose. The hour gets you to Hongqiao, not to a Pudong gate - that is another 60-90 min across the city.

Optional: Suzhou as a day trip out of Hangzhou. Budget 1h20 each way, not the 45 minutes doing the rounds. The 36-minute service runs Hangzhou West to Suzhou South and both of those are a long way from anywhere you want to be.

Sequencing: flights now, trains later

• The group's four flights and two long rail legs are ticketed. Anyone not on that booking is buying into the same two thin routes (Shenzhen → Zhangjiajie, Yantai → Hangzhou) after fourteen seats have gone - do those two first, and do them now.
• Rail sells 15 days out and not a day earlier. The Oct 30 Shanghai train cannot be locked before roughly Oct 15. Trip.com's pre-order queues a specific train for the moment inventory releases - which is how a G2456 seat for Oct 22 could be held back in August.
• The winter timetable starts Sun Oct 25, mid-trip, and it has already caught us out once: the researched Yantai → Shanghai board had nothing after 16:00, and the flight later booked on it left at 17:30. Beijing → Yantai sits under the same changeover, so treat its frequency as unverified too.

Booking trains

• Trip.com (English): easiest, 5-10% markup, takes foreign cards. Use this.
• 12306 (official): cheapest, English version exists since 2024. Now accepts foreign passports + cards. Much improved but still a UX disaster vs Trip.com.
• Tickets release 15 days ahead and not before. For fifteen people on one train, be ready when the window opens.
• Bring your passport to the station. Your booking is tied to the passport number, not a paper ticket. Ticket gates scan your passport directly.
• Arrive 45 min early. Security + ID check + walking to platform takes time.
• Class hierarchy: Business (recliner pods) > First > Second. Second is fine for <5h. First for longer.

Booking flights

• Trip.com and Ctrip both sell Chinese domestic inventory to foreign cards. Airline sites are cheaper but several want a mainland phone number.
• Checked bags are the catch. Chinese domestic economy is typically 20kg and excess is billed by the kilo, so a haul that rides free on a train costs money at a check-in desk. Suparna on the Zhangjiajie leg is a low-cost operator - check its allowance specifically.
• Passport at check-in, same as rail. Domestic security is strict about power banks: carry them, never check them.

Estimated all-in transport budget

• Long-haul return from US west coast: $1,100-1,800 economy depending on route and date
• Long-haul return from US east coast (JFK): $1,300-2,200 economy
• Domestic tickets, all eight legs: $450-550. Four flights at roughly $55-105 each, four rail legs at $10-46. The itinerary's $600 estimate holds for tickets and has some headroom.
• Ground transfers on top: $50-80. Not in the $600. The expensive ones are Yantai's airport (43 km, CNY 130-150 by taxi) and a late Xi'an arrival (40 km once the metro shuts at 22:20).
• Fifteen people do not all clear the cheapest fare bucket. On the two thin routes - Shenzhen → Zhangjiajie and Yantai → Hangzhou - the last seats price noticeably higher, so book early and book together.

Airport-to-city transfers

From HKG, the Airport Express to Hong Kong Station is 24 min and bookable in advance for a small discount. From PVG (Shanghai), the maglev gets to Longyang Rd in 8 min for ¥50, but you may still need a metro transfer; alternatively a regular metro/taxi takes 50-60 min.

Inside the trip, three transfers are worth pre-arranging. Shenzhen: Metro Line 11 from Futian station to Bao'an airport, ~36 min, ¥7. Xi'an: Metro Line 14 from the airport to Xi'an North in ~33 min for ¥7 - but only until 22:20, after which it is a 40 km taxi. Yantai: the airport is 43 km out with no metro; book vans rather than gambling on shuttle buses that take 50-110 min, and book them for both directions - the 43 km runs twice inside 30 hours, and the outbound has to leave town mid-afternoon for a 17:30 departure. Beijing: the train now lands at Qinghe in the northwest, not Fengtai, and nobody has yet timed Qinghe to Dongcheng for fifteen people with luggage.