Travel during any of the major Chinese holidays can be a little rough when it comes to advance booking of flights and train seats. As I said in my last post, the October Holidays are coming up in celebration of China's National Day and we've got 7 days off. Work and school resumes on Friday the 8th of October (and continues on Saturday the 9th) but many folks will try to stretch their holidays into that weekend. So getting domestic or international flights is getting difficult.
A couple of tips for taking a trip during these busy travel times:
- Use an agency - sometimes agents have access to seats that are booked in advance and held. These seats are then released closer to the date of travel. The drawback to this is you will pay a premium on seats.
- If you're flexible, just wait to book your trip a few days before the holiday starts. Seats will be released and you might get a good deal somewhere. But there's no 100% guarantee with this and if you had your heart set on a certain destination, you might not get the flight you want.
- Try to leave in the middle of the holiday period (like October 3-5) and come back after the end (like October 8-11).
The good news is, wherever you are, everything will be open. Tourist attractions may be crowded, but you'll be able to do just about anything you want - as long as you don't mind a few lines.
Yes, if you have flexible holiday time, better stay away from this period. I had plans to visit vietnam to avoid the national holiday crowds, however gave up for some reasons. I still may not adventure travelling to other domestic cities during this time but will probably do some short excursions in surrounding areas.