Here are our plans for a mid June departure:

Note: All Hyatt hotels are on points. International flights are on points.

Day 1: Fly CMH-YYZ-PEK (Air Canada)

Day 2 Arrive: check into Beijing Park Hyatt

Day 3-5: Beijing sites plus a visit to the Great Wall

Day 6: AM flight PEK-PVG, check into Shanghai Park Hyatt

Day 7-8: Shanghai sites

Day 8: AM train to Hangzhou, check into Hangzhou Hyatt Regencysee water show

Day 9: AM flight to Guilin, follow this itenerary-

http://www.guilinprivatetours.com/To...aces-Tour.html

Day 10-13: Follow itinerary above

Day 14: Finish itinerary above, PM flight Guilin to HKG, check into Grand Hyatt Hong Kong

Day 15-16: Hong Kong sites

Day 17: AM flight HKG-HND (ANA), check into park Hyatt Tokyo, visit friends that live in Tokyo

Day 18-19: Visit friends in Tokyo

Day 20: Fly NRT-ORD-CMH (ANA)



Overall we hope to have good food, experience culture/music, take good pictures and relax.

Questions-

To much time anywhere?

Too little time anywhere?

Anything we MUST see we are missing?

Any wastes of time?

For our stops, what are some of the must do's and see's?

Any recommended Great Wall itenerary while we are in Beijing?

Any general tips for cheap internal flights?

Any transportation tips? We plan on cabbing it a lot

Thanks for reading!

Overall it's OK, structure and allotment of days mostly makes sense. No wastes of time, and of course, you are missing a huge chunk of China but you'll have to save something for future trip(s).

Day 6: I'd bullet train Beijng > Shanghai rather than fly.

Days 9 - 14: Count days again vs how that tour is outlined. I think you actually finish itinerary and get to KWL for departure on Day 13. Which is about the right allotment of time for this area. Assuming you're already set up with hotel reservation in HK for the 14th, stick an extra day in either Shanghai or Hangzhou (amending reservations as necessary) and bump Guilin flight to the morning of the 10th and everything down a day. Day 14 picks up again as you have it, evening flight to HKG.

If day added to Shanghai, use it for a daytrip to Suzhou/Tongli. If day added to Hangzhou, use it for a water town daytrip closer to that city (Xitang or Wuzhen).

Your general questions on transportation are all addressed in our Master Transportation Thread . We have a number of city-focused threads but IIRC, some of them are geared to people who have very brief time frames. You have enough time to see all the important places in each city. Beijing is the one place that day-to-day planning is more important because of size, number of things to see, and horrible traffic. But it's difficult to help unless you put out your A-list Must Do's and then your other Maybe-Do's of secondary sights or activities that you want to try to fit in. This is a personal interest thing so we need something to work with! Of our Great Wall threads, Mutianyu is a popular pick for FT'ers because it is attractive and has unreconstructed parts, has a cable car option for those who can't/don't wish to trek up, is within a reasonable distance, and is not the circus that Badaling can be. And not as far or as rugged as Jinshanling or Huaihua or some of the other sites, most of which require time and a decent level of fitness. Start with these threads and then if there are specific things that are still puzzling you, pose those questions on this thread.

How is Columbus these days? Lived there for most of the 90's. It was a nice place then.

Thanks for the quick reply

You are right- day 9 is the Hangzhou day. Day 10 starts the Guilin part of the trip

Columbus is still a good place to live. Low cost by comparisson to most cities, and more to do than most cities. A good mix!

Thanks for the help