Saturday, October 06, 2012

China!

I'm heading to Beijing on Oct. 13. It will be my first time in China, and in Asia at all, and I'm so excited. China has never really been near the top of places I'd like to visit but the stars kind of aligned and I couldn't say no. I'll be traveling with my mom to visit a family friend, and hopefully things will work out so I can see my friend Taylor, who is currently carving marble for Sias University.

So far, I've snagged three travel books for the trip:

Of course, I've also downloaded the Mandarin version of the TripLingo App, which my friend James helped create. I've messed around with it a little so far and I'm really excited to fully put it to use when we land... or on my 20 hour plane ride (yikes).

And I'm a little intimidated by the thought of spending a whole day in the air. I've done a few trips across the Atlantic but always had a layover somewhere in Europe so I've never been on a plane longer than 8 hours at a time. Which means, I need to stock my iPad with a lot of books and movies for the roundtrip flights. 

I would really appreciate some recommendations. Any books you've recently read and loved and would like to share would be wonderful. Right no, I plan on getting J.K. Rowling's new book but that's all. So please, please give me some recommendations. 

3 comments:

  1. ZakOctober 6, 2012 at 11:01 AM

    That's awesome Alaina. Have you seen the season finale of Louie? It involves Beijing. Watch that. My book recommendations: "The Psychopath Test" by Jon Ronson, "Tiny Beautiful Things," Cheryl Strayed, "Design is a Job," Mike Monteiro.

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  2. MarianaOctober 6, 2012 at 1:18 PM

    I find the Lonely Planet guides to be the best- their website is very helpful too.
    That's so great that you're going to China- I went to Asia for the first time this year too (Thailand). The flight will go by faster than you think, between reading, napping and inflight entertainment ;)
    I can't wait to get my hands on Rowling's new book!

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  3. Alaina BuzasOctober 7, 2012 at 6:51 AM

    Zak, I still have "Design Is a Job" on my iPad and will likely reread it. And I've had "The Psychopath Test" on my reading list for a while. Thanks!

    Mariana, thanks for the encouragement!

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