Chinese New Year is the celebration of the beginning of a new year on the traditional Chinese calendar. This celebration is also known as Spring Festival, but with the temperatures as cold as they are at least where I live in China, is quite a lofty selling.
My company gives employees seven consecutive days off for this festival. While generous, it is not as easy as it sounds as we often have to work from a Monday through the following Sunday (seven days in a row) in order to have the following Monday through Sunday off!
Many people in China head back to their 家乡 (jiāxiāng), or home towns, to celebrate the week with their families. As such this causes the greatest human migration on the planet. If you’re an expat living in China, this is usually a great excuse to head to one of the larger cities or even leave the country for a little break.
Last year during Chinese New Year I went to San Francisco to see friends I hadn’t seen since I moved from that great city. This year I’ll be traveling to the amazing city of Bangkok in Thailand where I’ll be meeting some friends from Suzhou. This will be my third time in Thailand (the first two were during the same long trip in 2013). While nothing is really planned for Bangkok at this point besides laying by the pool at the hotel, I’m sure some fun will be had as that city never fails to deliver!
From a travelers perspective, this trip will contain a lot of “firsts” for me:
- First time flying out of WUX (Wuxi Sunan Shoufang International Airport)
- First time flying on Shenzhen Airlines (a Star Alliance partner of United Airlines)
- First time connecting in China on an itinerary
- First time flying into/out of JJN (Quanzhou Jinjiang Airport)
- First time staying at a “The Luxury Collection” hotel (The Atheene Hotel, part of the Marriott group)
No doubt lots of adventures will be had!
Upcoming flight path, as mapped by www.gcmap.com