I am going to be in China for 8 days and 7 nights. I will be taking a side trip from Bejing to Xi'an. Should I take a flight or a train. Any advice on how to book passage myself; or should I just use an agency.

You don't have a lot of time to spend wasting it on transit. We flew from Beijing to X'ian, which is about an hour flight. It is not difficult to get to the city from the airport. The airlines include Southest China Airlines, China Airlines, maybe Shanghai Airlines. You could compare prices on line and with an agency. You may be eligible for a discount in conjunction with your USA flight into Beijing.

1 hour!!! How things change. I flew that in 1982. It was a half day trip in the lead sled. 4 engine Russian built massive contraption with old theater seats, that took up what seemed like miles of runway just to get into the air. After a couple hours stopped for lunch at a military airfield. The plane parked at one end of the ramp and we walked several hundred yards between armed soldiers and migs. We were reminded no pictures. Right, thats like telling us to do it. Lunch (actually surprisingly good) and a couple more hours to Xian.

Getting the overnight train means one less night of hotel costs, and you're not really losing time that way.

I did the overnight train thing with OAT in 2001. It was an adventure, all right! The worst thing was the "rest room" which was shared by a bunch of folks. It was disgusting during most of the trip. It was interesting to see some sights along the way, but I would have preferred a plane ride!

Hmmm, interesting, The new "Z" train facilities were spotless; much better than any airplane loo has ever been.

Fly. Get tour reservation on Expedia or Travelocity.

When you get back, tell us what you did. Thanks,

Get <b>y</b>our reservation......

Note that the airport letters for Xi'an is XIY, I believe. Travelocity mixes it up with XFN, which is Xianfang. Stick with Expedia.

The &quot;Z&quot; trains are nice. As long as you stick with the soft sleeper. However, you do share a cabin with 3 strangers. Price is about the same as, or slightly higher than, flying. But as Amy says, you save on a night of hotel.

If you decide to fly, just go to any travel agent in Beijing. Will save you quite a bit over booking it here.

PEK-XIY is 580 flying miles. Most airlines schedule it for 1:40 to 1:50. Flying time is of course a little less, but is more than 1 hr.

Thank you for the advice.