hawaiiantraveler

We will be traveling to China in mid March '07 and were wondering if we will have problems with transporting our luggage around with us.

We are two people traveling with 2ea. 26", 1ea. 24" and 1ea. 22" bags of luggage. Total pf 4 bags.

My questions:

We are traveling from Beijing to Xian via overnight train in a soft sleeper, will we have enough room to store luggage somewhere?

We are traveling from Xian to Chengdu and then from Chengdu to Hong Kong via airplane which I hope to make reservations for when we are in Beijing. Will we have to pay for excess luggage on airlines?

Thanks for your help.

Aloha!

kaneda

I flew when I did that route. The flights only cost a little more than the slow trains. Unless your luggage is overweight, or most people on the flight have lots of luggage, you normally don't have to pay. But excess can cost about $30 a kilo so beware! People take far too much with them on holiday. Pack, then take about a third of the clothes, etc out. You can buy clothes cheap in China, as well as most other things you might need. You would not believe how little I take for 3 months in Thailand. One holdall! I continually wash and wear. Unless you are on a cruise or similar, you do not need different clothes every day and every night.

thursdaysd

This was recently discussed here: http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34880757

Why so much luggage? Deep-six the 26 inchers and take the 24 and 22 inch bags plus day bags. I've done the Beijing-Xian train a couple of times, hard sleeper and soft sleeper, and enjoyed it. But all your luggage goes in your compartment with you and the other two people sharing it. Plus, you carry it.

rkkwan

You won't have problem along as you're willing to pay, if necessary. Like on the train, you'll most likely need to get porters to help you.

There is storage area in a soft-sleeper cabin, which is the space above the corridor (but is in your cabin). Or under the bed. You'd want to pay more to use the deluxe soft-sleeper with just 2 beds in a cabin.

And luggage allowance is 20kg/44lb per person if you're flying coach. They DO weigh the bags. Whether they'll charge you or how much, I don't know.

thursdaysd

rkkwan - ARE there porters in Chinese train stations? I try hard not to travel with more than I can carry, so didn't need one, but unlike India, where they are very obvious, I don't remember seeing one in China.

hawaiiantraveler

rkkwan
thanks for the info, I was hoping you would answer

thanks to all for your answers, one of the 26 inch bags will be empty as we have certain things that we plan to purchase so I can put the 24" in the empty 26" until I need it. We have no need for porters as we can handle our own bags. We will be gone a month and we only take a weeks worth of clothes with us. We need some cold weather gear as we will be in the Japan Alps later on in the month, thus the other extra bag. I don't mind at all paying extra for the bags as I like having what I want when travelling I just wanted to know what to expect. Thanks for all of your opinions!

Aloha!

rkkwan

thusdaysd - I find that with money, you can get anything done in China. It's the most capitalistic place in the world right now, so with money it's not hard to get 4 large suitcases on to a train. I have no recent personal experience, but I'm sure the hotel concierge or driver can find the help for you, with a good fee/tip, of course!

thursdaysd

rkkwan - I mostly stay in hotels that don't have concierges, and wouldn't want to rely on that! In any case, I'd hate to help to turn China into a tipping country. But sounds like hawaiiantraveler has the luggage situation under control.