misskeaton

Hello fellow travelers. I am curious if anyone out there has plans for China travel this summer? I have tickets for late july and am in quite a quandry. I know I have time to decide but my main issue is the possibility of having to be in quarrantine for 10 days after I get back. After leaving my 2 kids for 2 weeks I just don't see how this will work out. I am divided between thinking that the media spends way too much time on this and the facts that we do know, that is is very infectious and seems to affect people in different ways. I guess I am just looking for some other feedback. Thanks!

kang

You still have plenty of time to see how the SARS situation unfolds in China before having to make your decision. Personally, I am not opstimistic; the situation might have already been out of control. Even though you do have a good chance to come back all right, you still don't want to be visiting places when everyone there is preoccupied and scared by the spreading troubles. It is currently a pretty diring picture. A lot of Chinese people outside of the big cities have no access to adequate medical cares and many of them might not even want to see a doctor in fear of the potential cost. The scenario is very frightening given the way how the SARS virus is travlling as we understand today. <BR><BR>Always hope for the best but do get prepared for the worst.

iumba

I have reservations for mid August and am undecided at this point as well.

Hirochei

The WHO issued travel warning, not advisory, against China because of SARS. It is scheduled to be lifted in August. If one voluntarily travels to China despite warning, some health insurance may refuse to pay for treatment if one falls ill during trip. Prudent thing is to cancel trip.

Hirochei

I made mistake, the State department issued warning against China travel. WHO advise against it

slowboat2002

To clarify &quot;advice&quot; versus &quot;warnings,&quot; the US State Department has a revised message entitled &quot;Warning&quot; posted that RECOMMENDS US citizens CONSIDER deferring non-essential travel to China because of SARS concerns.

To see it for yourself along with more information, go to travel.state.gov/china_warning.htm

In my opinion, travel companies (as well as airlines) that are giving clients up to a year to complete the travel without penalty or allowing changes without fees are going above what they legally have to do and should be praised, not castigated. It's not their fault the virus is causing people to want to cancel -- and they are losing a lot of money, too.

I agree with those who say we should wait and see how the next several weeks play out. Hong Kong seems to be getting better and maybe the new strong measures being taken in China will show results too. Let's hope so, anyway.

Elizabeth

BLM

We are in the same situation. Our tour company says they are not going to cancel but have given us an extended time to decide - until mid June for a mid July departure. We will lose some of our deposit (they say they have to still pay their contacts in China for any reservations). We have our own flight arrangements so we haven't even looked into what will happen to that yet.
I agree that even if it looks better, it may be irresponsable to go. Certainly our families do not want us to go!

Deloris

We were scheduled to travel to China April 13-29. didn't for SARS reasons. Have no intention to rebook until at least 4 months have passed after the WHO &quot;all clear.&quot; Just don't trust the info out of China. They seem to forget to tell the truth as the SARS plague would illustrate. We do look forward to travel there hopefully within the next year, but want to return healthy, too!

Pauline

BLM, I'm surprised your tour company has not offered a deferment yet.
I was due to depart Australia on the 14th May for China but the tour company contacted me on the 1st May, postponing all departures until early September.
The Beijing government issued a 10 point plan on the 29th April, listing a number of measures to help combat and stop the spread of SARS and point 8 follows:

* Strengthen control measures for conference, tourism or study tours outside Beijing.
In the period to come, organizations, enterprises and schools in Beijing should not organize trips that take people out of Beijing. Permission should be given by the supervisory authorities if such trips are absolutely necessary.
All travel agencies are required to suspend either domestic or international tourism arrangements for the time being.
I believe that the local govt in Shanghai have issued a similar edict, re tourist arrangements.

http://fpeng.peopledaily.com.au.cn/home.shtml