Today, I finally decided to give myself a “kick in the butt” (if you will excuse the expression) and headed up to the excellent student travel agency, STA Travel to investigate further into getting a flight out to China in the summer and buying insurance coverage for my year abroad.

I was looking for a single flight from Manchester to Beijing in the month of July and the most important criteria was price. I am getting a single ticket as my return is as of yet uncertain (don’t worry - I will be coming back!) due to my longing to ride the trans-siberian across the continent back to Britain next year.

The lovely woman who served me in the agency searched around for a few minutes and came up with a relatively cheap flight from Lufthansa which goes to Beijing via Frankfurt airport, all this for a total of about £300. At least I get a chance to test my non-existent German out! I haven’t yet calculated the total time in the air as all the times given to me on my itinerary are in local times - a nightmare to try and work out. Anyway, the great thing about going via the travel agency, besides a cheaper ticket, is that I can, for a £35 fee, change dates. Likewise, should I cancel altogether (can’t think why I would), I am able to get more than half of the tickets cost back. This is well worth considering. Should I miss the transfer at Frankfurt, the airline is responsible and hence I will not have to pay a thing.

Regarding the insurance, I played things on the safe side and so I am covered for 12 months in China and I can extend this period for £50 per extra month spent abroad should I need to. The cover is highly comprehensive and allows me to take part in lots of dangerous activities - which is great. Should I get into any trouble whilst travelling or have any medical problems, I should not have to pay a penny. Likewise, I am free to travel to anywhere except the USA, Canada and my home country. For those of you interested, this is STA Travel’s 12 Month Premier insurance policy which was recommended to us by the University of Leeds.

So, I’ve taken a big step forward and there is no looking back!
I have a date, I know when I will arrive in Beijing and now I can start thinking about what I want to do with my time over there, where I am going to stay and start making arrangements. Finally, I also need to sort out the headache of getting a tourist visa then converting it to a student visa. I tried phoning the embassy today but there was no answer, I will just have to keep trying.

Thats all for now, hopefully by the time I post next time I will have made some further progress. Only a few months to go before I’m there!!