National Lampoon's Family Vacation - Oct-Nov 2004

This past month I left on a 16 day trip to China with my family and some of our family friends. This was my first foray off the continent since I was 3 years old and as such it was my first real trip outside the confines of what I knew and it was also my first family vacation in nearly 14 years. The trip had been on the books for some time - for nearly 2 years it had been planned. Initially it was to be done in early March/April but because I didn't have enough vacation time built up it had to wait till now when both vacation time was plentiful and when when the weather in China was more temperate.

Anyways, it was a great trip so let's get to it. I've told the story in 2 ways - firstly, it's in chronological order. It's here where I'll take you through the sights I saw and the things I did. Secondly, within the chronological story, I've added asides that are tied into the story - here I'll delve into observations about my trip that are more broadly applicable to the whole trip rather than to one place.

Photos were shot using a Nikon Coolpix 4100 that I picked up just before I left on my trip. The ones displayed were culled from a pool of 700 photos. I'll be making prints for the photo album, for those interested please let me know.

Enjoy!