(Was going to post the next installment of my much-overdue travel recaps but the notoriously unreliable Internet in China is not letting me upload photos. So this post will have to do instead )

I’ve become a pro at planning out the logistics of traveling within China. Trains, buses, flights, hostels, public transport – I’ve got that all figured out.

My trip to Huangshan last fall was my first crash course in getting accustomed to how the train system works in China. Traveling throughout southern China taught me all I needed to know about using buses, trains, and more questionable forms of transport (like hitching a ride on the back of a rickshaw) to travel between cities and remote towns. And my most recent trips have cemented my belief that when it comes to planning travel in China, I am worth my weight in gold.

I realize this is a pretty dull read for anyone that isn’t a total travel nerd or has had experience traveling on their own in China, but there’s something to be said about being more confident planning out travel logistics in a foreign country than in a home country. It’s just so much easier and cheaper to travel in China. Every city is connected to another city somehow, and it doesn’t cost an arm and leg to get from Point A to Point B!

In a city where breathing the polluted air alone is the equivalent of smoking three packs of unfiltered cigarettes a day, I’m pretty surprised I haven’t come down with any lung-related ailments yet.

Beijing, I love you, but fact that I am passively smoking about a zillion packs of cigarettes a week¹ has me worried I’ll return to the States with a set of smoker’s lungs!

1. The air pollution, combined with the amount of secondhand smoke I inhale when going out at night, is most definitely damaging to my lungs in every possible way. [↩]