You can accomplish anything with the right mindset and search engine

Since the onset of COVID-19, travel outside the mainland has been a difficult, if not impossible, feat for expats. Most of us run the risk of being stuck outside China, thus putting us in danger of losing our jobs or homes. For those of us who live with wanderlust, this restriction can easily leave us feeling in a funk.

Fortunately, China is a vast country with an abundance of historically and geologically intriguing sites. In July, my significant other, Alex, and I decided we needed a trip. While Beijing offers plenty of its own fascinating sites, we wanted to get on a plane and explore a new territory. I'd seen tour companies offering seven to eight-day excursions to exotic destinations but, being a control freak, the idea of shuffling around on a bus and being told to adhere to someone else's schedule was not attractive to me.

I imagined a bunch of people huddled together wearing matching hats and following a flag like a herd of sheep. I could picture in my mind wanting to go to a site and being told, "No! You must stay with the group!" Or, finding something interesting that I wanted to peruse at my own pace and someone yelling, "It's time to get on the bus!" Or, being told where to eat, whether I liked it or not. No thanks.

After a couple of weeks of discussion, Alex and I decided on Gansu province. It had long been a dream of mine to camp in the Gobi Desert and ride a camel, but also check out other beautiful places I had seen many times on people's social media. Qinghai Lake, Chaka Salt Lake, Labrang Monastery…could it all be accomplished with my own planning finesse?

On a Sunday evening, we made a decision: Gansu and Qinghai provinces. But we didn't have much knowledge of the best sites or how to get there with efficiency. We agreed to each look up information about the areas and meet again the following week to put our ideas together. I couldn't wait. After using a few search engines and travel apps, I put together an epic spreadsheet outlining seven different cities, the most important sites in each one, the cost for entrance to each site, four different flight options, four hotel choices for each city, transportation options, and the travel distance and time between each city. I sent it to Alex by 10:45 am the following Monday.

Finally, on Sept 18, we embarked on our trip. Through a friend, I was able to contact a driver with a comfortable van who would drive us almost 3,000 kilometers over the following eight days. You would think, with seven cities and 3,000 km over a short period of time, something would go amiss. There was one hiccup－I finally realized my dream of camping in the desert only to find that I had completely misjudged the experience. We definitely got a tent in the desert. While it made for a beautiful photo, the tent was located in deep sand over 300 meters from the bathroom which had no showers. Listed on a travel app, they stated it was located just 250 meters from the famous Shazhou night market. Unfortunately, that was where the camp office was located, with the actual campsite being several kilometers away. We ended up foregoing our second night in the tent for a comfortable hotel.

Despite the highly uncomfortable camping experience on our first night, the remainder of the trip went smoothly. After a few minor adjustments to my extensively detailed spreadsheet, we followed my itinerary "to a T". Many people have asked, how did you pull off such a hectic and intense trip in a foreign country?

It's quite easy to do. If you aren't the type who enjoys traveling with a group of strangers or doesn't want to keep to someone else's schedule, a determined mindset, and utilizing search engines and travel apps make it a breeze to do what you want to do. Ask your friends about their experiences too; they probably have a plethora of resources they can share if they traveled to the same region you're planning to visit. It's also a good way to get "dos" and "don'ts" so you don't waste time. While I don't speak Mandarin, Alex does, which was, of course, very helpful. But even if you don't have a Mandarin speaker with you, simply having a translation app handy can get you a long way.

Since we were able to accomplish the trip to Gansu and Qinghai successfully, we are looking forward to our future exploration of China. If we can do it, you can. So get out there and start planning your next trip.