@Anonymous582 - I don't have any advice for you regarding traveling to China, but I wanted to say something about your white collar/blue collar comment.

I consider myself a "white collar" individual. I make under 6 figures annually. I just wanted to let you know that it is just as much a struggle for us "white collar" people to come up with $3k-$4k on a whim as the blue collar folks. Especially in this current economy.

We feel your pain, as we want to travel to China as well...

Great questions. I myself eagerly await the knowledgeable responses.

Stay at local hotels and check the Internet for deals. I have visited China twice and I found food to be cheaper than the US and hotels outside the bog cities around $50 per night if you sarch for deals ahead of time.

Let your girl get all your reservations. Chinas notorious for having a dual tiered pricing system... One price for Chinese and another much higher one for "rich" Westerners. Just give her the money and then let her handle it for you.

I am lucky in that, as a shoe designer, my company pays for my trips! Yes yes, not only is my job way cooler than yours but it also pays me to go to china, lol... Seriously though. Maybe you can start a bs business as a sole proprieter, which means you wont need to incorporate and your taxes get rolled into ypur petsonal filings.. It could be anything.. But my suggestion is to get on alibaba.com and find some products that are made in the area you want to travel.. Then contact one of those companies and set up a tour.. This wont get you cheaper travel up front but if you can justify a trip to china as business in any way, you will be able to write off a lot of your travel expenses.. You know make your trip coincide wi the canton fair for example.. Or hit a couple companies to look around as if you are going to do a garment line etc... Its a thought anyway... Its what I would do if I had your problem.. I would come up with some art.. Contact a cycling jersey company ( i have doneth is part) spend $50 a pop for some custom sample jersies using my art.. Then arrange a trip to the factory... You want to see their equipment, check the working conditions etc... When there, take pics and document it.. Voila.. Business trip.. Even if the planned business falls through and of course you know it will... Shhhh that part is a secret, you have documented justification for the irs if you ever get audited..

That works for me as a softgoods designer.. For you I would consider your actual industry and see what you could do. What makes a reasonable story.. Make up some business cards with an online printer.. Theyre cheap.. It sounds crazy but people really do start business this way and import product to sell in the US... You could get a gmail address in the company name.. Like your name.company name @ gmail.com

Otherwise just start saving. The flight is by far the most spendy part. Hotels can be as cheap as you want them to be.. Hotels for locals are super cheap. Dont stay in Beijing... You can stay up all night in an airport if you need to and sleep on the plane etc. food can be super cheap in China too if you eat local food at little locals only restaurants. You can eat like a king on $5 a meal if you are brave and eat in little local dives. I do that sort of thing all the time but I usually have a nice, cute guide who knows where to go and what to order. Its tough to do that on your own.

My biggest advice is dont stop moving until youre in Guilin and safe with your girl. Let her help you manage your budget and she will be able to get you the best deals and save you a ton of cash over what you will spend if you are trying to arrange things on your own.

Goood luck!

欢迎你来中国，中国的食，住都不贵，即使是旅游城市桂林，普通经济型酒店，人民币200-300元一个晚上，当然高标准的是例外。旅行中最贵的是机票。

抵达桂林，建议你中国的女孩带你到处游玩，例如去看看漓江（花费大概人民币100元）；看一下《印象刘三姐》（花费大概人民币130元），是一个节目，很精彩；还有地貌奇观月亮山（景点不用钱，只需要车费），蝴蝶谷（景点门票大概人民币60元）等等。。

桂林特色食物：桂林米粉，喝桂花茶，荔浦芋扣肉，清蒸漓江桂鱼，阳朔啤酒鱼等等

希望你旅途愉快。

Thanks all. Tyler, I work as a mechanic for the railroad. I think it would be a tad difficult to open up a shop in China with this in consideration LOL...anyhoot, the girl I am going to visit is actually a guide, or used to be in Guilin so I have that going for me. And I found some cheaper flights using Skyscanner and she is hooking me up with a good hotel. I appreciate your advice which got me headed towards the better path...seems I can get a connecting flights package from Beijing to Guilin and she said she will pick me up from the airport. It still is a little steep for tickets, but a lot cheaper than I first found by a landslide.

Again, thanks for the info.

I agree with Tyler to let your Chinese girlfriend find you a deal. If she says she doesn't have time or doesn't know that is a red flag.

you can also check these Web sites but if she is a typical Chinese woman she will be good at finding a bargain:
elong.com
ctrip.com

You should be fine with 3-4K. Food is not expensive if you eat with the locals rather than Western restaurants. I often had the outdoor bbq and fried rice with eggs and onions on the street. It is really good! There are some nice restaurants when you want to splurge a little and they won't break your budget (tripadvisor.com is a good resource also).

Breakfast at McDonalds is also inexpensive but you should try to immerse yourself and part of that should be to avoid fast food.

If you have a smart phone you can get a SIM card with a data plan so that you can use "Google Translate App" when needed (an awesome phone application). You can get by without it, though you will have some situations where communication is not possible.

Also, I am starting to freak out a little about flying to Beijing. Once I get there, I will have roughly 7 hours to wait until the flight to Guilin. My concern is language and there are 2 questions I would like to ask.

1) Is english spoken in the airport where I may be able to get a bite to eat

2) I am worried that the board listing all flights will not be in english and I could miss my flight or worse yet, board the wrong plane.

Is this unwarranted concern?

haha! guilin is my home town.i was born there.and went to university till 18.i m familiar of that city very much!

@Anonymous6072 if you're worried about being able to communicate, and have some time, you could spend some time studying Chinese. Rosetta Stone is pretty good (but expensive), Living Languages Mandarin book is much cheaper, and you can download numerous apps for a smartphone.
As far as missing your flight, most flights are listed in English and mandarin, but if you memorize what the characters for Guilin look like, 桂林, you'll be fine.
How long are you staying? Depending on how you budget yourself, 3-4K$ should be fine

You are probably worrying for nothing. Not everyone you meet will speak English but you can get by. Think of it as an adventure (which it will be). Sometimes you will get frustrated but my your reaction should be to just laugh it off.

Google Translate is fricken awesome but I speak a little Chinese. If you have a smart phone or know somebody with one, get them to show you the phone application. It is truly the best application ever. I can now travel anywhere in the world and communicate as long as I have wifi or a data package.

Your girlfriend should send you instructions with an address to your hotel in Chinese to show Taxi drivers - keep an extra copy in your luggage. Taxi is about 1/10 of the cost as it is in Canada.

If you have $2000, you will have tons of money so don't worry about going broke. If you get in minor trouble find the nearest hostel as someone will speak English there.

@anonymous6042
hi you can get round trip flights as low as 1,300 if you have been talking to her a lot like on cam you might be able to stay with her you could probably pay her rent 3-400 dollars and take her everywhere you go so you don't get scammed by the taxis and what ever this way you don't have to sell american shoes to chinese people but if you are a size 12 or 13 take a couple of pairs cause it will be hard pressed to find bigger size if you don't speak any chinese you will have a rough go at it thats why if she speaks english everything will go easily, when i went i went alone was paranoid and everyone starred at me for days but about a week later it seemed i could pop a paper bag in their face and they didn't seem to notice me you never know what is your situation be careful hopefully she is a good person or you'll be shanghaied but if you talk on cam you see habits daily activities you notice she is not talking to any bad people eats and does normal things you have a good chance of everything going fine
@anonymous6042

also before 2 years ago you would apply for a visa then book flight now you need to get an invite letter from her buy your plane ticket first then hopefully the chinese consulate will give you a visa or you might be out the plane and the 265 or whatever the visa costs now they made it harder i don't know if you just travel there and tell your banking cards about your travel plans for 30 days but get a mutiple entry visa {maybe someone can tell me if just being a visitor if you need to check in with local police or embassy or is this only for people going to live there and work???????

@anonymous6072
yes alot of the ticket counters speak english amongst other people and if i remember correctly information boards on flights and things are chinese and english since english is a well known language i didn't say worldly as you have to be humble while there