Flight from South China to Vietnam

Bacchus

Hey,
Need a little help on organizing a flight from southern China to Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam.
Due to the Chinese visa requirements, I need a flight out of China to prove I'm leaving. Since Vietnam is next on my itinerary and I'm ending my stay in China in the south (near Nanning and Guangzhou) I'm trying to sort a flight out from somewhere in that region.

Does anyone know any decent routes to travel on or any reasonably priced airlines that fly to Ho Chi Minh? Air China fly from Nanning but cost around 200-300 euro which is a bit much.

Any advice is appreciated,
Andrew

Spider_Baby

Are you 100% sure you need to have a flight out of there?
When I was there during my round the world trip, I landed in Beijing and my next flight was from Bangkok.
I just told them that I was travelling from China to Bangkok by land, which I did.
You can get a verrrrrrr long bus to the border (you usually have to change buses in Nanning). Then cross the border and hop on another bus.
I think it took a couple of hours from the border to Hanoi then.

Spider_Baby

I just realised you are looking to get to Hi Chi Minh, not Hanoi...so you may want to ignore my previous post above

dory

You could also book an AirAsia, maybe Tiger Airways flight. I just checked there and it's €50 from Shenzhen to Bangkok. I know that's no good to you but I'm sure if you look around on those cheap airline websites you'll find something that's helpful.

Bacchus

Spider_Baby wrote: »

Are you 100% sure you need to have a flight out of there?

That's what I've heard. To get the visa, you need to provide info on where you are staying in your time in China and you need to show proof that you are leaving, i.e. a flight out of the country.

Either way, heading to Ho Chi Minh first, then working our way up the country and back down through Laos.

I'll have a look at AirAsia.

Bacchus

dory wrote: »

You could also book an AirAsia, maybe Tiger Airways flight. I just checked there and it's €50 from Shenzhen to Bangkok. I know that's no good to you but I'm sure if you look around on those cheap airline websites you'll find something that's helpful.

Thanks for the airlines info.

With AirAsia, there are only flights to Bangkok from any of the southern Chinese airports.

Tiger Airways don't go near Ho Chi Minh either from China.

Any other cheap airlines in China/SE Asia?

Larianne

What about Vietnam Airlines? Granted they might not be as cheap as airasia but the service was great. One of the best airlines I flew with. Only problem was that we couldn't book online had to be a travel agent.

Have you looked at this website????http://attitudetravel.com/lowcostairlines/asia/

Spider_Baby

Could you travel by land across the border, all the way to Ho Chi Minh City, and then get a flight from there to Laos? Might be easier.
I didnt have a flight booked out of China, and there was no problem.
I landed in Beijing, and my next flight was from Bangkok to Singapore.

Bacchus

Spider_Baby wrote: »

Could you travel by land across the border, all the way to Ho Chi Minh City, and then get a flight from there to Laos? Might be easier.
I didnt have a flight booked out of China, and there was no problem.
I landed in Beijing, and my next flight was from Bangkok to Singapore.

Hang on. Do I not NEED a flight out of China as proof of me leaving the country? The girl at Trailfinders said, to get a visa I'd need to show where I'm staying (for the first few nights anyway) and a flight out of China in order to get a visa.

Is this not true??

Cos if it's not, I'm well happy to travel over land all the way.

Spider_Baby

Bacchus wrote: »

Hang on. Do I not NEED a flight out of China as proof of me leaving the country? The girl at Trailfinders said, to get a visa I'd need to show where I'm staying (for the first few nights anyway) and a flight out of China in order to get a visa.

Is this not true??

Cos if it's not, I'm well happy to travel over land all the way.

It was this time 2 years ago I was there.
I'm not sure if things have changed since then, but when I was there we didn't need to have a flight booked out of China, we just needed to prove we were leaving the country soon afterwards.
I was never actually specifically asked for anything to be honest. I did have a Vietnam visa in my passport though which started 4 weeks after me landing in China, so maybe they saw that.
Also, I had heaps of stamps and visas in my passport from countries I had been to in the previous few months of my world trip.

All we had when landing in China was half-of the name of our hostel.

However, the fact that the girl in trailfinders mentioned this specifically might mean things have changed...?
They never mentioned anything like this to us when booking.
Infact, they didnt really give us much info on visas at all. We ended up getting our China and Vietnam visas while in Korea.

I had paper flight tickets at the time, so would've been able to show my future flights if needed. I was never asked though.

Spider_Baby

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/embassy/ireland.htm

There seems to be a Q&A section at the bottom where you can ask them specific questions and they reply.

Also, Other Requirements for Applying for Chinese Tourist/Family Visit Visa (L Visa)
(1) For sightseeing in Mainland of China, Round Trip Ticket, Confirmation of Hotel Reservation or Travel Itinerary is required.

I am almost positive your future travel itinery will suffice....but maybe double check with them to be sure.
Then when they confirm, my advice would be to travel through China, overland the Vietnam.....overland down to Ho Chi Minh City. Then either fly to Laos, or travel by land through Cambodia, then up through Laos, overland to Chang Mai and then down through THailand.

Want to bring me with you???? :pac::D

dory

I had a round the world ticket and it did the job for entry into a lot of countries, even though I was flying out of different countries. It just proved I wasn't staying in that country for ever. Granted, I never went to China so don't take my word for it.

Bacchus

Thanks for the replies. Well, we need to get a Vietnam visa too so maybe having that will suffice. We'll be getting Oz visas too and we have a flight out of BangKok for August. That may help. I'll call the Chinese embassy and check it out with them (heard they ain't the most helpful though).

Only for what the girl in Trailfinders said, I wouldn't be trying to sort a flight out of China in the first place. Maybe she was wrong/over cautious.

Fingers crossed anyway.

@ Spider_baby : Cheers for the advice. We're trying to plan our route based on the Malaria zones (Malaria tablets are expensive). Hence, starting at the south of Vietnam and travel up along the coast (Malaria free zone), then move inland Vietnam (Malaria zone) and onward to Laos & Cambodia (Malaria zone).

Spider_Baby

Bacchus wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. Well, we need to get a Vietnam visa too so maybe having that will suffice. We'll be getting Oz visas too and we have a flight out of BangKok for August. That may help. I'll call the Chinese embassy and check it out with them (heard they ain't the most helpful though).

Only for what the girl in Trailfinders said, I wouldn't be trying to sort a flight out of China in the first place. Maybe she was wrong/over cautious.

Fingers crossed anyway.

@ Spider_baby : Cheers for the advice. We're trying to plan our route based on the Malaria zones (Malaria tablets are expensive). Hence, starting at the south of Vietnam and travel up along the coast (Malaria free zone), then move inland Vietnam (Malaria zone) and onward to Laos & Cambodia (Malaria zone).

No problem
It's a shame your trip wasn't sooner...I threw out all my left-over malaria tablets last week as they expired at the end of Jan. Doh.

I'm probably not the best person to ask about malaria tablets though...I took 3 tablets during my whole trip...which included a safari in south africa, and months in vietnam, laos and cambodia. Whooops!

If you have any more questions though just ask

You'll love China! And Vietnam

Bacchus

Spider_Baby wrote: »

No problem
It's a shame your trip wasn't sooner...I threw out all my left-over malaria tablets last week as they expired at the end of Jan. Doh.

I'm probably not the best person to ask about malaria tablets though...I took 3 tablets during my whole trip...which included a safari in south africa, and months in vietnam, laos and cambodia. Whooops!

If you have any more questions though just ask

You'll love China! And Vietnam

Cheers. Starting to get excited about it alright, only 8 weeks to go

38141

Spider_Baby wrote: »

I am almost positive your future travel itinery will suffice....but maybe double check with them to be sure.
Then when they confirm, my advice would be to travel through China, overland the Vietnam.....overland down to Ho Chi Minh City. Then either fly to Laos, or travel by land through Cambodia, then up through Laos, overland to Chang Mai and then down through THailand.

Want to bring me with you???? :pac::D

Thats right, there is no need for flight tickets anymore to get chinese visa, you just need to list your itinerary on the form. And DON'T put down tibet or any of the neighbouring provinces. The flight tickets were only required last year for the olympics.