Sharing my experience of traveling with parents to Hong Kong and Macau

Last weekend, my friends and I took each mother's special soldier to visit Hong Kong and Macau for three days. Although the schedule was a bit rushed, the needs of the elderly to check in and take pictures were basically met, and it was a happy ending.
  
Because I have only been to Hong Kong once in March, I am familiar with it. Basically, there were no accidents during this trip. All the unpleasantness was caused by quarrels with parents. I will not mention this for now. Friendly reminder: The first rule when taking parents out to play is to focus on the needs of the parents. If you don’t like shopping, pass, if you don’t like coffee shops, pass... Don’t think that your personal needs and parents’ needs can be balanced. In addition to being more tired, It only increases all kinds of contradictions.
  
There are two tips about endorsement:

First of all, although only a few places in the mainland offer independent travel to Hong Kong and Macao, the endorsement is written after the application. It is a G visa - individual endorsement, but now L visa - team endorsement has no difference during self-service clearance. This time, my mother has an L visa, which allows her to fly directly fro
m Shanghai to Hong Kong. Instead of having to join a tour group like a few years ago, or ask for a customs clearance certificate from a tour group (Taobao still sells one for about 10 yuan each, no need to apply) .
  
The second is that if you go from Hong Kong to Macau and then return to Hong Kong, you only need to apply for one Hong Kong visa. There is no need to apply for two Hong Kong visas. This is according to the regulations of the Hong Kong authorities.From Hong Kong to the surrounding area (Macau), the travel time covers the 7 days of stay, and no second endorsement is required. You can check it on the official Hong Kong immigration website.
  
The big mistake I made this time was buying the ticket too early and too late. If I were given another chance, I would definitely choose China Eastern Airlines instead of Hong Kong Airlines. Hong Kong Airlines is a third-class citizen in Shanghai and Hong Kong airports, both on satellites. We need to take a train ferry. We had a flight at around 7 o'clock in the morning and left at 5 o'clock. So much so that I didn't get enough sleep and had a headache for half the day.
  
There are fewer people going to Hong Kong now, and self-service customs clearance is very fast. I arrived at the airport at around six o'clock, and even went to a restaurant to have a simple breakfast. Then I slept all the way. After getting off the plane in Hong Kong,when entering Hong Kong with a Hong Kong and Macao pass, you don’t need to fill in the entry application card, you need a passport! I saw a lot of people queuing up to write there, so just go in through the self-service.
  
There are basically three modes of transportation from the airport to the city:
  
The first is bus. It is recommended to use Google Maps to check the specific route. For example, the bus to Wanchai Causeway Bay is A11, and the bus to Tsim Sha Tsui Avenue of Stars is A25. The ticket is about 40+ Hong Kong dollars, and the current exchange rate is 0.93.
The second is to take the Airport Express, which costs 105 HKD to Kowloon Station and 115 HKD to Hong Kong Station. It takes 25 minutes to see advertisements flying all over the airport. Something like a maglev that goes quickly and directly to the city. When you get to the city, you can transfer to the subway or something.
  
The third one is Taxi, which is estimated to cost HKD 300-400. When I took a taxi to Causeway Bay, there was a traffic jam and the price was HKD 400. It’s normal to take a taxi in Hong Kong for 100 yuan for just a few kilometers.
  


This time I stayed at the Royal Hotel in Wan Chai. The location is pretty good. It’s not far from Causeway Bay and Central. Walking along Hennessy Road, there are Long Wong Dim Sum and Zai Xing. Roast pork, Huaxing Ice Room, and Dongbao Restaurant are all good places to take the elderly to eat. If you are a young and artistic person, Causeway Bay is a great place to visit. There are also several independent bookstores and Causeway Bay Eslite. I have been living nearby since March, so I have walked this section of Hennessy Road too many times. This time I also found that a coffee shop I had eaten at before was closed, and it was really difficult to do business.
  
This time I had lunch at Qiang Kee Restaurant. It happened to be owned by a fortune teller whom I met at a meal with my boss before. The fortune teller said that I had no luck this year and was not suitable for changing jobs, haha. I heard that their chef will go on strike if he loses the horse betting. The food was very unpalatable and his attitude was very bad. People complained about it on Instagram. The roast goose we had was not bad. After all, it was just a roadside tea restaurant.



After lunch, we walked to Wan Chai Pier (Element Awareness), took the Star Ferry to Tsim Sha Tsui on the other side, and walked along the observation deck to the Avenue of Stars. You can scan the QR code with Alipay or WeChat, and the boat fare is HK$5. It is the best choice for crossing the river, and it is much cheaper than the subway and bus.
The last time I visited the Avenue of Stars, I had no memory. I only remembered that the handprints should be on the ground. After the renovation, they have been moved to the surrounding railings to facilitate the public to take photos.
  


Looking across Victoria Harbor during the day is beautiful. The iconic landmarks you can see include Bauhinia Square, the skyscrapers in Central, and the Pier Ferris Wheel. My mother told me that there are There are many mansions. My mother said that the hill looks short and the buildings next to it are too tall, making the mansions look depressing. My friend asked if they said in Hong Kong movies that when they go mountain climbing, they climb the opposite mountain. After thinking about it, it should not be the case. Generally, you might go to Lantau Island for mountain climbing. If you are not careful, you can find various corpses, murder scenes, or ghosts... After all, Hong Kong In such a small place, all misfortunes can only be concentrated in the suburbs of Lantau Island.
  


Take a boat from the Star Ferry Pier to the Central Pier. There is a Maritime Museum opposite. It seems that the little yellow duck in Victoria Harbor has been off work recently and I didn't see it all the way. I bought a small replacement on the roadside.
  


The Ferris Wheel in Central is much different than expected, the ticket price is 20 Hong Kong dollars, the queue is not too bad More, maybe a working day? From the ground, it looks like it's spinning very fast, but after going up, it stops and goes around. The three laps are enough time to take pictures. My mother didn't go up because of high blood pressure and a little fear of heights, but I actually experienced the whole Ferris wheel without panic at all. It is fixed, and the speed on it is very slow and not dangerous. Even the elderly can sit on it.
  


From the Ferris wheel detour to the entrance of the Victoria Peak Cable Car, you have to walk uphill. This is a very good thing about Hong Kong. On the hills, there are too many small roads, escalators, and many office buildings and roads. , crossing the road at the zebra crossing was rather convoluted, and I took the wrong route several times. Cable car tickets can be purchased directly on Ctrip. It is 91 RMB per person. The round-trip cable car includes Lingxiao Pavilion tickets. Senior discounts in Hong Kong require people over 65 years old. My mother The age limit is not yet met. Also, if you buy it at the window, be sure not to buy it as a separate cable car. Otherwise, you will need to buy the full ticket again when you get to Lingxiao Pavilion. Don’t ask me how I know this.
  
The queue for the Victoria Peak Cable Car looks quite large, but in fact many people can get on one train. You can wait up to 2 trains before you can get on. Don’t be intimidated by the large number of people. The estimated queue time is 15 minutes. After the cable car reaches the top of the mountain, you need to take the elevator up to the platform of Lingxiao Pavilion. There will be a second ticket check. The purpose of the platform is to see the night view. After taking a few photos, we went down.
  


The queue going down the mountain also looked amazing. It took about three or four turns and was a little longer than the queue going up the mountain, about 20 minutes. You can also hail a taxi or take the bus down, but there are always a lot of people queuing up for buses. If you are not in a hurry or are tired, just go down by cable car.
  
After coming down from the mountain, you can go directly to Victoria Harbor to see the night view. We saw it when we came back from Macau. Basically, we just took a few photos. There is nothing to say.
  


On the last day in Hong Kong, because the parents were not interested in shopping, they didn’t go to Harbor City or anything like that. Instead, they chose to go to the Hong Kong Forbidden City, which is a new museum that will only open in 2022. This time There is also a new special exhibition in Sanxingdui. Tickets are quite expensive, including special exhibitions, HKD 150. However, the senior citizen discount here starts from 60 years old. The design of the Hong Kong Forbidden City is quite good, exhibition halls 1-9 The tour guide is clear and you can walk along the way. Unlike some museums in the mainland that go back and often cannot find the exhibition hall.
  


In addition to the 900 cultural relics from the Forbidden City on display in Halls 1-5, there are also some modern designs and an introduction to the construction of the Forbidden City in Hong Kong. It took more than 2 hours to visit. . The new Sanxingdui special exhibition will be open until 2024. I don’t have time to go to Sanxingdui, so it’s good to see it here.
  
Because the exchange rate is so bad and I really have no desire to shop, the only shopping for this trip should be a Fuji mini90 and 3 boxes of film at Star City in Mong Kok. The price is much cheaper than online in the mainland. There is a Disney store at Hong Kong Airport. To buy Lina Belle, you don’t have to pay for tickets to Xingyue Restaurant like you do at Shanghai Disneyland. There is nothing else to buy.