Life on the road

Where are you going this National Day holiday?

I'll return to Vietnam with my wife and our daughter. In 2010, we showed up without a plan but with a sense of adventure and traveled rough through the south. We slept on buses, showed up in cities with no idea where we were and stayed in rustic of accommodations.

This year, because we have a 3-year-old, we've booked everything ahead of time and will enjoy a luxury cruise through Halong Bay. We've traded adventure for comfort but expect our daughter will make this trip more magical.

How do you buy tickets and make hotel reservations?

We scour travel websites for deals.

What have been your favorite destinations during past National Day holidays? Why?

Shandong province's Taishan Mountain. We got lost, over-packed hiking gear, forgot food - and had a blast. Qufu, Confucius' hometown, proffers a good primer on the sage.

Hainan province's tropical rainforests offer adventure - we got stranded on a mountain in the dark, when the snakes come out - and respite from crowds.

Fujian province's Wuyi Mountains sculpt magnificent landscapes and are steeped in tea culture.

Hunan province's Changsha, Shaoshan and Zhangjiajie were made more memorable because my parents and wife were hosted by my Chinese gan family (like a god family relationship in traditional culture).

We especially enjoyed hot-air ballooning over, and boating and biking among, the karst formations and rice-paddy terraces of Yangshuo in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

The areas near Yunnan province's Kunming offer an eclectic mix of ethnic culture, a dinosaur park, a stone forest, temples and unusual theme parks.

What do you enjoy most and least when you travel during National Day holidays?

Flight prices soar sky high, and it's too crowded to comfortably travel in China. But the weather is perfect.

Will you bring a camera or just a smartphone for taking pictures? Will you post thoughts and pictures on social media when you travel?

We bring several cameras - including an underwater camera - and smartphones, and regularly post on social media, especially Instagram. We auction the most popular photos in Beijing to support a nonprofit in western China.