Beijing - Post Report Question and Answers
What is your home city/country? How long is the trip to post from there, with what connections? How easy/difficult is it to travel to this city/country?
Northeastern United States. Getting anywhere in eastern North America from Asia is a long trip, so manage your expectations. Direct air travel between the U.S. and China completely shut down from 2020-2022, and things have recovered slowly since then. That said, you can now reach most destinations in the U.S. in under 24 hours. There are limited non-stop flights from Beijing to the east coast of the U.S., but there are many flights from Beijing to LAX and SFO. It’s also easy to get to Tokyo and Seoul from Beijing, and there are frequent non-stop flights from either of those cities to the U.S. east coast. - Nov 2024
There are direct flights from the States, but getting on one in the age of COVID can be challenging. I had to fly into Shanghai, quarantine there, and transfer to Beijing afterwards. - Nov 2021
Washington, DC. Direct 14 hour flight before COVID. - Nov 2020
Currently, the only way to travel to Embassy Beijing is by a chartered flight leaving from DC, with stops in San Francisco and Guam. In Guam you’ll transfer to an OpMed aircraft and fly to Tianjin, where you’ll handle all of the customs processing and medical testing, before finally boarding a bus for a three-hour drive to Beijing. Door to door, this is about 48 hours of non-stop travel if nothing goes wrong. On arrival in Beijing, you’ll have another two weeks of monitored quarantine in your apartment, reporting your temperature twice a day, with no visitors or going outside. Pack wisely-- you’ll be entertaining yourself the entire time, limited to food delivery and whatever your sponsor was able to prepare for you. If you’re one of the unlucky few who tests positive for COVID, or who was seated next to someone who did, or if you run a fever at any point in this process, you can expect to be transported to a fever clinic for an indefinite period. - Aug 2020
Washington, DC. - Jul 2020
Direct flights (pre-COVID) from several U.S. cities including United from DC. Expensive flights sometimes, but deals too! Great places to explore in country and in the region. - May 2020
Central US, roughly 18 hours, no direct flights. - Nov 2019
Washington, DC. 13.5 hours direct. - Oct 2017
Home base is Washington, DC, which has many direct flights. There are direct flights to most major cities in the U.S., though fewer than from Shanghai to the U.S. - Dec 2015
Washington DC. 13 Hours direct flight from DC. - Apr 2015
Dallas, TX. The trip is 13 hours to Chicago, then 2-3 hours for connections after that. - Jul 2014
DC. 14 hour direct flight. - Jun 2013
Washington, DC and/or Minnesota. 14-hour direct flight from DC / connect through Chicago from Minnesota (about 24 hours door to door). - Aug 2011
My home base in Houston, Texas. I always fly via NYC with continental airlines. It's the shortest route at only 19 hours. - Apr 2011
My home base is Seattle. There are easy 12-hour nonstops on both Hainan Airlines and Delta Airlines several days a week. Air China also has a daily nonstop to Vancouver with an easy connection to Seattle on Air Canada (you pre-clear US Customs in Vancouver, which saves time). Major Chinese international carriers have excellent safety records and fly new, modern aircraft. I am comfortable flying them. Beijing is Asia's busiest airport and there really isn't anywhere you can't get from here. - Jan 2011
Almost 14 hours direct from DC on United. - Apr 2010
France. Between 15 to 20 hours, with Paris as the connection. - Jan 2010
