I decided that I wanted to go to China as early as January 2000, and booked my trip shortly after. I had been made aware of the Australian-based company Intrepid Small Group Adventures at the annual tourism trade exhibition in Oslo the previous year. Their way of travelling seemed to me to be a good compromise between individual travelling and an ordinary group tour. This is how the company describes its own profile: ”Intrepid believes in sustainable, low impact travel that benefits the local environment, resources and culture. We use existing infrastructure such as public transport and local accommodation. Our groups are small, so travellers get to experience rich cultural diversity without adversely affecting it.”

I have always been fascinated by the pictures of and the stories about the Great Wall of China. I also once a long time ago saw a wandering exhibition in Oslo about the Terracotta Warriors, and knew I wanted to go there one day to see it all with my own eyes. But this was just the two first points of interest. China is a country with a fascinating history, going 5000 years back. It is also a vast and beautiful country with a population of 1,2 billion people, which is rapidly changing now that the country has started opening up to the rest of the world.

Intrepid grade their trips according to how difficult they are. The trip I had booked was “moderate”. As the time of departure was getting closer I was having some second thoughts, thinking that maybe I should have gone with “easy”. I am sort of out of shape, a bit lazy, I like my creature comforts and I am certainly not particularly intrepid by nature. But: I love to travel. I am interested in culture, history, architecture, good food, and I am fascinated by people living their lives in a reality that is totally different from everything I know. As such Asia is the perfect travel destination, so I would just have to take my chances.

The week before departure was very stressful. Not only did I have to get a lot of work done at my job before I left on my holiday, I also started feeling my “travel-nerves”. I always work up a certain degree of hysteria in the last days before I go on a journey. I am a “worrier”, no worry is too great (“I am going to get ill and die a lonely death in China”), no worry is too small (“one or two pair of shorts”). I don’t know why I always do this, when I had been spending months reading about China, dreaming about China, preparing in any way possible. But I also know that when I just get going, I will leave the worries behind me (most of them, anyway) and start living in the present once again.

Packing was a challenge, as I hadn’t been travelling with a backpack for many years. Travelling light is not my greatest strength, so it took a bit of work to get it done. June is the rainy season in China, only July is warmer and wetter. So that was also something to take into consideration when packing. I had been recommended not to carry more than 10 kilos – and I really tried - but eventually I landed on 11 kilos. That would have to do.

So on the morning of 3 June I finished the last of my packing. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day in Oslo as I ventured outside with my backpack and my daypack, after having checked everything one last time. As I was standing inside the streetcar making its way through quiet streets towards the station where I would catch the Airport Express Train, I felt myself being able to breathe again. Finally I was on my way!