1 . Metro (地铁) Pocket Guide

Metrorail (地铁)

Each passenger needs a farecard to enter and go out. Up to two children under age five may travel free with a paying customer.

Farecard machines are in every station, Bring small bills because there are no change machines in the station and farecard machines only provide up to $5 in change.

Get one day of unlimited Metrorail rides with a One Day Pass. Buy it from a farecard machine in Metro stations. Use it after 9: 30 a. m. until closing on weekdays, and all day on weekends and holidays.

Hours of Service

Open: 5 a.m. Mon-Fri                    7 a.m. Sat-Sun.

Closed: midnight Sun-Thur          3a.m. Fri.-Sat. nights

Last train time varies. To avoid missing the last train, please check the last train time posted in the stations.

Metrobus

When paying with exact change, the fare is $ 1.35. When paying with a smart CARD the fare is $1.25.

Fares for senior /disabled customers

Senior citizens 65 and older and disabled customers may ride for half the regular fare. On Metrorail and Motorbus, use a senior/disabled farecard or Smart card. For more information about buying senior/disabled farecards, Smart cards and passes, please visit MetroOpenDoors.com or call202-637-7000 and 202-637-8000.

Senior citizens and disabled customers can get free guide on how to use proper Motorbus and Metrorail services by calling 202-962-1100

Travel tips

Avoid riding during weekday rush periods — before 9:30 a.m. and between 4 and 6 p.m.

If you lose something on a bus or train or in a station, please call Lost & Found at 202-962-1195.

2 . Road trip

Motorhome delivery offers great family holidays. For just $1 a day, you can hire a fully­equipped motorhome, which delivers you to a specific destination within some days and kilometers. You then hire another one to get home or take a bus or train. Your only other expense will be fuel and about $20 a day for parking fees. To learn more, visit apollocamper.com.

Plan ahead

For a comfortable break, flexibility with times, dates and places helps lower the cost. Find a few hotels you like, ask about their vacant rooms, then wait a few weeks and call again. If they still have rooms, you’re at an advantage to ask for a better price. Lots of last­minute deals are online. Watif (watif.com.au) has deals on hotels that have dropped their prices so low. You don’t know where you’re staying until it’s booked, but anywhere with four or five stars has to be fairly good.

Back to nature

Wild camping appeals to nature lovers and costs nothing. This is forbidden on beaches and parks in most urban areas, but you can turn up in more distant areas as long as nobody owns the land. You’ll need to take everything with you and may need to shop on eBay (ebay.com.au). If you’re a camping beginner, be aware of safety measures and get your questions answered on the Internet.

Swap meet

How about a home swap? For a $250 yearly joining cost, you can stay in someone’s home in an international place of your choice while they or someone else stays in yours. Find out more at familylink.com.au.

6 . From cottages surrounded by impressive gardens to days spent exploring sandy beaches and deep woods filled with wildlife, in My Family and Other Animals, English writer Gerald Durrell provided a vivid account of his family’s time on the Greek island of Corfu in the 1930s.

Come for the arresting descriptions of Corfu landscapes and stay for Durrell’s laugh-out-loud tales of his unusual family. This book, Durrell wrote humorously in the introduction, “was intended to be a nostalgic(怀旧的)account of natural history, but in the first few pages, I made the mistake of introducing my family.”

Durrell, later known for his zoo keeping and the preservation of wildlife, was just a child during his family’s five-year stay in Corfu. He is 10-year-old Gerry in the book—curious, passionate about animals and a detailed storyteller of his strange family: his imaginative elder brother Larry with his literary ambitions, lovestruck sister Margo, sporty brother Leslie and his ever-calm, loving mother.

Durrell’s attention to detail is what makes the book so winning, with every sight, sound and smell of the island brought to life. One minute you’ll be laughing as Larry’s clever literary friends walk down to the daffodil-yellow cottage, the next you’ll be catching your breath as Durrell describes swimming at night in the Ionian Sea: “Lying on my back in the silky water, staring at the sky, only moving my hands and feet slightly, I was looking at the Milky Way stretching like a silk scarf across the sky and wondering how many stars it contained.”

My Family and Other Animals is quite difficult to classify, being one part travel, one part autobiography, one part natural history, and one part comedy, with a thread of descriptive language running throughout that sometimes raises it nearly to poetry.

As a real delight to read, it’s the perfect literary escapism for any adult or older teenager who is currently walking down a tough road in life.

8 . Some China Podcasts (播客) to Listen to

Whether you’re an old-timer or a newcomer to China, there’s always more to learn about this awesome country. To help in your never-ending thirst for knowledge, we’ve rounded up some most entertaining China-focused podcasts that hit on everything from history to business.

Tech Buzz China by Pandaily

Tech Buzz China by Pandaily is a technology podcast about China’s innovations. Its co-hosted by Rui Ma and Ying Lu, who are both seasoned China-watchers with years of experience working in the technology space in the country. They share and discuss the most important tech news from China every week.

The China History Podcast

Started in 2010, Laszlo Montgomery presents topics that cover 5, 000 years of Chinese history and culture. The show has a lot of unknown and interesting history lessons that help provide more color as to why China is the way it is. Topics like the history of Tang poetry, or the Hokkien people are analyzed and explored.

China Untold

The China Untold podcast is a program that aims to introduce listeners to lesser-known stories from the Middle Kingdom. From urban tales and extinct religions to China’s role in the exploration of space, this podcast hosted by Matt Bossons, is your essential guide to the unusual and wonderful aspects of the world’s most highly populated nation.

The Wasai Show

The Wasai Show is hosted by Ne to Trevino from Mexico and Alice He who is a local Chinese. In each episode, stories are collected from listeners about a topic and shared in a funny way by both comedians. The first half of the show is presented in English, followed by a Chinese section.

10 . Have you ever been to London? Here is some hotel information for you.

Kingsway Hall Hotel

We offer quality service in Kingsway Hall Hotel.This location puts guests in easy reach of many places, such as the British Museum and Piccadilly Circus. Our hotel also has modern Western food, and offers a perfect dining environment. The lounge bar is a comfortable place to enjoy a drink. There are hundreds of dining choices within walking distance. Non-smoking rooms are ready for guests.

Hilton Docklands Riverside

Located on the bank of the Thames, our hotel is about two miles east of Tower Bridge and 36 miles from London Heathrow Airport. Our hotel has a beauty salon, a flower shop and a swimming pool. The hotel also offers laundry (洗衣店) services, babysitting, shining shoes, and local area transportation.

Windermere Hotel

Located in the center of London,our hotel puts guests within easy reach of London’s well-known buildings. Buckingham Palace and the Royal Parks are just a short walk away. Within 1.5 miles you can visit Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament. The theatres, Harrods shopping centre, and the designer shops of Sloane Square and Knightsbridge are all only a short walk away or a taxi ride away.