Chinese Visa

This one was a little tougher than the Vietnam visa. China actually wants you to come into their consulate to get the visa. You can have a travel agency do it for you, but unless you're booking a package with them, you're looking at a pretty hefty markup, not to mention the original cost of $130 for the visa itself. Thankfully I live a short train ride from NYC, and was able to go to the consulate myself. I left the application, photo copy of passport, and the passport itself there for a week, and one week later got my travel visa for my trip to Beijing! As for what to do if you don't live near a consulate..... no idea. They seem pretty strict about not doing mail visas. I would just suck it up and pay a travel agent. The prices I saw were $200-$260 for the agent to do it. Not cheap, but I am really looking forward to seeing China, so definitely worth it!