CHINA visitors should be warned. It is not just like flying off for the weekend to some Continental destination and putting it all together ”on line” yourself. You need paperwork (visa), jabs (immunisation) and patience. And you would be best off dealing with an experienced tour operator who can do most things for you including the arrangements at the other end. Visas are no problem but for personal callers the London office is only open 0900 until 1200 and if you are not through by 1100 forget about the same day paperwork. The professionals (couriers and the like) get themselves to Portland Place by 0600, the queue by the time the offices open often quite daunting. Specialist tour operators such as Cultural Tours will take care of all for a small charge. Money well spent. By post it takes two weeks and you will be without your passport. The British Airways clinics in the West End and City are excellent, but note the Regent Street branch has moved to Piccadilly. In fact the Chinese staff at the Embassy deal with the visas very efficiently but China needs to have a rethink regarding arrangements if it wants to attract tourists in big numbers. With Air China, China Eastern, Virgin Atlantic and British Airways all flying non-stop there is much business to be done.
http://www.chinese-embassy.org.uk/eng http://www.culturaltours.co.uk
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/healthclinintro/public/en_gb