birdman_

Hi, Wife's family is from near Nanning. We now have four kids 4-10, living in the US. Want to finally return to see wife's parents. USA to China direct flights still too pricey, but flying to Hong Kong probably within reach. Heard the express trains from Hong Kong to mainland are operating again. Hoping it's allowed to fly to Hong Kong, then take a train to either Nanning or Guangzhou. Experiences? Recommendations. True it will be a pain to have to do this extra work, but flights direct to China still 4-7 times more expensive than flying to Hong Kong. Wife is concerned about 48 hours covid test(s). She thought about "waiting until 2024," but I suspect the situation won't be much different then, and my wife's parents are ageing. Need to see them sooner rather than later. We haven't been since 2018. Tried to go early 2020 but the virus stopped us.

For several years we've used this method to send money to family in China: Leant an ATM card to my wife's family in China. My bank doesn't charge a fee for ATM use nor a fee for foreign ATM use either. It's been a nice way to send money without a fee (regular exchange rates in place I presume). But, they just got a new card from us, and it universally doesn't work at any bank. Tried four different banks who all reportedly can accept "Visa" and "plus system" type debit/ATM cards for withdrawal. On youtube I found a vid saying that banks in China are limiting cash withdrawals. Any info on a blanket-ban on foreign ATM cards working in China now for withdrawing cash from ATMs there? Thanks.