Not going home for the summer? No problem, find a beach near you

When I decided to become a stay at home mom, I imagined myself jetting off to far away destinations any chance I could get. However, in reality, my life has become quite the contrary. Now that Tanner’s 8 months old there is so much more stuff that comes with him - just leaving the house for brunch feels like I’m packing for vacation. Therefore, we decided to cancel our trip back home to look into family friendly vacations that will get us out of Shanghai, yet not have to deal with a 12 hour time change.

Cindy Keung took her three kids to the Crowne Plaza in Sanya for a long weekend as a quick and easy beach getaway from Shanghai. “As we used to live in NY city, I liken Sanya to our trips to FL, while not very exotic, still an easy, relatively quick trip to get away and relax with the family.” Keung’s family was “quite content staying in the resort enjoying the fresh air, tranquil setting ,and playing at the pool and beach.” Most resorts in Hainan offer family friendly services and an easy all inclusive holiday. Looking for a beach that doesn’t require you to fly there? Shanghai’s Fengxian District which is less than an hour drive from downtown Shanghai is home to the Haiwan Tourism Zone. To be completed in 2015, the Fengxian Beach which supposedly has golden sandy beaches is already open to the public. The air also is said to have one tenth the dust of downtown Shanghai and five times as much oxygen.

Lisa Chiang loves traveling with her two kids to places with no jet lag. Just down the road from Shanghai in Hangzhou is Fu Chun Resort where Chiang and her husband love to take the family. “Excellent for all kinds of active, outdoor fun with the kids, the resort also offers yoga, golf, tennis, biking, boating, hiking and general meditative reflection and purging exercises,” states Chiang. Fu Chun has swimming pools for kids as well as adults. Chiang adds, “For further and deeper relaxation for the adults. Fu Chun has a full service spa which is among the best I've seen in China.” Sounds like my kind of vacation!

I’m pretty sad that we won’t be going home this summer, but am very excited to check out some of the places that are close by to us. I guess if we never do it now who knows when we’ll be able to do it. Home is where the heart is and even though I’ll be missing my southern BBQ and sweet tea, I’ll make up for it with dumplings and mango ice.