Paul's Overseas Trip 1

Last months, Paul went on a trip.

He went to Japan and China.

There were a couple of reasons for the trip. 

One reason for the trip was for business. 

He wanted to start some restaurants in both countries. 

The other reason was for pleasure. 

Paul enjoys traveling and he wanted to visit some friends. 

Before leaving on the trip. Paul had several problems.

First, his passport was going to expire.

As a result, he needed to apply for a new passport.

Second, he needed to get a visa to enter China.

In order to apply for a visa, he needed his new passport.

He had six weeks to get everything done.

After applying for a new passport it took two weeks to get it.

Once he got the passport, he went to the Chinese Consulate in Toronto and applied for a visa.

He filled out anapplicationform and stood in a long line.

He was surprised by how many people were applying for visas.

It took more than an hour to submit his application.

Hesubmittedhis application for the visa on a Friday.

A week later, he went back to the consulate topick uphis visa.

To his surprise, when he got there the consulate was closed.

The consulate was closed because it was a Chinese holiday.

Paul was angry at himself for not checking the Consulate's website.

On its website the consulate's schedule was posted.

There was a notice saying thatthe consulate would be closed that day.

As a result. Paul had to come back the next Monday.

This was because the consulate was closed on weekends.

Finally on Monday, he got the visa and he was ready to go

Paul's Overseas Trip 2

Another problem with the trip was his travel schedule. 

He needed to extend his stay in Japan. 

One week in Japan wasn't enough. 

Three Japanese restaurant owners wanted to meet with him. 

He needed more time for the meetings than a couple of days. 

And he didn’t want to miss staying with a good friend of his.

His friend lives near Mt. Fuji and owns a great restaurant. 

This was one thing Paul didn’t want to miss. 

As a result, he extended his stay in Japan. 

Instead of staying for just a week, he decided to stay for 10 days.

As a result, he had to change the dates for his stay in China. 

The meetings in China were delayed by three days. 

Instead of arriving on the first of the month, he arrived on the fourth. 

Fortunately, there were no problems with his new schedule in China. 

However, there were fewer meetings than he expected. 

There wasn’t much interest in opening new Italian restaurants. 

Still, he had one very good meeting. 

He met a young Chinese restaurant owner who was interested. 

The young man already has a restaurant, but he wants to improve it. 

He and Paul liked each other right away. 

They met twice in Beijing and are planning to meet again. 

The young Chinese man’s name is Yi. 

He is planning to come to see Paul. 

They are going to meet late next week in Toronto. 

Together they will work on a business plan. 

Paul is glad that he took the trip. 

He thinks it was a successful and enjoyable trip.