Our First Trip to Macau

Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge

Less than three months ago, our family moved to Hong Kong. It's hard to believe that we have already lived here for almost 90 days!! Time has flown by as so much has happened in such a short period of time.

Currently, me and the girls are just on the generic visitors visa, which everyone gets when they come to Hong Kong and allows us to be guests for 90 days. Before we get approved for another 90 days, we all have to leave the country and come back again.

To our delight, the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge just opened!! This new bridge connects Hong Kong, Macau, and Zhuhai, China. As a result of the grand opening of the new bridge, discounts are being offered on the bus that takes you to the bus station. Then at the bus station, you can purchase tickets for the shuttle bus to Macau or Zhuhai. As a result, of all the excitement our town has been overrun with visitors who want to ride the new bridge. Despite the chaos and all of people, these discounts have been to our advantage and allowed us to travel out of the country for a much cheaper price than if we flew or took a ferry.

After weighing all of our options, we decided the easiest as cheapest way for our family to get to Macau would be by bus on the new bridge. Our plan was to leave Hong Kong, travel by bus to Macau, and then come back to Hong Kong. As a result, me and the girls would be allowed to stay in Hong Kong for another 90 days. We are praying that during the next 90 days, our more permanent visas will be approved so we don't have to do this again.

Last Monday, on Jon's day off, we took a day off from school and went on a family adventure!! We chose to go during the week and prayed that the buses wouldn’t be quite as crazy. Everyone got up early and left right after we finished eating breakfast. We all headed to Tung Chung and then on to the bus station. At the bus station we bought tickets for the shuttle bus to Macau and were on our way.


Thankfully, Jon was right and the lines weren't nearly as crazy as they had been the previous week or two. In addition, we were privileged to be able to sit in the front row on the 2nd floor of the double decker bus. This was the perfect way to ride on the new bridge. However, our girls were so funny, because all they wanted to do were read books or watch a movie. Sophie spent most of our trip sharing her seat with a Chinese woman who cam up to the front to take some videos and pictures of the new bridge.

Honestly, we had not planned to do very much in Macau, because we didn't know how long of all this would take. I was surprised that from our house, it took just two hours to get to Macau. Now that we know what we're doing, I can’t wait until we can go back to Macau and explore a little bit more. However, on our first trip we just stayed at the bus station, ate our sack lunch, and stretched our legs before getting back on the shuttle bus to come home to Hong Kong.

We had such a fun time and I’m so glad we were able to go to Macau together.