Chinese New Year Road Trip Across Chengdu Beijing Chongqing:

We Travel during CHINESE NEW YEAR… with 1 Billion Other People.

Destination:ChinaCity:ChongqingPopulation:32 million
We Travel during CHINESE NEW YEAR… with 1 Billion Other People.
Nick and Mathilde | Next Meridian Expedition2026-02-2851 min

Nick and Mathilde head into China during the Spring Festival with their Land Rover Defender, embracing the country’s largest annual family reunion. They start in Chengdu to meet pandas and then push into the electric pulse of Beijing and Chongqing, chasing the contrasts between tranquil landscapes and neon soaked cities. The week blends intense crowds, cultural rituals, and long planned overland travel, as they juggle logistics, unexpected delays, and the desire to capture authentic moments on the road. This is a documentary style diary of a couple choosing a world tour as their home on wheels, showing how road life meets one of the world’s biggest celebrations.

--- Nick and Mathilde | Next Meridian Expedition
February 28, 2026, Winter in China

Video Chapters

  1. 0:00intro shock and pandas
  2. 01:31new year planning
  3. 04:56city chaos
  4. 12:50Omei summit hike
  5. 17:40flight to Beijing

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We Travel during CHINESE NEW YEAR… with 1 Billion Other People.

Nick and Mathilde from Next Meridian Expedition take us along for a high energy sprint through China during the Spring Festival, trading quiet mountain scenery for neon drenched city chaos. They situate their Land Rover Defender at the center of a country-wide family reunion, sharing the sensory overload of crowds, fireworks, and towering skylines as China’s biggest travel spike unfolds. The journey swings from cuddly Chengdu pandas to the adrenaline of Beijing’s and Chongqing’s streets, and back to planning amid the festival frenzy. The episode blends personal moments—childhood reunions after 17 years—and expansive travel ambition across continents, all wrapped in the couple’s signature overland expedition style. It’s a vivid snapshot of navigating logistics, culture, and celebration on one of the world’s busiest travel holidays, with the goal of turning road travel into a living, breathing documentary about connection and exploration. The duo reiterates their long horizon plan: five,

Chinese New Year Road Trip Across Chengdu Beijing Chongqing:

We were ONE out of the 9 BILLION journeys made for Chinese New Year! Trading the silent mountains of the West for the neon-soaked chaos of China’s "Cyberpunk" capital was a shock to the system we weren’t entirely prepared for. Navigating China during the Spring Festival isn’t just a logistical...

Attractions in this video: Pandas, Great Wall, Mei Shan Sacred Mountain, Chongqing Skyline