Travel China and Beyond

Don’t miss out on the Holiday Inn Temple of Heaven on your next trip to Beijing!

On my recent trip to Beijing to visit friends and purchase new stock for my online store Chinafinds, I stayed in the Holiday Inn Temple of Heaven. For anyone not familiar with this hotel, it is a real bargain jewel. Its biggest drawback is its location, which is convenient to the Hongqiao Pearl Market and the Temple of Heaven itself, but not to anything else. However, it still fairly central and a fairly short cab ride can get you anywhere you need to go. I really like the hotel because 1) the price is right (about $100 for an executive floor room with buffet breakfast included) 2) the staff are very kind and attentive 3) the rooms, at least on the executive floor, are clean, well kept up and comfortably furnished 4) the food in the breakfast buffet is good. I have stayed in many fancy and expensive hotels around the world and consider myself to be quite a hotel snob, but this place meets my basic standards and doesn’t break the bank.

Rental Car Experience in Bulgaria

Last week we completed our trip in Bulgaria.  I will be posting material from that trip gradually, but in the mean time I wanted to post on our experience with car rental companies in Bulgaria.  This was our second time with renting a vehicle from Global Rent A Car — and the experience has been very positive.

If you are arriving by plane at the Sofia airport, Global Rent a Car will even wait for you at the airport.  This time around we had trouble with our connective flights in London (ended up flying from London to Sofia via Munich) and as a result we were delayed by over 12 hours — we landed in Sofia around 23:15.  A guy from the rental company was waiting for us though.

If you plan to rent a car, one option is to initially put the car on your credit card (for ease of handling the initial procedure) then upon completion of your rental you can pay by cash and get a 10% discount.

We rented a SUV vehicle and ended up paying 726 euro for a 13 day rental period. (That was after the discount for paying in cash)

Traveling from Taiwan to China - what are the options

You may or may not know that travelling between China and Taiwan is fairly complicated. There are no direct flights between the two countries (except for several days during the year — during the Lunar New Year / Chinese New Year festival (late January or February))

So if you are travelling form Taipei to Shenzhen one good way to make the trip cost effective is to purchase a flight from Taipei to Hong Kong on lets say Cathay Pacific then also at Taipei airport you can purchase a ferry ticket for Hong Kong to Shekou (in Shenzhen) for HK$200.  If you have checked in luggage that luggage will be transfered to the ferry the same way it gets transfered if you switch between planes / flights.

Once you arrive in Hong Kong Airport, just ask for the gate location for the ferry services.  The ferry company I used is CKS .  The gate for the ferry service is located in the transit area of the airport so you do not need to go through immigration or customs.

If you have checked-in luggage make sure that you have at least one and a half hours between the flight and ferry otherwise the luggage will be late.  If that happens the ferry service gate person will ask you to stay for the next ferry — they are every 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Once you arrive at Shekou harbour you can take a cab to Crowne Plaza Shenzhen (the Venetian Hotel), it’s about 20km. away.

I have found this to be a fast and cost effective way to get to Shenzhen.

If you need to travel from Taipei to Shanghai you could travel still to Shenzhen as I described above OR you could travel via Jeju island.  The flights are Taipei to Jeju and then Jeju to Shanghai.  That will save you at least 2-3 hours travel time (vs. a flight Taipei-Hong Kong - Shanghai)

Then if you are flying to Beijing you can take the Shanghai route above or the Shenzhen route or fly via Seoul (Incheon airport).  The flight from Incheon to Beijing is less than one and a half hours duration.

Well, I hope this helps!  Happy Travels and let me know if you have questions.

Places to Stay in Beijing

Lately I have seen on many forums questions about finding accomodations in Beijing in the range of US$100/night in a nice hotel (4 star +).  So I decided to do a quick posting with my experience from Beijing and will follow with postings about Shanghai and Shenzhen (also frequented destinations).  So here are my suggestions for Beijing:

• You can get a good rate at the Holiday Inn near the Temple of Heaven.  That hotel will also put you near the Hong Qiao Market. The hotel rate was for RMB800 on the executive floor (which includes breakfast plus food during the day on the Club floor lounge).
• Hotel New Otani Chang Fu Gong == I have stayed in this one 2 years ago (when I was relocating to Beijing);
• Traders Hotel == I have stayed here too (located behind China World hotel near subway station GuoMao)
• Park Plaza Wangfujing == I have not stayed here but have heard it is OK;
• Rosedale Hotel (located near the DaShanZi area - near Lido Holiday Inn) == also have not stayed here but have had dinner in one of its restaurants — it was good.
• The North Garden Hotel  == apparently  good hotel  with convenient location;

Current Savings and Deals on Flights

I will try to keep up with demand for Deals on Flights to various destinations. This week the specials I have come across are:

Air New Zealand has specials on trips to Australia and to New Zealand:

• Los Angeles (LAX) to Sydney (SYD) $960
• San Francisco (SFO) to Sydney $1,070
• New Zealand destinations start at US$798 (if you book by Feb.28)

A new airline (at least to me) EuroFly is offering specials on flight from New York JFK to Rome, Palermo, Bologna starting at US$798 with departures starting May 6, 2007 and continuing through October 17, 2007.

American Airlines continue their deal on travel to China (this is a good guidebook for those who would like to learn more about the country - Lonely Planet China ). The airline is offering 5000 to 10000 bonus miles (based on ticket fare) for the flights booked and traveled before March 31, 2007. The flights are between Chicago and Shanghai.

United Airlines is starting their Washington D.C. to Beijing service on March 28, 2007.  The airfare starts the US$407 (each way, based on round trip purchase, so you are looking at a starting rate of $814 plus fees).  In addition you would get bonus miles in the range of 5000 to 10000 miles based on what ticket fare you end up booking.

Air China is also pushing special deals on flights to and from the US.  Currently flights originating in San Francisco are at US$700 for the roundtrip to Beijing, while from New York the round trip tickets start at US$780.  Air China is partner of United Airlines in case you are wondering how you could use the frequent flyer miles.

Best airfares not to be found online?

In recently booking some international travel for a buying trip for my online store ( www.chinafinds.com ), I came across an interesting phenomenon. Although I have always been a big fan of online booking sites such as Orbitz and Expedia, I found to my surprise that the best deals on American Airlines and United were to be found, not on their websites or on Orbitz/Expedia, but with their telephone reservation centers. Several years ago, the airlines started charging an additional fee to purchase flights via their telephone reservation agents, while it remained free to purchase flights via their websites. As a result, I had pretty much abandoned telephone reservations. However, in searching for the cheapest and best economy flights from Austin to Beijing, I found that Orbitz had the best online fares, with Expedia a distant second, and that the airlines’ own websites sometimes had decent prices, but were generally higher than those on Orbitz. However, if you called to check with the airlines, the fares were not only the lowest available, they actually allowed you to make a reservation and would hold it from 24 to 72 hours, depending on the airline in question. Yes, you had to pay $15 extra, but it was definitely worth it. Why the airlines are pursuing this policy, I have no idea, and it may only be relevant to international itineraries. The next time I fly within the U.S., I will definitely have to check out the deals available online versus over the phone to see if this is the case with domestic flights as well. The deal I got with United was really excellent, by the way. With all taxes and fees included, I am paying $818 for my ticket and $679 for my 8 year old daughter’s. Plus, as my daughter has elite status on United, we get to be seated in the Economy Plus section of the airplane, which has 5 inches extra legroom compared with regular economy seating. The extra legroom will be a real bonus on the long, long flight to China. In addition, my daughter’s elite status gives us access to the business class lounges on the day of our flight. The lounges are great at any time, but particularly when you are traveling with a tired child. Elite status is really not that hard to get, particularly if you are planning to travel to Europe or Asia and are going to log a bunch of miles in a short amount of time. See my post on airline challenges for more information. Plus, if you have achieved elite status with one airline, others will usually match that status for the current year if you ask.

What camera you use to take photos on your trips

What would say about a discussion on digital cameras? Well over the last 5 years I have gone through my fair share of digital cameras - Konika, HP, (used a Canon for a while), and now my current one — a Samsung Digimax L85

some examples         the camera =>  

(The examples above are actually in a reduced resolution — I still have to think about storage space on my server space….so I did not upload the 8M pixel images)

I know this might sound weird — almost as an advertisement about a product, but the reality is that I truly like the camera and have used it non-stop since I bought it in Seoul in May of 2006.  I did get a very good deal (including extra secure digital Flash card, carrying case, HDMI cable, etc).  Yes, HDMI cable — it is important to note that the HDMI cable makes it very convinient to use the camera connected directly to a HDTV.

I have used the camera for both still image photography as well as for taking MPEG-4 video footage.  It is great — you can then play it directly (via the HDMI cable) on HDTV.

Fast Track to Elite Status in Frequent Flyer Programs

American Airlines has an unadvertised feature of its frequent flyer program whereby a customer can attain Gold or Platinum status by flying a greatly reduced number of miles–as long as they inform American Airlines beforehand of their intentions and they complete the flights within a three month period.  To attain Gold status, you only need to fly 5000 miles and Platinum status only takes 10,000.  This is a great deal fewer than the 25,000 and 50,000 miles respectively that are required for normal qualification for these statuses.

So how do you do it?  Just call American Airlines AAdvantage frequent flyer program (1-800-882-8880) and tell the representative that you are speaking with that you would like to enroll in the Gold Challenge or the Platinum Challenge. (I’m not sure if you need to sign up with AAdvantage first–that might be a good idea).  If the representative says that there is no such thing, call back and speak to someone else.  (I’ve never had trouble asking American Airlines representatives about the Gold and Platinum challenges, but I’ve heard that some people have.)  If you think that you won’t be able to attain enough miles to make the Platinum Challenge, go for Gold–otherwise, you should try for Platinum because it has much better benefits.  One catch is that only American Airlines miles count toward the Gold/Platinum challenge–you can’t use miles from their airline partners to qualify.

Can you do the challenge more than once?  Yes, but only if you have legitimately achieved the status you want to re-take the challenge for in-between Challenge attempts.  For example, if you take the Platinum challenge and attain Platinum status by flying the requisite 10,000 miles within 3 months and then you re-qualify for Platinum in a subsequent year in the standard, non-challenge way, if you then lose your Platinum status after that, you can re-take the challenge.  Otherwise, you can’t.  Successive challenges without legitimately acquired elite status in between them are not allowed.

How else can you get elite status?  Well, once you have gotten elite status with one frequent flyer program, you can ask for a ‘elite status match’ from another frequent flyer program and they very may well give it to you.  Typically, all you need to do is to call the airline in question and ask them what you need to do to get an elite status match.  They should give you a number to fax your documentation to and tell you exactly what you need to send in.  You typically need to send them your most recent statement from the frequent flyer program that you currently have elite status with. It is a great way to get elite fast, but you have to be elite in one frequent flyer program already in order to make this nifty trick work.

The nice thing about elite status is that due to mileage bonuses, once you have attained elite status (by whatever means), it is much easier to re-qualify for it.  So, the next time you are considering a faraway trip, consider taking advantage of the AAdvantage challenge!

How to get the seat you want!

Getting a good seat on a flight, particularly on a lengthy international one, can really make a difference in your overall enjoyment of a trip. In the old days, it was simply a question of being able to select a window versus an aisle seat, or one closer to the front of the plane, but in these days of seat maps, the savvy traveler has a lot more tools at his/her disposal. However, an airline-provided seat map tells you little beyond the general configuration of seats and their location in relation to restroom facilities. Fortunately, this information gap has been filled by websites such as SeatGuru, an excellent traveler’s resource. Let’s say that you have an upcoming trip to Tokyo. There are two flight segments—one from Austin to Dallas and one from Dallas to Tokyo. When you are making your seat selection, note the aircraft type and then go to SeatGuru to find out what information is available on that type of aircraft for the particular airline you are flying. Because seat configurations vary between airlines for the very same plane, you need to first select which airline you are traveling on, and then select the type of aircraft. So, if I am flying on an American Airlines S80 in economy class from Austin to Dallas, SeatGuru gives me the following invaluable information of seats to avoid.

• Seats 19 A, B and F don’t recline all the way
• In rows 22-27, the AB seats are less roomy than the DEF seats on the other side of the aisle
• Row 28-31 DEF seats have the smallest amount of legroom (called seat pitch) on the whole plane, and row 32 DEF doesn’t even have a window. These seats are also extremely noisy due to the fact that the engine is at the back of the plane.

However, I can also see that some prime economy seats are to be had in the exit rows and the bulkhead, but not all the exit row and bulkhead seats are good. SeatGuru says that on that particular aircraft configuration, only seat 7D in the bulkhead row is good—the others all have limited legroom. And in the two exit rows (rows 20 and 21), 20A and 20F should be avoided because they do not recline.

Now, while a non-reclining or extra cramped seat might not make or break things on a 45 minute flight from Austin to Dallas, seat selection on a 13 and a half hour flight from Dallas to Tokyo can be crucial. Noting that this flight segment is also on American Airlines, but this time on a Boeing 777, you go to SeatGuru where you learn the following:

• Seats 26C-G all have limited recline.
• All the seats in rows 43-45, which are at the very back of the plane, should be avoided as they are noisy and bright from the nearby galley and lavatories. In addition, the seats in row 45 have limited recline.
• On the positive side, seats CDFG in row 41 have a little extra room and have extra wide armrests. (This is because the aircraft, which normally has a 2-5-2 configuration, narrows toward the back and comes to a point where 5 seats in the middle section will no longer fit, but there is still a bit more room than is needed for 4 seats. American Airlines compensates for this extra room by putting in extra wide armrests which house the tray tables and personal video units so that passengers don’t have to put up with them being misaligned with the seats in the row of five in front of them.)
• Exit row seats 31 B and H are good, but seats 31 A and J in the same row are not as comfortable because the emergency slide compromises their legroom.

Seat assignments are not the only thing that SeatGuru can help with. The site also has data comparing the seat width, seat pitch (or legroom), video type, and power port information between various airlines for domestic economy, domestic first class, international economy, premium economy, international business class, and, for those lucky enough to be traveling this way, international first class. These comparison charts can be very informative. They are sortable by each of the columns of data, so you can sort by airline, aircraft type, seat pitch, seat width, and power port type/availability. Looking at the international economy chart, if seat width is your primary consideration, you might want to avoid ANA, whose seat width on its Boeing 777 planes is a mere 16.5 inches, as opposed to the 17 or 18 inches offered by many airlines on that aircraft. (American Airlines offers the widest seat for that aircraft, at 18.2 inches.) If legroom is of the most importance to you, you might want to consider Thai Airways’ Airbus A340, as it offers a whopping 36 inch seat pitch, as opposed to the 31,32 or 33 inches offered on that aircraft by other airlines. Of course, that assumes that you are traveling somewhere that Thai Airways flies…

SeatGuru also has informative articles such as Bulkheads Explained: the Pros and Cons, a review of Noise Canceling Headphones and an informative look at TSA Baggage Restrictions. All in all, it is a great site for both the frequent and infrequent traveler and well worth a look.

Sanya and Hainan Island

(Sarah at a hotel party, Marriott, Sanya)
Well holidays are approaching and so is the cold weather in Beijing. So it is time to think about an escape to the tropics… Sounds exotic, right If you are spending any prolonged period of time in China in the winter you might want to consider a trip to Hainan Island and Sanya, located on the southern tip of the island.

Here is a map of China I picked up somewhere on the Web. You can see Hainan in the southern part (lower portion of the map) of China. Then here is a map of Hainan Island I picked up from the China Economic Review Web site (http://www.chinaeconomicreview.com/)

Visiting Sanya is very nice. Continue reading Sanya and Hainan Island…