China Trip Update 2 – Booking my Hostels and choosing my seats on the Northwest Airlines
My previous update on my trip to China discussed why I wanted to go to China and receiving my Chinese visa.Now that it has been a few weeks I wanted to provide an update on my activities to prepare for the trip. So far to date, I’ve done some research into sites to visit, but I also wanted to take care of a couple logistical details including booking hostels and choosing my airline seats.
Booking my hostels…For the truly adventurous, some might advise you to wait until you get to China to find accommodations, however, I’m a realist. Maybe if I was staying in China for 6 weeks or longer would I do something like that, but I am only there for two short weeks. I don’t want to waste any of my time while I am in China finding a place to stay.
As a side note, I also considered couch surfing, but I decided that this trip was not the right time to do that. I may just try to meet up with a few couch surfer hosts in their city though. Probably the next time I go to China, I will try couch surfing out as I think it would be an awesome experience.
In my past trips to New Zealand and India, I have used Hostelworld.com to read reviews and book hostels. Unfortunately, Hostelworld charges a booking fee. They probably charge this booking fee to recoup the costs of running their site and while that’s understandable, I’d prefer not to pay a booking fee which was why I was excited when I found a new hostel site called Hostelbooker.com. Hostelbooker has pretty much the same line up of hostels as Hostelworld. There may have been one or two different hostels listed on Hostelworld, but there wasn’t enough of a difference to make me think twice about using Hostelbooker. The main savings I saw was the fact there was not a $2.00 booking fee. This may seem a bit cheap to haggle over a booking fee, but I tend to think most people would prefer knowing a site that doesn’t charge such a fee.
I read many reviews of hostels in Beijing, Shanghai, and Xian covering things like safety, cleanliness, service, and fun at the hostel. I am pretty easy going myself and probably could not have made a mistake with picking any of the hostels listed. Here are the hostels I selected:
Shanghai
Shanghai Blue Mountain Youth Hostel
Dates: August 30, 2009 – September 3, 2009
(September 3, 2009 – I will catch a night train to Xi’an that arrives on September 4, 2009)
Xi’an
Xiangzimen International Youth Hostel
Dates: September 4, 2009 – September 5, 2009
(September 5, 2009 – I will catch a night train to Beijing that arrives on September 6, 2009)
Beijing
Haina Hostel
Dates: September 6, 2009 – September 11, 2009
(September 6, 2009 – I will catch a night train to Shanghai that arrives on September 12, 2009)
Shanghai
Le Tour Shanghai Youth Hostel
Dates: September 12 – September 13, 2009
September 13 – Head home!
Certainly, if you have any comments about these hostels (hopefully I did not go wrong) or you will be these hostels yourself, feel free to leave a comment.
Choosing my airline seat…Usually, when you choose a seat on an international flight, you are dreading that economy seat. I’m actually very excited to be flying in business class on a Northwest Airlines 747 jet. While I’ve flown on a 747 jet before, this will be my first time in business class. Before everyone thinks I have a ton of $$$ and can actually afford a business class seat, I used frequent flyer miles to obtain this seat. I plan on enjoying and relaxing on my flights to and from China. In order to aid in my seat selection in the business class cabin, I consulted threads in flyertalk’s Northwest Worldperks forum. I eventually went with exit rows on the upper deck of the 747. Needless to say, I’m excited to be finally trying the 747 upper deck. This could be my only chance as many airlines are retiring these jumbo jets because of their operating costs. Let me know if you are on a DTW-PVG flight on Aug 29. If so, we can hang out at the DTW airport. Feel free to leave a comment if you’ve experienced business class service on a NWA 747.
As the day of the departure gets closer, I am definitely getting more excited for the trip. I have already started making a list to pack even though I will only be gone for 2 weeks. In future trip updates, I’ll discuss some of the activities that I have planned.
- A few of my favorite photos from China I've been back in the U.S. since Sunday, September 13th. I admit...I'm extremely behind in posting content about the China trip. Part of that is because I've been extremely busy at the office and part of it is because I've been recovering from jet lag slower than usual. One thing......
- Busy Busy Busy I just wanted to write a quick update on the last two weeks or so. So far, I have survived the first 2 weeks of my job. It is quite interesting. I am enjoying being in corporate america for once. Things are alot slower paced. Sometimes that is a good......
- Buying Train Tickets in China Buying train tickets in China is not as easy one might think it should be. In fact, I would call it an interesting chore. On one of my last days in Shanghai, I told my friend - "wo xu yao mai yi zhan ho che piao" which basically told him......
- 4 Lessons Learned from a week in Taipei... I recently completed a short 6 day trip to Taipei, Taiwan and have had some time to think about things I learned on this trip which can be applied to future trips. I usually save "lessons learned" posts until after I've had a chance to discuss a place a bit......
- My first dinner in Shanghai Note: Pictures are coming...I promise. My first dinner in Shanghai was excellent. After getting checked into the Blue Moutain Hostel, my Chinese hosts, Wang Wei and his wife took me to a restaurant known as Chopsticks. Since everything in China uses chopsticks to eat their meals, I guess that is......
Related Websites
- Macau News January 2007 Stanley Ho buys into Star Cruises Stanley Ho is reported to be forming an alliance with Star Cruises, the fast-expanding cruise and gaming company controlled by Malaysia's Genting Group. He will be invited to buy up to 10 per cent of Singapore-listed Star Cruises, for which he will give rights......
- Lake Tahoe Part 1 Lake Tahoe is located in both CA and NV in the seirras. What Kind of Boats Are Allowed: According to officials at the lake, two stroke engines have been banned. These are the types of engines that are still allowed: Direct fuel injection (DFI) two-stroke engines Two-stroke engines that......
- Delta View Golf Course Delta View Golf Course is located in: Pittsburgh, CA Phone: (925) 252-4080 Website: http://www.deltaviewgolfcourse.com Course History: This course was originally a nine hole course that opened in 1937. The second nine was added on in 1991. The course stretches out over 6300 yards and is a common pick on Golf......
- Internet Telephone Calls - VoIP Basics You've seen the commercials and read the news advertisements for telephone service using your computer: very cheap monthly fees; make all the calls you want; keep your telephone number forever; and voice quality as good as a landline. You've heard the claims and you've heard the term "VoIP." Here's......
- 2009 Amazon sells more eBooks than printed ones Well, whaddya know. We are moving into a new era, for sure! 2009 Christmas season Kindle was the most gifted item in Amazon's history I'm not surprised! However, Amazon gave no sales figures for the device or the electronic book sales. Of interest, perhaps, is that Amazon does not pay......
