Archive for Flying
November 30, 2008 at 2:47 pm · Filed under Flying, Knowing
Compared to paying the exorbitant expense of cab fare only to get stuck in traffic on the BQE, or the pain of hauling your crap from one transfer point to another and squeezing yourself and your luggage into a packed A train at rush hour, getting from Chek Lap Kok Airport on Lantau Island to Kowloon or Central Hong Kong — or back — is a veritable breeze. The how is detailed below; the pithy nature of this post should speak volumes.
Arrival.
Once you clear customs, directly across the hall you’ll see these signs:
Nearby there are several of your typical airport currency exchanges and ATM machines. Exchange, or better yet, take out about $1000HKD (about $130USD; the current exchange rate is roughly $7.80HKD to the US dollar — check here for the latest), which should last you a good few days in HK.
Just in front of the trains you’ll see these ticket machines. Depending on the location of your hotel, buy the appropriate single or roundtrip ticket. Fares below:
- Kowloon: $90HKD/$11.50USD Single-trip / $160HKD/$20.50USD Round-trip
- Hong Kong: $100HKD/$13USD Single-trip / $180HKD/$23USD Round-trip
More information about the MTR can be found here.
The trains are fast, no-frills, and they show up every 12 minutes. They only make three stops; Tsing-Yi, Kowloon, and Hong Kong. Onboard, you’ll find this handy progress meter:
The Kowloon stop is actually in the relatively new development of West Kowloon, rather than where your hotel probably is, which is Tsim Sha Tsui further to the south and east, about a 5-10 minute cab ride away. If you’re staying in HK, the HK stop on the MTR is below the ifc (International Finance Centre) in Central (for fans of the latest Batman movie, this is the building in Hong Kong that Batman goes batgliding off of). Here’s the MTR map.
Whether you’re arriving at the Kowloon or Hong Kong stops, you’ll see taxi stands near the exits. Now, this part is important, important, important. Many, if not most taxi drivers in post-colonial HK don’t speak much English, so be sure you have your hotel name, in both English and Chinese, and perhaps a map or a photo printed out on something that the cabbie can read. It sounds absurd, but it’s happened too many times to us to count, and it really totally sucks, coming upon hour-18 or -20 into your trip only to faceplant with the finish line in sight!
Taxis are stupid cheap in HK, so don’t worry too much about dough. For the short ride to your hotel should be maybe 3-5 clams US. Total elapsed time from boarding the train: 35-45 mins.
Departure.
In short, you do the reverse of the above, with one particularly awesome twist: Free In-Town Check-In Service.
So say the scenario is this: you’re getting kicked out of your hotel and you’re dragging all your bags around, your flight doesn’t leave til the evening but you still have a few things to check out in the city — what to do? In-town check-in, that’s what.
After heading down to the trains in either Kowloon or Hong Kong, you’ll see something like the following; an airport check-in area:
One which works much like its counterpart at the actual airport. To gain access to the desks, use your round-trip MTR card (or purchase another single-trip ticket if you didn’t get one when you arrived).
Et voilà — you are baggage-free once again!
Once you are ready to head back to the airport, just descend one more level to the trains …
September 1, 2008 at 4:43 pm · Filed under Flying, Seeing, Sleeping
This is worth bubbling up from the comments ghetto …
Per the previous post below, folks have been having incredible luck with Annie — Jane and Chris were able to score a full flight itinerary from NYC to Bangkok to HK and back to NYC for $1350 per person, which is cheaper than the direct NYC-HK flights we’ve found via web services like Kayak and Vayama! We may be giving her a holla ourselves this upcoming week …
Annie is super awesome and I got an incredible deal on airfare. Jane, thank you so much for finding her (and Lian, thank you so much for posting the info). I have “saved” so much money that I can totally afford to hit the craps tables in Macau!
Jane Kim wrote @ August 30th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
We got tickets from NYC to HK to Bangkok and back for $1350! She was really helpful and went through a couple options for us to various tropical beach destinations- Phillipines (most flights are really crowded that time of year), Bali, Vietnam (really expensive for some reason), etc. It’s definitely worth stopping by her office to talk through what you want. She can do all the inter-country travel too.
August 21, 2008 at 2:41 am · Filed under Flying, Seeing, Sleeping
For those of you potentially dealing with multiple itineraries and other travel complexities, the stalwart and resourceful Jane and Chris (and not forgetting the charming and irascible Olive) offer a reference for those in need of a solid, reliable travel agent. Check it!
Annie Chen
East Travel Service Inc.
2 Mott Street Suite 701
212 334 8333
July 3, 2008 at 5:42 pm · Filed under Flying, Seeing, Sleeping
These hotel, airline and hiking tips come courtesy of the redoubtable Maya and Matt from Seattle.
The lowdown on the hotel and airfare:
After much investigation, the package deal from Priceline seemed best, which puts us on Asiana airlines (supposedly award-winning, and you can put the miles on your United account), and we’ll stay at the Holiday Inn Golden Mile. According to my guidebook this is an excellent hotel, and it’s just a few blocks from where Lian and Meredith are staying. It was much cheaper than the Renaissance or other nearby 4 star hotels.
The actual cost might be helpful: 2 people RT airfare LA-Hong Kong (2 hour layover in Seoul) + 6 nights at the Holiday Golden Inn ran me $3100 total. (Priceline has options for various other hotels, including a couple cheaper ones).
And if you start to disassociate amidst all the bustle and commerce of the Hong Kong, then Maya and Matt offer this
sublime natural hike with which to regain your Chi:
There is a lot of hiking in Hong Kong since it’s all hills or skyscrapers.
The Victoria Peak hike (there’s a 1 hour loop) can be extended indefinitely onto some major trail, but I’m not sure that’s worth it.
The Plover Cove hike is a little ways away in New Territories - you take the rail line to Tai Po and then a taxi or bus (I prefer taxi) to Plover Cove. The trail I’m suggesting is the Pat Sin Leng nature trail, my book says “This excellent and easy 4.4 km trail leads from
Plover Cove Country Park Visitor Center at Tai Mei Tuk and heads NE to Bride’s Pool, there are signboards numbered 1 to 22 so it’s hard to get lost. The elevation gain is 300 m, the scenery is excellent, and the 2 waterfalls at Bride’s Pool are delightful.”
What a fine way to work off that roast duck noodle soup you put down the night before!
June 6, 2008 at 9:21 pm · Filed under Flying, Sleeping
… and smoke ‘em!
Maya and Diego, our savvy fellow travelers (also, erstwhile ITPers, recent West Coasters and newlyweds), have sent a few helpful links our way. We repost here for your edification.
First is a decent flight search aggregator, called Vayama.com. It specializes in international flights, and it’s capable of dredging up an assortment of non-domestic carriers that Kayak isn’t. Check it.
Second are some HK/Kowloon hostel links. Writes Maya:
We are staying at this place from Dec 31 to Jan 4: Hong Kong Budget Hostel
http://www.hostels.com/hosteldetails.php?HostelNumber=6533
hostels.com is not bad for finding hotels too (you can see a range of budgets, you just have to check a box to include hotels)
This one was also recommended: Dragon Hostel, http://www.hostels.com/en/availability.php/HostelNumber.5065
My friend says, “Both in same building, down the hall from each other, they are in a less touristy part of Kowloon, a 10 minute subway ride to the heart of Kowloon touristy area, or a 45 minute walk”
She also recommends AGAINST staying in the Chungking Mansions, saying that they’re crowded and the shopping area in the bottom of the mansions feels shady.
Hope this helps! (we are staying in a hostel because we plan to be out and about most of the time anyway and just need a place to crash!)
Itinerary: check. Airplane tickets: check. Accommodations: check. That’s how on top of shit Maya and Diego are. Mad props.
Hope you find this useful …
Update!
Some more hostel information from a friend of Maya’s:
For really hostel range, there is Alisan Guesthouse in Causeway Bay (around the corner from my flat actually)
http://home.hkstar.com/~alisangh/
Some friends of mine stayed there and said it was good but basic— the best part would definitely be the location.
For a similar room but possibly cheaper, and in way more colorful/chaotic/insane surroundings, would be any of the hundreds of guesthouses within Chungking Mansions in Tsim Sha Tsui. I would recommend the Himalaya (Block B, 7th Floor) for the old-school, 70s-influenced gritty guesthouse experience (the design is like something out of a Wes Anderson movie). For newer, slicker digs, try some of the top floor rooms, like New International or Tom’s Guesthouse (the new one).
For slightly higher end, check out www.asiarooms.com, and www.zuji.com.hk, for good, current deals.
May 25, 2008 at 11:02 pm · Filed under Flying, Knowing
The outlets in Hong Kong are Type G, and run at 220V. Laptop adapters these days should all be voltage agnostic, but just don’t try plugging your old electric razors into these …
Another word of advice, for those of you bored by long flights and vexed by short battery life. Check SeatGuru to determine which seats on your aircraft have EmPower outlets. You can purchase EmPower adapters for your laptops that will let you run AC power throughout your flight, allowing you to plow through the latest season of LOST or The Wire without losing juice.
May 24, 2008 at 12:20 pm · Filed under Flying, General, Sleeping
So by now you all should have received your Save-the-Date Card via the postal service. Only a few months late, but whatevs. Just as long as you receive the actual invites before the wedding itself, we should be copacetic. 
While we must apologize for the delay in recent posts, we would also like this opportunity to relay to you some evolving, and in some cases resolving (no, for real!), behind-the-scenes FinkelChang developments.
Event Schedule.
The schedule of official/non-official events has not changed since we last wrote about it. We’ve made a block reservation at a restaurant in Kowloon for New Year’s Eve for those of you in town by then. Afterwards, we can goof off in the city somewhere, or retire back to the hotel and, uh, play Scrabble. On January 2nd we’re hosting a dim sum (when in Rome …) on Hong Kong island. And beginning around 3pm on the 3rd, the ceremony, complete with a Chuppah! Get ready for a big belly-busting Chinese banquet that evening, and some disco-dancing courtesy of our dynamic guest DJ/VJ duo. Bring it.
Hotels.
Our intention is for everyone to stay on the Kowloon (peninsula) side, rather than the Hong Kong (island). Accordingly, we have been working to secure a bloc of rooms at a few hotels in the area. Stay tuned; more news soon.
Flights.
In a word, generate your itinerary and GET YOUR TICKETS SOON. Spring/summer is a good time to get reasonably priced tix – prices start rising towards the end of summer and creep on up until the holidays. A cursory search on kayak.com for the dates December 30 - January 5 reveals the following results:
NYC
• nonstop: $1282
• 1 stop: $1179
• 2 stop: $1285
Boston
• 1 stop: $1159
• 2 stop: $1166
DC
• 1 stop: $1267
• 2 stop: $1286
Chicago
• nonstop: $1518
• 1 stop: $1339
• 2 stop: $1682
Houston
• 1 stop: $1360
• 2 stop: $1437
Seattle
• nonstop
• 1 stop: $1067
• 2 stop: $1175
SF
• nonstop: $1191
• 1 stop: $1069
• 2 stop: $1175
LA
• nonstop: $1202
• 1 stop: $931
• 2 stop: $1068
London
• nonstop: $2590
• 1 stop: $1050
• 2 stop: $2066
Paris
• nonstop: $1441
• 1 stop: $1142
• 2 stop: $1224
Hope everyone is having a terrific Memorial Day Weekend, and more from us soon!
