Fly me to Fiji
I am going to Dubai this Thursday for Easter holiday and have booked a trip to Shanghai Expo in June. This morning my cousin was talking about organising a good food trip to Taiwan in May…… which, for many is hard to resist. Amidst all this trip planning, I still managed to sidetrack to look at other deals. A special promotion package to Fiji caught my attention.
Air Pacific began its direct flight service to Hong Kong in December last year. I have been keeping an eye on good deals to go there in the better travel months, May to October. Finally, some travel agents offer packages which are valid till 30 June 2010.
If you book flights on the Air Pacific website, the ticket price starts from $5099, including all taxes and charges. It is very reasonable considering it’s a 10 hour flight. Strangely, the same codeshare flight costs $6140 if you book through the Cathay Pacific website.
I thought the air ticket was a good deal until I found the packages on offer. Flight + 4 nights accommodation in 5 star hotel starts from $7520. I have made an initial enquiry and it’s available on the dates that I want to travel – I am not going to tell you my dates here, in case you go ahead and book the same dates and they sell out the cheapest class of air ticket…. Heehee… From my preliminary search, Miramar Travel offers the lowest price for the same flight + hotels package.
I feel greedy in planning so many trips, so I tested the water to see how my husband would react to yet another holiday. His response goes like this:
“You’re not greedy! I suppose we just have one life – why not live it. I’m interested!”
Seriously, there are reasons why I keep loving him!
Fly me to Fiji!!!!
Brunei – Practical Information
Planning a trip to Brunei is easy. I share with you in this blog some practical tips when planning a trip to Brunei.
Travel books
Brunei is not big in tourism, there is only limited tourist information on the country. I bought a pdf version of the Brunei chapter on the Lonely Planet website, which costs me only US$1.75. It provides sufficient information to plan the trip so I didn’t read the Borneo Lonely Planet guide.
Flight
Royal Brunei Airline codeshares with Dragonair and flies direct to Bangar Seri Begawan. I booked my ticket on Royal Brunei Airline’s website, which mysteriously costs less than the Dragonair flight, even though they actually are the same codeshare flight. It costs me only $1800 for the air ticket (including taxes and charges), while it uusally costs more than $3000. Just keep checking until you find dates that have cheaper flights if you are flexible. Flight duration is 3 hours, but flight times are not that good. Departure flight leaves HK around 3pm. Return flight leaves BSB around 11am. So there is not much you can do on the first and last days of the trip apart from flying.
Hotel
MUST STAY at the Empire Hotel. I stayed in Sheration and went to visit another 5-star hotel Rizqun Hotel. Empire Hotel is so much better than the other two 5 star hotels, but doesn’t cost much more. Empire Hotel is further away from the city centre, but it is served by public bus. It is worth spending the extra time to travel to the Empire Hotel. The sheer extravagance of the hotel makes it a tourist attraction in its own right.
For budget travelers, 3-star hotel costs around HK$400 a night. However, smoking is very common in Brunei, so don’t be too upset if your room smells of cigarette. You get what you pay for. [click title for more......]
北海道之旅：計劃篇
我不算是日本通，但可以在這裏share一下這次我用的research和booking tools。
機票
去札幌直航機有國泰和香港快運，機票都不平，package就通常都包同一個地方多過一晚的酒店，我覺得不夠flexible，迫住要stay在同一city。ANA有自駕遊package，可選擇天天因應行程住不同酒店，住的酒店又不錯，幾抵。至於用Asia Miles換機票去札幌就最抵，但經常爆滿，要預早成年book。如果不怕轉機，可以分別book去東京，再加一程內陸機去北海道，用的里數一樣，較容易book到機位。
酒店
去日本book酒店很多時都是講個信字，不用落訂。為了不影響香港人的聲譽，book了就千萬不要no show。要找酒店，我會browse www.jalan.net，我覺得它最平和cover最多民宿和不同類型的酒店。因為jalan.net一定要有日本地址才可以book房，我會再去www.travel.rakuten.co.jp看看有無同一個deal。Rakuten雖然有英文版，但cover得好少hotel，我寧願用日文版估估下。估不到的我會用Google translation (http://translate.google.com/#)。在Rakuten訂房是不用預先付款，book完print個booking confirmation就得。如果Rakuten沒有good deal，我會試下直接打電去酒店book。不過一般民宿都不講英文，所以盡可能找個識日文的friend打去book。
租車
在香港可通過電話或上網book車。Toyota的website(http://rent.toyota.co.jp/top.asp)和call centre有最多英文support，不過去到的ground staff一樣一句英文都不會講，所以沒太大語言的advantage。 新千歲機場有很多租車公司的counter，可以去到才shop around 格價。淡季，用visa咭簽賬，生日等等都會有不同的discount，要格價就要有精明眼和耐性。
日本人喜歡開很小的車，細到在香港是很少見到的。去之前我們book了第二細的車，認為車大一點會舒服一點。但去到見慣全街都是細細的車仔，居然到我們取車時覺得我們book的車太大（其實在任何國家都依然屬於很細很細的車），要換細一款的車。揀車size時注意，不要貪大。
在日本差不多架架車都有GPS，入個電話號碼就可以找到目的地，幾小地方都找得到，連地圖都不用看，非常方便可靠。不過英文版本的GPS就不是每一個車款都有，租車前要問清楚。就算租不到英文版的GPS，記緊問職員拿英文instruction，其實加上日文漢字估估下，大約operate GPS 都不會有問題。
旅遊書
我一句日文都不懂，但都覺得日文的travel guide好有用，圖文並茂，看圖識字，有很多local資料很有用。在香港可以去Sogo樓上買，亦都可等到去到日本才買。中文書方面，長空自遊系列的內容夠comprehensive，幾好用。
環遊世界
Round the World ticket是環遊世界的機票，有幾間航空公司都有售，一般要$20000多。最近留意到Air New Zealand promote可能是市場上最平的Round the World ticket，只需$10800，可以去新西蘭Auckland，美國Los Angeles和英國London，及另加一個自選地方，可選San Francisco，Vancouver或太平洋島國Samoa或Tonga。
眾多的自選地方中，最吸引我的是Samoa和Tonga。這兩個國家都是divers paradise，水清沙幼的陽光海灘。單單看旅遊書的封面就已經好想去。由香港去太平洋島國，必須經新西蘭或澳洲轉機，要飛很多個鐘頭。所以round the world可以順道去Samoa或Tonga，真是大好機會！ $10800可以去三大洲，飛越太平洋和大西洋，真是好抵呀！
