If you’re stuck in the US using Cingular, this affects you…
If you happen to be travelling overseas (saaay Australia for example) and you happen to have a phone with your Cingular SIM card turned on and you receive an SMS or your phone rings (but you dun answer), guess what?
YOU GET HIT WITH INT’L ROAMING CHARGES! Frakkin’ rat bastards!
US$0.50 for each SMS received! US$1.75/minute for each call that rings! What is this?
This is the first time I’ve been hit with these kind of charges. Normally, if my phone rings and I’m awake, I take note of who called me on my Cingular SIM and then call them back on my locally sourced prepaid SIM card. You know the one, the one with the great deals…
But now Cingular charges even if your phone rings and you dun answer it overseas!! My bill this month is US$30 more than it usually is…
So lesson of the story: If you got Cingular, call in from overseas to check messages. And don’t even THINK of turning on your phone!
Also, if you have an US Triband phone (GSM 850/1800/1900) and you are mucking about in Sydney, be advised that your phone will become useless once you leave Sydney because the networks switch over to GSM 900. Solution: Quad-Band phone, world Triband phone (GSM 900/1800/1900) or a Dual-Band GSM 900/1800 phone.
How trips begin
Before investing in purchasing guidebooks, best to hit the library…
Gotta get Traveling!
While the deals are out there and you can still get discounts!
Speaking of impulsive travel trips, anyone out there been to Zurich?
Any advice? Because it costs US$450 to go out there on UA…and that’s a deal.
The well equipped traveler
Like many things in life, being a good traveler requires the proper amounts of planning and equipment, both in proper balance, of course!
If you’ve got all the equipment but not enough (research and) planning done, your trip will be too disorganized and you’ll end up looking like a doofus. On the other hand, if you’ve planned too much and you don’t have the right equipment, it can make your trip downright stressful because you won’t be able to do everything you planned…
Tokyo Tidbits and more Hong Kong advice
Well, this was my last day in Tokyo; just a few observations:
The Nissan Gallery in Ginza is great. Not only do you get to slam the tires and kick the doors of Nissan’s latest and greatest, there’s usually some sort of design related exhibit happening too. Today it was a small exhibit on iconography and type relating to Nissan’s logo and choice of fonts.
Tokyo is the world’s largest city. It’s public transport system WITHIN Tokyo is fantastic. You can literally get anywhere in this big sprawly city on either JR or Tokyo Metro. Trains run frequently and are clean, punctual and safe.
Ever wonder why so many people fall asleep on the train? Besides the length of the average commute (which is looong), the velour covered bench seats are heated! It’s a lot easier to fall asleep when you got a warm butt. And they still manage to wake up, Jabba the Hutt like, a minute before they get off the train. That’s a skill I don’t have yet…
This kick-ass transportation system falls apart the moment you need to get to Tokyo Narita. For a lot of travellers (and especially those of us who travel on our own thin dimes), the only way in is via rail, either by the Ne’X (for those lucky ppl with expense accounts or JR Passes) for Y3200 or the Keisei Limited Express (tokkyu) for Y1000. Here’s the annoying part: It takes OVER AN HOUR!!!
Do the words “Airport Express” come to mind? Hong Kong does it right. HKG to Central takes 23 minutes. If you choose the cheaper option, HKG to Central via A11 bus takes just about an hour. It’s cheaper (HK$40 vs. HK$100) and if you’ve got the time, take the basi. It’s a better deal. What do you get for the extra HK$60 that the Airport Express costs? Well, you get 40 odd minutes of your life back and in-town check in for your flight. That means, you go to the Airport Express station (Kowloon or Hong Kong) and check in yourself and your baggage. Get your boarding pass. That’s it. Fart around for a little bit before hopping the train to the Airport. Take a leisurely stroll around the Airport. Easy.
Anyway, Tokyo Narita could use a service like this. Actually for the amount of money people pay for the Ne’X, there ought to be a Shinkansen going out there!
One thing I do like about Tokyo Narita is that on the 5th level of the mall area, there’s an observation deck where you can go outside and watch the sun set and the planes land and take off.
HK Tidbits
Coming to you live from the Silver Kris Lounge in beeeeyoutiful Hong Kong International Airport…
Some random pieces of advice.
There is no affordable (nee, reasonable) lodging near the airport. None. Zilch. There’s an extorbitantly expensive hotel attached to the airport. No transit hotel like Singapore Changi’s. So if you fly in late and then have to fly out early next AM, you’re pretty much stuck in Kowloon. I stayed at the Star Guesthouse. It’s only a HK$30 ride to the Kowloon AeX station and it’s close to TST and the MTR. Small clean rooms. And no, I don’t have a picture. Too tired last night and too early this AM. But it gets my stamp o’approval as a cheap clean place to crash.
If you have an early AM flight to catch and are jonesing for a Sausage McMuffin with egg (in my humble opinion, the best travel food EVER), there’s a McD’s in the airport arrival hall. Most of us see it when we arrive into HKG. But the best part is that the prices are the SAME as in town. No ripoff markup here.
And the UA ground staff here know the score. As I was checking in for today’s flight to Tokyo, even THEY acknowledged that UA service sucks. And the food sucks. And the “flight attendants” were a bunch of baat poh. Although I had to say that first before heads nodded.
ha ha ha! But the Red Carpet Lounge here ain’t that bad. It’s pretty nice with big ass windows so you can see the gates and the airplanes. Also, they have FREE wi-fi here. Unlike SFO’s Red Carpet Club. Thanks SFO Airport Authority!
Being on UA is going to take some getting used to as I flew SQ from HKG-SIN-HKG. We got good food, beeyoutiful service and ice cream after dinner! Not to mention seat-back entertainment with on demand movies, yadda yadda yadda. Which we dun get none of these on UA. Period.
Like I said, this is going to take some getting used to…
Let’s Compare!!
En route to Singapore via SQ. About to eat lunch. Here’s a chicken ragout with cheese and crackers, big assed shrimp in the shrimp salad, a bun and Tiger Time! We also got a chocky Haggen-Daz ice cream cup for dessert. YUM!
Lunch amongst kebaya-clad stewardesses and Kris World entertainment!
Criticisms: The bun was squished and was lukewarm. Hard to spread the butter.
Now this is what passed for “dinner” on UA on my flight over. Before you ask “WTF is that?”, it’s supposed to be Salisbury Steak (or in Nihongo, hamburger steaku) with vegetables, salad, fruit plate and a slice o’ cake. It’s a lot of food.
A UA meal amongst “flight attendants” past their prime. And what seatback on demand entertainment?
I liked the fruit because of hydration’s sake. No ice cream for dessert though.
But take a closer look at this “hamburger steak”. I ask, is that appetizing?
Well, at the time, I was hella hungry and this was the only thing that seemed appetizing…
Which meal would you rather eat?
Food at Terminal 3
SFO has some decent choices for food. Especially compared to my recent experience at Washington Dulles where the food choices were: a TGIFridays and a McD’s on opposite ends of the terminal!!
In SFO’s Terminal 3 (UA domestic), there’s a Lori’s Diner, a Japanese place, a Mexican place, a Chinese Dim-Sum place, a Soup place and a dessert place.
How “diverse”!
Typical of San Francisco, it reeks of elitism due to the lack of a McDonald’s or any other place to eat at SFO that’s reasonably priced. Look at this.
How come so much more than in Union Square??
This is the menu board at Lori’s. US$12.99 for a chicken fried steak breakfast!!?? The dim-sum place was charging US$5.00 for a basket (three pieces) of har gau, siu mai and a few other yum cha staples.
That’s more than even Yank Sing, the most overpriced yum-cha place I know of!!!
There have been several sob stories about how SFO businesses aren’t making money and all that. Perhaps if these businesses and the airport realize that not everyone who flies is on an executive/dot-com expense account and lower their prices, people who travel may actually buy food at the airport!
I’m hella hungry but I’m not paying US$13.00 for chicken fried steak and eggs or US$5.00 for three pieces of yum-cha. I’m flying to LA, land of good cheap food and I think I can hold out…
Bribe
I received a coupon in the Inbox for 10% off a UA flight.
That could take a big chunk off of an “Asia Trip” ticket.
A wise man once said: “You kanna buy my vote, but you can rent it”. I think UA may have just rented my patronage for this trip…
More Airline Ranting
You know the asinine movies that they show on long haul flights?
The ones that usually suck rocks or are just yeeech? Like, erm, Like Mike, Hitch, The Ya-Ya Spinsterhood, Cheaper by the Dozen, Beautyshop (but they never showed Barbershop, wonder why?), ad nauseum. Movies you normally wouldn’t accept money to watch because they’re bland, simplistic, inoffensive and politically correct (which is bad bad bad).
Well, guess what? That’s EXACTLY why they show them!
Maybe it’s to lull you into a coma so you don’t notice that the sausage that came with your “breakfast” tastes suspiciously like soy…and the service you’re experiencing is crap! =P
Of course, the best cure for this if you’re on a US flag airline is to bring your own snacks (Costco trail mix and Shin Cup come to mind), The Scorpion King on DVD and something to play it on.
You must be logged in to post a comment.