1000 posts for TPOL in a little over two years is a reason to celebrate. Not including this post, I have written 382,065 words, all of which are devoid of grammatical errors, pronunciation issues, and bad English.
I am in the process of revamping the entire website to make it more user-friendly and accessible. Special thanks to the fans for the love, the trolls for stupid comments, BoardingArea for the support, and my family for not reading the blog at all.
Alas, my fingers are too tired to continue typing so I will so goodbye for now.
1000 posts! What the hell have I been talking about?
Greetings and salutations from 中国。Today’s topic is bargaining abroad. This is an update to my previous guide for those looking to score the best deals on bags, shoes, watches while overseas.
Yesterday, I went to my favorite place in the world, the tailor market on Lujiabang lu. I walked away with a deposit receipt for 5 suits, 10 shirts, and 1 winter jacket. I also went to another market where I found some jeans for a nice price.
Here is the breakdown:
1 suit: 500 RMB
1 shirt: 100 RMB
1 cashmere winter jacket: 600 RMB
1 pair of jeans: 100 RMB
1 pair of underwear: 14 RMB
While the yuan has appreciated, the price in RMB has remained constant. The quality, as ever, is hit or miss though everyone promises it to be ‘top quality’.
Bag you like? Watches you like?
Updated: 9/2/19
I went to the fabric market to update my collection. I may be losing my bargaining ability because I paid a little more:
How do you spend your time in Emirates first? Is it drinking aged cognac? Is it sipping champagne? Or is it getting down to the best UK Hits of yesteryear?
TPOL decided to do all three simultaneously while recording the first ever silent disco party aboard an Emirates A380 first-class flight from JFK-DXB.
Special thanks to DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince for topping the 1993 charts with classic Boom! Shake the Room.
Warning: This video contains hilarious content. It is not suitable for the prissy who can’t have a good time.
TPOL woke up really early this morning because I didn’t want a replay of my Vegas experience. I arrived at the Emirates Lounge, kept up with the Tahiti Diet by having an eggs white omelette, followed by sugar-free champagne. Half of a bottle later, the announcement came that the flight was delayed due to a power outage on the third floor of the airport.
Passengers let out a collective sigh of relief that they could stay in the lounge a few moments later before boarding one of the best amusement rides in the world.
TPOL did it again. Too much party in Vegas led to too much sleep the morning after. Jolted out of bed by the hotel phone ringing, I turned to the alarm clock which read 8AM. While that may not sound late, it in fact was since my flight was at 6AM.
Usually this wouldn’t be a big issue but I start my Tahiti trip this weekend and I need to be back in New York to catch my flight.
Disoriented and in a state of fog, I had the displeasure of having to search for flights. I hoped Avios would Aretha Franklin rescue me but no dice. I checked direct flights and they were $400. Of course all the other major carriers didn’t have availability.
I finally checked Southwest, my original airline and was surprised to find a ‘wanna get away’ ticket available for the same 11k I initially paid.
Half dead, I booked it and now am en route to Newark via Wichita and St. Louis. This bus route is my punishment for ‘what happens in Vegas’ may force you to stay in Vegas shenanigans.
I golfed in Vegas yesterday at Bali Hai and it was incredible. A few holes in, I decided that I needed some companionship and motivation to play well as I had no one come out and challenge me. I switched on Persicope and recorded my only birdie of the day. From there viewership dropped (who wants to watch an amateur play golf?) and my score went up.
I may start Periscopin’ a little bit more, makes me feel important.
I believe the videos are still up. You can see my Kirk Cousins, “Do you like that!” impression after a good swing.
TPOL is on the plane bound for Vegas. This is the first of a number of a-live posts on what surely will be an epic trip around the world. My unexpected new best friend is the overlooked BlackBerry Passport which proved to be far superior to the Priv.
The romance with the Priv was short-lived. AT&T was adamant that the Priv, though a Blackberry by name, is still an Android and therefore ineligible to be activated under my Unlimited International Data plan. Though I am on the fence about taking them to arbitration, I still was in need of a Blackberry that would work before the Tahiti Trip which is fast approaching. The only option I was given was to buy a Blackberry Passport, a device so terrible even hell spat it back out.
Hopefully it isn’t that bad but I’m not as excited as before. So long as the phone takes decent enough pictures and allows TPOL to post a-live posts, I should be okay. Somehow the phone is still on sale on Amazon from $375-$2000.
Anyone want to admit that they have a Blackberry Passport?
I am the most paranoid person when it comes to visas because of the list of visa disasters that I have referenced in the past. I wrote the book on China Transit Visas and have shared my missteps as they have become a regular occurrence.
Here’s another story to prove that paranoia can’t cure stupidity which is what I’m comfortable calling myself after another near disaster for my Tahiti Triumph trip. This all began because Thai Airways kept cancelling my flight from AKL-PVG. After the third time it happened, I said enough is enough and called United to change the routing. The agent wouldn’t book PPT-AKL-SYD-PVG and suggested another route. I would go from AKL-PEK-SHA on AirChina. I looked up the reviews for AirChina flights on this route and was satisfied that it was much better than Thai Airways’ hard product via BKK. The ticket was confirmed and everything was fine.
Only it was not fine. It is the passenger’s responsibility to have the proper visa when making a reservation not the airline. No one can blame the airline if he doesn’t do his homework before making a reservation only to find out that a visa is required. In my meek defense, I have to say that I was consumed with addressing my flight vanishing and completely overlooked that this routing violated China’s Visa-Free Transit Policy. As was exactly the case in October 2014, I was trying to get to Shanghai via Beijing in order to stay in Shanghai for the permissible time of 144 hours (formerly 72 hours).
However, the rule clearly states that passengers must fly directly to Shanghai and out of Shanghai (see Travel Guide China’s 144-Hour Visa-Free Transit Guide). Like two years ago, I overlooked that I was coming through Beijing and leaving from Shanghai. That’s a big no-no. Unlike two years ago, this time the mistake was discovered before arriving in Beijing where I tried to smooth talk the immigration agent.
Having dealt with many travel hiccups both of my doing and out of my control, I remained calm. I went to United’s website and searched for flights. What I found and subsequently booked with no change fee made the drama and feeling of ineptitude worth it.
Instead of going on AirChina or Thai Airways, I am now routing through Tokyo on Air New Zealand’s Dreamliner and ANA’s Dreamliner on the outbound and the inbound segments.
The agent had a good laugh at my story and said I was lucky that the error was caught. He also said I was lucky that Air New Zealand had availability because it rarely does.
I agreed, thanked my stupidity for this good fortune, and away I will go.
60,000 United Miles. No way there’s a better reservation for the value than this. Can I find my way to business in the AKL-PPT-AKL segment?
Feel free to share your China Visa-Free horror stories so I’m not the only feeling silly.
The broken in AC in Tahiti inspired me to book my flight to Iceland on WOW air. It’s $226 one way from BWI and no checked or substantial carry-on bags are permitted. That means the Jambox will have to stay at home along with much of My Travel Technology.
I know that Wow air has $100 fares but I’m going in prime time June to take advantage of my speculative pre deval Club Carlson booking. Four nights at the Radisson Blu 1919 in Reykjavík should be plenty of time for TPOL debauchery and classy exploration.
In order to get to BWI, I booked a flight on my new favorite short-haul airline, Delta, for 7500 points +$5. Where am I going after and how I’m getting home is anyone’s guess.
I just know that post sunburn and no AC in Tahiti, I’m going to need some ice.
