Going to Zhanjiang - how?

[Hans]

I am searching for a ticket to China in late December and will buy it very soon. I am planning on visiting my lady in Zhanjiang, Guangdong. We have been talking about what would be the best route for me. First I thought flying from Stockholm to Guangzhou was the best option followed by a one hour flight to Zhanjiang. However, it turns out that one hour flight is very expensive, at least when I have been searching the net: 1500 RMB. In Sweden it would cost less than 60 USD. Being a student I need to keep my expenses down. Another option is to fly to Hong Kong (which is more expensive) and then fly to Zhanjiang from there (which is supposed to be a bit cheaper than flying from Guangzhou).

I was thinking about other options as well: either bus or train (certainly cheaper but also very time consuming!). Do you guys have any experience with busses or trains in China? I have always been flying when in China and have no experience of others ways of travel between cities. I know enough Chinese to ask for directions to bus or train terminals etc. but not to make any detailed conversation yet.

I am pretty used to travel alone and arranging everything myself. My lady, however, insists that the agency take care of my hotel booking in Zhanjiang. I told her I was grateful for the assistance but that I would like to make all bookings myself. She keep telling me it is probably best if I let the agency do it for me. Should I read anything into this? Will I be charged by the agency later for their services? Is this common practice or rather unusual among the agencies? Or is my lady just worried that I will not be able to book a hotel in China on my own? I don't know but I am sort of getting the feeling that maybe the translator is promoting something here without my lady's notice...
 
All the best,
Hans

[David5o]

Hans,

I can't help you with your travel enquires as such, but as for the Hotel, ....why can't your lady book the hotel for you?? She will normally get a much better price than you will probably ever get. I suspect you are right in your assumptions, ....that it's the agency/translation trying to make a few more Euros out of you.....

What i can tell you, The trains in China are pretty good, and if there's a bullet train going from Guangdong to Zhanjiang, that will probably be your best bet as far as cheapness/time is concerned.... if you don't want the expense of a flight. Incidentally, there are always discounts on offer for internal flights and train tickets, (look for between 25/30% discounts) this is another area where your lady could help you in keeping your costs down ......

David.....

[Hans]

Thanks for the reply, David.

The problem is that my lady is working and living in Foshan but we will meet in her hometown Zhanjiang. Maybe she could do it through the Internet or the phone, though. She (or the translator) told me that the train from Guangzhou to Zhanjiang would take 10 hours while the bus takes 6 hours (shouldn't it be the other way around...?). She use to travel by bus herself when going home to Zhanjiang from Foshan on certain occasions. I'll try to ask her in my limited Chinese in an email. She has always been saying that the agency will help me with these matters, if her reply in Chinese is different then maybe that is an indication of how much the interpreter have been adding in our EMF communcation...

[David E]

Hans

You might want to look at going from Sweden to Singapore and getting a flight direct to Zhangiang from Singapore. There are several Airlines (Tiger, China Southern, ChinaAir etc) that do frequent and cheap flights to many, many Chinese Cities.

You can do your own Hotel booking...but you will never get as good a price if the Agency/your Lady does it for you...even if they make a few Yuan out of the deal

DavidE

[Hajo]

Hans,

For the ticket, try airtiki.dk. Its a danish travel agency, but it should be no problem to order from Sweden. I found a flight from Stokholm to Zhanjiang (oneway) for 4036,- danish crowns.

I do not know about the hotel, as I stayed at my wifes places. But as the others say, your lady should be able to order it. If it is her hometown, she should have some friends who should be able to help.

[Irishman]

Hans is that the return price?, i checked on ctrip.com for Dec 28th one way Guangzhou to Zhanjiang and the price was 800RMB

[Hans]

David E: Singapore? Haven't thought about that. Maybe that'll work! I'll certainly check it out.

Thanks Hajo, I will check that site as well. But more than 4 000 Danish crowns one way...!! That is 5 600 Swedish crowns (almost 800 USD). I've found a return ticket for that price (Stockholm-Amsterdam-Guangzhou).

Irishman: Yes, I was talking about the return price. It's not that incredibly expensive but when I talk about prices in China, I always expect a better price than in Sweden. :icon_cheesygrin: And this is not.

I've asked my lady about the most appropriate travel plans in my EMF letters. Now I've emailed her basically the same questions just to see if she gives me the same reply.

[Hans]

OK, shit just got real (to use some famous words from a very bad movie). I have booked my flight to Guangzhou. I will go on December 27. Since I am still studying at the university the time off from school between Christmas and a few days into January is the only time  when I can travel at this time of the year. It is an awful flight plan (Stockholm-Amsterdam-Beijing-Guangzhou) but it can't be helped.

I have not yet figured out how to get to Zhanjiang from Guangzhou but since I found a cheap (well...) ticket to Guangzhou today (none of the travel agencies offered anything below 1 250 USD but I found a return ticket for 830 USD) I decided to buy it instantly. Does anyone know if it is possible to get a glimpse of the train schedule at this part of China on the Internet...? :huh: I hope to be able to fly to Zhanjiang but I don't know if it will work yet. I may be forced to take the train. I may also ask you guys some more questions later on... :blush:

Do I have doubts? Certainly. Do I regret booking the flight? No. I am a proud person and I want to show to myself (and maybe to others too) that I can pull this off. I have no idea if it'll work out in the end, but the only way to find out is to go to China and meet the lady in person. Usually I hope for the best and plan for the worst and this is nothing different. So I guess I should, at this stage, see all this as an adventure and nothing more. Fingers crossed...

[Peter]

The cheapest flight I found from Sweden to Beijing was through Budapest. It was 1000 kronor cheaper then everything else I found yet. I think it was with China Airlines and was Beijing - Budapest - Copenhagen.. Sorry I can't remember the total prize right now..

[Hans]

I've looked for all kinds. Thing is, I was a bit late (I did not have the money until late October). The cost for Beijing doesn't really matter that much since it is very expensive to fly from Beijing to Guangzhou anyway if you add that flight on top of your Beijing flight...