Middle Earth

Two months ago I decided to go to New Zealand, but needed to wait until January for my vacation time to roll over.  That was actually perfect, because I'd be escaping the English winter to the New Zealand summer! 

However, just to make it more complicated--and to break the flights up a little--I decided to spend a couple of days in Sydney on the way in, and a couple of days "somewhere" on the way out.  My options were: Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Beijing, New Delhi, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur.

Every day I searched for flights to all these destinations, and finally my perseverance paid off: An Air China flight via Beijing for £700 (USD $1150)!  I immediately tried to book on their web site, only to be met by an error message that I hadn't entered my credit card.  Of course I had--and did so several more times--but the web site was adamant I hadn't.  I was in Los Angeles on holiday at the time and so couldn't spend all day messing with it.  Of course, when I tried again in the evening, the price had jumped to £1200 (USD $1950)!

So I continued to keep an eye out and about two weeks later, I saw another flight on Air China for only £1000.  Figuring this was as good as it was going to get, I booked it.  This time the credit card went through without a problem, and I promptly got a confirmation email, followed by an email with my ticket information, followed by an email that read:

Dear Customer,

After a system validation, we found that your ticket has not been issued successfully however you were still charged for the ticket fees.

To avoid any loss, we have refunded your ticket fees. It will take approximately 2 to 3 weeks for the payment to be posted to your payment card account.

We apologize for any inconvenience. For any questions, please contact a local branch of Air China.

What?? Obviously I was rather upset -- partly because I didn't have a ticket, but mostly because I had maxed out one credit card in California, and now they had maxed out my other credit card, so I had no way to pay for another ticket!

In any case, prices went back to £1200 so I was watching and waiting for another week, spending at least 30 minutes searching every day . With only 3 weeks remaining and no sign of falling prices, I finally decided to bite the bullet, so I logged into my bank to shift some funds around.  That's when I discovered that Air China had billed me twice and refunded me once!

Very confused, I called them (oddly, I got someone who spoke with a Russian accent) and they confirmed I had a ticket all along!  So in the end I was grateful I hadn't bought another ticket, as of course they weren't refundable!

Of course, by then I'd realised that stopping in Beijing was a very bad idea: First, a quick glance at the map shows that Beijing is completely out of the way!  If you go via Dubai, it's 22 hours flight time; if you go via Beijing, it's 29 hours!!  So much for "breaking up" the flight.  Second, Beijing is 8 hours ahead of Britain, and I'll be flying home on a Sunday and going to work on Monday!  Madness!

But the deed is done and I have 55 hours to see Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City (9,000 rooms spread over 250 acres!), the Summer Palace, the Great Wall, the Temple of Heaven, and more. (China just introduced a free "72 hour visa" so I don't even have to apply for a visa!)  I know it's just a teaser, but I'm really looking forward to it, as it is my first trip to the Orient.

Sydney will be slightly more relaxed: I'll have 4 days to see the harbor, Opera House, botanic gardens, museums, lots of historic architecture, the Jewish museum and of course miles of beaches.

As for New Zealand, well, I think this Air New Zealand commercial says it all:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7q7WFMuxsg