Image credit: Andrey Belenko, January 2010

The first stage in taking a flight, particularly for the first time, is to get to the right airport and the correct terminal.  Many airports are so large these days that even being at the right airport but the wrong terminal may cost you your flight because it can take so long to get to the right place.  And if you arrive at the wrong airport you will likely stand no chance of getting to the correct one before your flight leaves.

Our advice is to ensure well ahead of time that you know exactly which airport your flight departs from, and the terminal that you need to get to.  You should find this out for all of the airports that you will visit on your journey.

Different cities, different problems

Finding the right airport in New York can be quite daunting for a first-time traveller.  The Big Apple is served by: JFK airport, LaGuardia, Newark,  Westchester and Long Island airport.  JFK alone has 7 terminals.

At the other end of the scale, in some cities it is pretty easy.  For instance Cape Town has a single airport serving commercial flights.  After the massive rebuild there, there is now a single combined terminal, with international and domestic arrivals and departures all within the same concourse.  There are still challenges though as the rush hour traffic can add an extra hour’s travel from the Cape Town central business district to the airport.  In the Cape’s wet winter it can get a lot worse.

Modern airports are big.  Beijing Capital International Airport, the main airport serving the Chinese capital, has three terminals and is truly gigantic – one part of terminal three is separated from another by two kilometres!  And worse yet, it is not the only airport: Beijing Nanyaun Airport serves domestic and regional flights operated by China United Airlines.

Moscow has three airports: Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo (which is for domestic flights).  Sheremetyevo has two groups of terminals (totalling six in all) that are a 20 minute bus ride away from each other.  In common with most large cities, Moscow traffic is bad and you need to allow at least an hour extra to get to the airport.  You can also get to Domodedovo by train, a journey that takes two hours.

The apron-side shuttle bus at Dubai airport takes 30 minutes to travel from terminal 2 to terminal 3.

In Paris there is the Charles de Gaulle airport.  There is also Paris Roissy airport.  These are two different names for the same airport!  To complete the confusion, it was originally known as Aéroport de Paris Nord.  The other main Parisian airport is Orly.

Transit passengers

Do not think that because you are transiting that this will not affect you.  It may!  In some cases you will even need to obtain a visa for the country you are transiting in.  For example, at Heathrow airport, only BA fly out of terminal 5.  So if you arrive on BA but depart on another airline, you will need to go through customs and catch the tube to another terminal, in order to continue your flight.

On one of my China trips I had to go through customs, leave the airport and catch a bus on the freeway to get to the right terminal of Being Capital International for my regional flight!

Even if you do not change flight number, you may still end up in the terminal if there is a refuelling stop.  (Refuelling stops are not always indicated on the itinerary.)  I do not know of any transit passengers (with the same flight number) who have had to move to another terminal to resume the flight, but very often the gate you enter by is not the same one as the exit one.

Size of terminals – finding the gate

With airport terminals so large, even when you have the right airport and terminal, you may still be faced with a Herculean task to get to the right gate.  Emirates have exclusive use of terminal 3 in Dubai.  So if you are travelling on Emirates you may think you are going to be fine.  If you are flying to London, then you probably are – you will usually depart from one of the 24 “A” gate numbers, which are in the main building.  But if you are flying to maybe Dusseldorf then it is another matter.  You are going to have to walk rather far.  After you have walked the full length of the main terminal you will turn right and then keep walking.  There are another 50 “C” gates!  Here’s the ugly little secret – Concourse C is actually part of the old terminal 1.  You have walked all the way to the next terminal.  The area around the “C” gates looks old and out of date.

In Dubai a brisk walk from terminal 3 to the far end of terminal 1 takes 45 minutes!

The Hotel Association denies any link to a certain high-profile case where serious allegations were made against a public figure.

A local politician said of the move “It’s a very cost-efficient and simple way to keep hotel workers safe… we’re very grateful that the hotels have agreed to essentially adopt the premise of our legislation.”

If New York’s hotels are that unsafe then we ask on behalf of the guests, who pay more than $4.75 billion a year, “Where are OUR panic alarms?”

This file is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License source http://flickr.com/photo/62653960@N00/25464305

It is an oft-stated goal of the government of Hong Kong to make the city a New York or London of the East.  In our view they are succeeding and the British heritage in architecture and infrastructure gives it a unique western appearance among Chinese cities.  Taxis, buses, trucks and pedestrians interact in frighteningly close proximity.  (See “Pedestrian Safety”, below)  It is excitingly chaotic with a profusion of smells, a constant hubbub of sounds, and busy, busy, busy people constantly about their business, seemingly 24 hours a day.  If you feel that the purpose of a city is “so that you can get what you want any time of the day or night” then “Honkers” is the place for you.

The tailors of Hong Kong are highly skilled, and while even they cannot make a shirt or a suit while you wait, once they have measured you up, they can run up a bespoke shirt, suit or pants in astonishingly short times.  (Once they have your measurements a number of them will even accept orders and forward the finished garment internationally).

Pedestrian Safety

Your safest way to cross a road is to ‘go with the crowd’.  Over the border in mainland China you find it even more hazardous to make an impromptu crossing and following the crowd is very strongly recommended as the motorists get up to high speed and are pretty lawless.  (Add to that the fact that the majority of mainland Chinese motorists are very inexperienced, and that trucks, cars, taxis and bicycles all use the same roads and it adds up to a lot of daily accidents.)

Stanley Market

Stanley Market is an absolute must for the shopaholic.  Shops in the market sell everything from the tacky (T-Shirts with ‘I love Hong Kong’ across the front) to high-quality, gorgeous silk clothing, scarves, ties and souvenirs.  And a great deal more, besides!

The prices at Stanley Market represent good value and amazingly are pretty similar to Shenzhen and Guangzhou on the mainland, which are known for their inexpensive prices.  As is true in most Far East markets, bargain, haggle, negotiate!  Usually you can drop the price to half of the asking price without much difficulty.  You can do even better if the shopkeeper is keen for a sale, and you haggle with some skill.

Victoria Peak

The views from up here are definitely worthwhile.  Do not be put off by the prospect of mist – we found that instead of putting a dampener on our day, it gave the tops of the buildings craning through the mist, a mysterious and somewhat spooky appearance that was appealing in its own way.

Artists selling colourful seasonal depictions of Hong Kong do a roaring trade up around Victoria Peak.

Take a break at a pub

The ubiquitous Irish-themed pub can be found in Hong Kong.  They tend to serve hearty fare and a selection of imported and local beers and spirits.  We found Delaney’s in the Wanchai District much to our liking – it has a vibrant atmosphere with a variety of sports constantly shown on their screens.  There is also a sister pub in Peking Road.  (The Dublin Jack pub is a part of the same group too and the experience across all three of them is consistently good.  But one would need to have heroic liver capacity to try all three in one day!)

Hotel Accommodation

There are a great number of hotels in Hong Kong ranging from the particularly dubious through to ultra-luxurious.  You get what you pay for.  On my last visit I wanted to be in the Wanchai District, where we found the JJ Hotel – a budget hotel within comfortable walking distance of some good restaurants and nightlife.  The rooms were clean, en-suite and included the slippers that are de rigueur in Chinese hotels (seemingly independent of the star rating or price).

“Key deposit”

All hotels in Hong Kong (and Mainland China) require a ‘room key’ deposit on check-in.  This is not necessarily a set price, and can often be negotiated.  In Hong Kong a budget hotel may require a deposit of 500 Hong Kong Dollars.  At a particular hotel in Beijing they eventually accepted a payment of 300 Yuan, where their original request had been for 100 US dollars.

Make sure you get a receipt.

How you choose to pay for this will depend on how much cash you have, and how much credit is available on your credit cards.  Our preference is to pay cash because then when you leave you get paid out in cash and the books are squared.  If you pay by credit card you are likely to find that the amount will only be refunded some weeks after the reversal was due, so you may well have to settle the amount with your credit card company yourself before finally receiving the repayment.

Mango plane at Cape Town

These days one is able to book airlines directly without having to go through a travel agent.   Yet travel agents have not entirely disappeared and some of them are doing very well indeed.  Why this apparent contradiction?

There are several scenarios in which it is in your best interest to use an agent.

Group Bookings

If you are booking flights for a group of, say, ten or more travellers then do it via an agent.  Different rules apply for group bookings.  An agent is more likely to get you seated in a block together, rather than scattered randomly around the aircraft.  (This depends on how far ahead you are booking – if you leave it too late you may be scattered over several flights!)

A group quotation will come with at least two pages of rules governing it, which it is in your best interests to familiarise yourself with.  Your agent will point out key ones such as cancellation and change policies, but you should take the trouble to read all of them.

Secondary destinations

If you are going to book a flight between major cities such as London, Paris, Frankfurt or New York then your DIY Travel booking will work out fine.

However, if you are travelling between other cities you may very well find that an agent can get you there both cheaper and faster.

How so?  The airlines do not fly from any particular city to any other particular city.  Their route planning works on a hub-and-spoke principle,  The cities we just mentioned are major hubs.  Even if you start at a non-hub airport your DIY routing will work out okay as long as the ultimate destination is a hub.

Agents are specialists with a good knowledge of airline hubs and can often work out alternative routings for you that may be non-direct but cheaper.  Often too, they can find flights to meet connecting flights that have a sensible minimum wait time, rather than leaving you in a possibly boring terminal for 20 hours.

Journeys with multiple stops

The third time that DIY may not be best is where you’re planning a trip with multiple stops.  While some airline sites have search functionality for multi-segment flights, not all do.  The majority have only a departure and final destination selection for on-line bookings.  This is also true for some of the well-known ‘middle-man’ booking sites (and so-called “bucket shops”) where you are searching potentially hundreds of options for a specific route.

Special requirements

If you have extra requirements, such as specific meal selection, wheelchair assistance, meet-and-assist or an unaccompanied minor request, it may often be worth the peace of mind to pay a little more and have the booking competently handled by an agent and would be easier.  Sorting it out yourself can be a considerable hassle, or even impossible (because some airlines do not, for instance, permit kosher or halaal meal requests).  The agent will know, or can find out quickly, which airlines permit meal requests.  This would be of benefit for diabetics, persons who have religious restrictions on what they may eat, and people travelling with babies.

If you have to take a guide dog on board with you, this can involve a lot of ‘red tape’ depending on the carrier, and would save you a lot of time to use an agent.

When DIY Travel works well

When not to use an agent?  Domestic bookings, basic international (hub-to-hub).  Sometimes travel agents have “sweetheart” deals with specific providers that may make components more expensive for you.  Shop around for insurance: I bought travel insurance online for one of my own major journeys 25% cheaper than if I had booked it through the tied broker I usually use.

There is a world of choice on-line and depending on your travel requirements and how much of your own time you wish to spend planning your trip, will decide whether you will go on-line or through an agent.

A tip to remember.  Most Internet booking sites have people behind the scenes, validating and actioning the bookings.  Try to find a company that allows you to speak to the people.  In travel as in other things, there are times that arrangements can fail or otherwise go awry and you will want to hear a voice on the other end, when needed.  A 24 hour contact number is best.