I'm taking my father on a RTW trip departing from Sydney in July. Our first stop is Calgary, Canada. We are departing Sydney on July 4, and as such, all flights in W class to the USA west coast are booked out, and I'm told the wait lists are substantial. So we are currently booked SYD-NRT-DFW-YYC. It's the long way round, but it's all fairly smooth, except for a five hour wait in NRT.

I'm considering re-routing SYD-HKG-NRT-ORD-YYC. This routing has a four hour wait in HKG, which I figure is plenty of time to take the Airport Express into Central and show my father Victoria Harbour and the surrounds. I feel that this would be a better way to spend a four hour wait, than by going into Narita town should we fly via NRT.

Can anyone suggest any serious drawbacks with changing to this routing? By adding an extra sector I guess I'm increasing the chances of bags going missing, but all the connections are reasonably generous, so that should help. Besides, my understanding is that upon entering the US we would have to collect our baggage and re-check for our 'domestic' sector (this being ORD-YYC), which means it's only two connections that the baggage needs to make.

You guys are the experts, so what do you think? I look forward to your thoughts.

Four hours would be enough to come and have a look at Victoria harbour and ride across the Star Ferry, but not much more than that if you want it to be relaxing.

One advantage of coming through HKG is that you get to do more long-haul on CX rather than QF or AA. Have you considered routing through SFO or LAX from HKG instead on NRT (which doesn't have much to recommend it as a transit point).

Or alternatively, route SYD-HKG-YVR and then go overland (or on a separate ticket) to YYC before picking up the OWE again there - I guess this would be the quickest way to get there.

A CX-CX transit at HKG with a few hours to do it is very safe as far as your bags are concerned. As you say, you would need to reclaim at the US gateway anyway.

Note my recent thread on Explorer rule changes - you may need to ticket before April 15 to get all the segments you want.

[This message has been edited by christep (edited 03-17-2003).]

I would suggest you to take the Airport Express to Hong Kong station, walk to "Star Ferry Pier" and take the ferry to Tsim Sha Tsui (Kowloon Side of the Habor). Maybe walk along the waterfront stop by the coffee shop/Cafe of the Cultural Center, then take a cab/shuttle bus back to the Kowloon Station of Airport Express and heading back to the Airport. There is a Restaurant for Cantonese Or Dim Sum Lunch at the cultural center but you time maybe too tight for a slow lunch. This option save transportation time and since you can (is it still availible? I don;t know) get the same day return for the price of single for the Airport Express Train.

Howwver, if you want to see the actual city more and don't mind to spend more time on bus, get a Airbus from Airport to Tsim Sha Tsui (Star Ferry). Walk the waterfront, and maybe a few block of Nathan Road, then take star ferry to Central, walk to Airport Express Hong Kong station to head back to Airport.
This way you can see more of the city, especially the Nathan Road on the way. Even better, the bus travel on the top deck of Tsing Ma bridge and give you nice view of and around it.

Give the search function a try, there are many posts about how you gonna hald a day in HKG during transit.

I really hope you can have moe time in Hong Kong to experience the city

Enjoy your trip and the stopover in HKG, home of HK-UMICH

Thanks for your responses Christep and HK-UMICH, glad you could confirm that what I was attempting was feasable.

I have been to HK many times, and as this is my dad's first time abroad I would love to show him about the place. Sadly we are on a very tight time frame, and hence the only chance would be a four hour stop.

I'll follow your advice and do some more research before committing to either itinerary. Thanks again for your advice.