A Week in the Good 'ol People's Republic
Mar 1, 2015, 9:39 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2014
Programs: BA Silver, SQ Gold, MAR Plat, Hilton Gold
Posts: 94
A Week in the Good 'ol People's Republic: CA Y/J, Ritz Shenzhen
To preface, I am a student in high school, travelling with my parents, so this TR will be written from such a perspective. This is my first TR, so critiques (kritiks for the debaters) are welcome.
I was originally planning to do a quick 2-3 day tour of Singapore for the AA PLT status challenge during spring break, but alas, my grandfather passed away. While I was unable to make it to the funeral, I have decided to accompany my grandfather to the ancestral home of Confucius, where he will rest. So most of the "planning" below took space in a period of 14 hours after the service date was announced.
As such, I chose to simply eat the AA cancellation fees and booked my family on a flight to Beijing on the Air China IAH-PEK nonstop, hopefully bidding for upgrades. My father and I are large electronics nuts, so we decided to make a detour over to Guangzhou, where my mother could also conveniently visit old friends in Shenzhen.
Now to figure out where to stay. I am always an advocate for staying in hotels, but my parents had other plans
. In Beijing, we almost always stay with a family member, so no surprises there. I had originally planned to stay at the W Guangzhou, which seems marvelous, for 2 nights and stay 1 night in Shenzhen at the Grand Hyatt. Sadly, as things go in relations between Asians, a wrench was thrown into this careful planning. So in the end, we decided upon staying for 1 night in Guangzhou with a friend, and 1 night at the Ritz Carlton Shenzhen (not for the points, but for the experience), and one night in a friend's rental apartment that is empty for the time being.
The final itinerary is as below
2015-03-07 CA996- IAH-PEK in Y, hopeful bid to C 77W
2015-03-08 CA1351- PEK-CAN, 772, Y
2015-03-10 Ritz Carlton Shenzhen
2015-03-11 SZX-PEK, 738, Y (Forgot some details)
2015-03-15 CA995- PEK-IAH in (shady)C
I will try and post live, and include a certain measure of photos. Note I will not cover the service, for issues of privacy. The location itself, however, is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and more can be found here
I was originally planning to do a quick 2-3 day tour of Singapore for the AA PLT status challenge during spring break, but alas, my grandfather passed away. While I was unable to make it to the funeral, I have decided to accompany my grandfather to the ancestral home of Confucius, where he will rest. So most of the "planning" below took space in a period of 14 hours after the service date was announced.
As such, I chose to simply eat the AA cancellation fees and booked my family on a flight to Beijing on the Air China IAH-PEK nonstop, hopefully bidding for upgrades. My father and I are large electronics nuts, so we decided to make a detour over to Guangzhou, where my mother could also conveniently visit old friends in Shenzhen.
Now to figure out where to stay. I am always an advocate for staying in hotels, but my parents had other plans
. In Beijing, we almost always stay with a family member, so no surprises there. I had originally planned to stay at the W Guangzhou, which seems marvelous, for 2 nights and stay 1 night in Shenzhen at the Grand Hyatt. Sadly, as things go in relations between Asians, a wrench was thrown into this careful planning. So in the end, we decided upon staying for 1 night in Guangzhou with a friend, and 1 night at the Ritz Carlton Shenzhen (not for the points, but for the experience), and one night in a friend's rental apartment that is empty for the time being.The final itinerary is as below
2015-03-07 CA996- IAH-PEK in Y, hopeful bid to C 77W
2015-03-08 CA1351- PEK-CAN, 772, Y
2015-03-10 Ritz Carlton Shenzhen
2015-03-11 SZX-PEK, 738, Y (Forgot some details)
2015-03-15 CA995- PEK-IAH in (shady)C
I will try and post live, and include a certain measure of photos. Note I will not cover the service, for issues of privacy. The location itself, however, is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and more can be found here
Last edited by echen1024; Mar 1, 2015 at 9:56 pm Reason: fixed link
Mar 15, 2015, 7:24 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2014
Programs: BA Silver, SQ Gold, MAR Plat, Hilton Gold
Posts: 94
IAH Ground Services
So I've been meaning to post live, but that plan sort of went down poorly. So apologies for the procrastination, and let's get on with it!
Also apologies for the poor photos... I only had my phone camera with me for the departure
I arrived at IAH terminal D at roughly 10:30PM for a 1AM departure, following an excellent dinner at Maggiano's Little Italy in the Galleria Area. My bid for upgrade cleared at T-72, but unfortunately my parents upgrades did not clear.
Checkin was a complete zoo, but there was luckily no one in the C/*G line, and I got finished very quickly. My parents were then helped by a very apathetic agent, who absolutely insisted they check their bags because of a reported "5lb carryon rule
" They had no choice, and eventually gave in to the request. Security was more or less deserted, with only one other flight leaving at that time to some Latin American destination.
I then proceeded to checkout the newly renovated Executive Lounge, the contract lounge which CA, LH, and SQ, among others, use for their premium pax. I tried to get my mother in instead, as I have had plenty of lounge experiences, but the dragon required the holder of the BP use the lounge. She called to confirm, but then the phone call changed subjects to the amazing pepper jack tacos she had last night. Classy.
Images will be posted soon.
Also apologies for the poor photos... I only had my phone camera with me for the departure
I arrived at IAH terminal D at roughly 10:30PM for a 1AM departure, following an excellent dinner at Maggiano's Little Italy in the Galleria Area. My bid for upgrade cleared at T-72, but unfortunately my parents upgrades did not clear.
Checkin was a complete zoo, but there was luckily no one in the C/*G line, and I got finished very quickly. My parents were then helped by a very apathetic agent, who absolutely insisted they check their bags because of a reported "5lb carryon rule
" They had no choice, and eventually gave in to the request. Security was more or less deserted, with only one other flight leaving at that time to some Latin American destination.I then proceeded to checkout the newly renovated Executive Lounge, the contract lounge which CA, LH, and SQ, among others, use for their premium pax. I tried to get my mother in instead, as I have had plenty of lounge experiences, but the dragon required the holder of the BP use the lounge. She called to confirm, but then the phone call changed subjects to the amazing pepper jack tacos she had last night. Classy.
Images will be posted soon.
Last edited by echen1024; Mar 15, 2015 at 7:36 am