Job Discussion Forums

[hz88]

I have to agree here.

When I first read the thread over and over before anyone had replied, I had a headache trying to pick out the salient points or what the OP was actually trying to achieve in the long run, so much so that I was too lethargic to reply.

Some of the other posts the OP has made certainly don't tally with someone who has had experience in China before and the OP seems continually dismissive of other people who actually are on the ground and have current knowledge.

According to one of his posts he is going to Henan, if this is the case why fly to Shanghai?, its not clear which city exactly but assuming it is Zhengzhou then its equidistant from Beijing. Why not see if there is another cheaper option there? There is almost an hourly high speed train service from Beijing to Zhengzhou and its a couple of hours at most.

The time spent dithering around on here could have been spent actually finding a suitable alternative.

A quick search found a one way ticket from DTW to PEK with a transit in Newark for $650. It arrives in Beijing just after 4pm.

Just my two cents....

[backtochina2017]

[OhBudPowellWhereArtThou]

OP:

Have you figured out how you'll actually get to China?

[backtochina2017]

[hz88]

The reason I suggested taking the high speed train was because domestic flights in China are often prone to delays.

It is almost always cheaper to buy domestic tickets within the country you are travelling in, so you could have made two seperate bookings. The only problem with this is that if your initial flight is delayed, changed or whatever you may have trouble changing the second sector, particularly if it is a promotion ticket.

Assuming your final destination is Zhengzhou, you could have flown to Hong Kong and then from there to Zhengzhou, there are several direct flights each day.

As you say, you have taken trains before, simply look or G or D trains. Avoid T,K or others unless you have a lot of time on your hands or are skint. Zhengzhou is the epicentre of China railways and there is as I said an almost hourly high speed train rom Beijing. I can see your point about luggage, it might seem daunting taking it across Beijing by subway but it is manageable, failing that you can always take a taxi.

You could have asked someone at your intended school for help with that side of things. Even for a newbie all this information is not particularly dificult to find out.

[backtochina2017]

[astrotrain]

You Americans sure got it easy on the flight cost. Spent $1300 CND on a one way flight back last summer.

I can see the gist of the OP's argument, he is trying to minimize travel expenses at the same time minimize travel time which is unfortunately very hard to do.

Travelling from N.A east coast to China is a real stressful and costly endeavor. The bullet train network is awesome when you are already in China and maybe have a friend (local) with you to deal with the ticket purchase, getting to the train station, platforms etc but if you are on your own after a long 13 + hour flight with a heavy carry on and check in baggage moving easily from Airport to train station (not knowing the route) can be even more stressful. Taxies are notorious cheats on foreigners so not the best option.

I taken the HSR more than 1/2 dozen times to GZ and Guilin but I had company and no heavy bags to lug around.

[Jmbf]

Sites such as Skyscanner allow you to search with different variables such as flight duration, departure times, flight routing (direct / non-direct). It's not that hard to find a suitable routing for a good price if you have a bit of flexibility with your travel dates.