Just landed in Manila a few days ago, jeez, my brain is on overload…this hyper travel between Manila, Hong Kong and south china (Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dongguan) has got my head spinning.
Really, if this was USA, the geographical distance between these places is similar to going from south florida to Puerto rico…..except there are 3 currencies and 3 languages and 3 borders!
I think this is a pretty good correlation of geographical distances, except that hong kong / south china is separated by a body of water, where cities in Florida aren’t. But the temperatures are similar, and the flight from south florida to Puerto Rico is about the same as China/Hong Kong to Philippines.
So while my friends back home think I am traveling like crazy….really it’s a 2 hour flight from Hong Kong to Manila, flight costs approx. $200usd round trip…its just a different country!
It would be more traveling if I were in USA, flying from San Franscico to New York – as that is a 5 (?) hour plane ride and I believe costs around $400usd round trip.
Just want to blog about this to make my friends back home realize the geographical distance between these places, as they see me traveling so much….
Maybe this is a reason USA became such an economical superpower…..once you’re inside the country, its easy and fast to do business as there is less “transition time” for currency exchange, language translation, border crossing.
Really, I wonder how much of my brain and lifetime is spent traveling through borders and in transport…..
Comments
Just imagine the amount of miles you’ve logged in had you been in a loyalty program! So much free trips!!!
which airlines?
Cathay, Philippine Airlines or Delta. I’ve been able to use my accumulated miles in abt 6 or 7 trips, both international and domestic.
PAL for example allows free travel for 15k miles – RT MNL-HK-MNL. 8k miles for MNL-BORACAY-MNL.
Delta, though getting worse now since Northwest became Delta would be 60k miles RT MNL-SFO-MNL.
I think Cathay has the best deal though so Im letting go of all other airline loyalty programs to shift to Cathay.
well, I applied for one with China Southern air (it was in Chinese language) and the stewardess told me it would be mailed to my office in 2-6 weeks, but never received it.
And besides Chinese airlines, I fly cebu pacific, is there a discount program for that ?
Weird I can’t even reply to your last comment.
Cebu Pacific Loyalty Program? No chance. The low airfares are enough to make people loyal. =)
As for China Southern – I guess it depends on which of your addresses all over the world you had it mailed to! Haha. But you should follow that up! That’s a free trip right there!
yea, so i’ll keep flying Cebu and get my savings upfront instead…..
I actually did out a quick calculation a few months ago and found I spend in excess of 30% of my time in transit – either by bus, taxi, walking, or whatever
I do that calculation whenever I want to feel like I’m failing miserably at time management 🙂
Yes, I tottally agree…….but at the same time….back in 2008 I was traveling MUCH less, sitting in my office in Si Da building working……..was that more effective?
I think travel opens the mind…..and builds a network
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