I spent a while yesterday afternoon asking a few questions of an adviser at JY – many very trivial, but several prompted by China’s stingy carry-on allowance of just 5Kg. This is my first time with the company, having chosen a long-haul trip, and as there will be others in the same boat, so to speak, I thought I’d pass them on for their benefit.
• Primarily, and on top of that tiny carry-on limit, be warned of the checked-in baggage allowance too. JY do make the point in their final documentation but it is very easy to not make the connection.
The regular limit is 23Kg, common with many other airlines. But, domestic carriers in China, with which we travel three times, impose a 20Kg limit. So that must be the maximum for the Air China flights as well.
• A comment that has stuck in the back of my mind ever since reading it was that some places don’t provide toilet-paper and even suggested that you take your own supply, helpfully pointing out that Tesco, amongst others, do provide flat packets. True, they do, but they’re two-ply!! :-(
However, unable to believe JustYou’s choices of any hotel anywhere could possibly not provide such a basic, I mentioned it yesterday and was, of course, assured that they all would!
• He confirmed that they do not provide bathrobes, nor Kleenex-type tissues.
• Important to me was the provision, preferably free, of wifi. I have checked personally and only two do. Please see my additional info on that in the list of hotels below.
• I discovered late in the day from the airline’s website that prescriptions are required at Security to confirm all prescribed drugs you’re carrying with you. Reluctant to go through the palaver of obtaining it from my local GP, I suggested yesterday that the boxes in which the tablets come have a pharmacist’s label affixed with shows all the detail Security could possibly want.
The rep agreed somewhat reluctantly. But this morning I was inspired to ring my pharmacist in case they had a simple solution themselves and sure enough they did. All they had to do was to print out an existing page that confirms that what pills I’m taking are bona fide prescribed ones.
• JustYou Tour Guides do not carry any First Aid equipment whatsoever, like plasters, throat pastilles etc. (Why should they, but worth asking, I thought!)
• Another thing new to me is that Air China require checked-in baggage to be padlocked! Many of you will know of the warnings we are given that doing so in the US risks damage to your case as the officers are liable to hack any such lock off, unless it is one of those that they can unlock.
It seems they are not too confident of passengers’ belongings being protected from theft. Whether this means that officers will therefore not even inspect one’s case/s, I don’t know.
That’s about the end of my Tips, but I thought my fellow-travellers on this trip might like to check out the hotels we’re booked into. A friend told me on Wednesday that China’s hotels “are fabulous” as is the food.
So to save you entering all the details, you may care to copy and paste the four individual ones I’ve provided below, along with ratings from tripAdvisor and the aforementioned wifi availability details:
Traders Hotel Beijing – Ranked 86% on TripAdvisor and 190th out of 4657 hotels in Beijing:
http://www.shangri-la.com/beijing/traders/
Grand Park Hotel, Xian – Ranked 83% and 53rd out of 1686 hotels in Xian:
http://www.parkhotelgroup.com/xian/
Tianfu Sunshine Hotel, Chengdu – doesn’t seem to have its own website; TripAdvisor’s top Google’s search. Ranked 89% and 19th out of 1645 hotels in Chengdu:
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g297463-d308237-Reviews-Tianfu_Sunshine_Hotel-Chengdu_Sichuan.html
Courtyard Shanghai Puxi Hotel, Shanghai – Ranked 89% and 30th out of 3203 hotels in Shanghai:
http://www.marriott.co.uk/hotels/travel/shapx-courtyard-shanghai-puxi/
• Only two have free wifi or high-speed internet. The Grand Park Xian and the Courtyard by Marriott Shanghai Puxi both make a surcharge. (So should be struck off until they provide it free, IMO!)