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How I did it.From the start I had my heart set on Central Asia. When I found an $815 flight to Beijing, I knew I was halfway there.
China 2001 - Part Five: Details & Hotels
Dougburnett2003-11-24 10:14:20
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How I did it
From the start I had my heart set on Central Asia. When I found an $815 flight to Beijing, I knew I was halfway there. After I bought a ticket I started emailing travel agents, both here in the States and in China, asking about flights to Kashgar - the city wasn’t listed on any of the Internet reservation systems.
Very few agents replied with any useful information, but finally I did hear from CITS in Beijing. Working by email, I made a reservation to fly from Beijing, through Urumqi, to Kashgar for $740 round trip. I was shocked to realize it was going to cost me almost as much to get to Kashgar as it had to Beijing - oh, well.
At about the same time, I started looking for hotels. After reviewing several travel guides (Lonely Planet and Rough Guide), I made some reservations. As my trip was short I wanted to nail down as much of the uncertainties as I could. In two cases, I made my reservations by directly emailing the hotel. In the others, I used Sinohotel (www.sinhotel.com) in Beijing, which had been recommended by an online acquaintance. I was particularly pleased with them - they were quick to reply. Also, in several cases, they offered a substantial discount from published prices and in all cases, my reservations were as expected. It’s worth noting that no deposit was required with any of the reservations I made.
I then downloaded a visa application from the Chinese Embassy in Chicago's web site (www.chinaconsulatechicago.org). The visa cost $35 and took about two weeks to process. It was good for a single entry and a stay of up to 30 days.
About two weeks before I was scheduled to leave, a representative of CITS emailed asking for payment for the air tickets. This caught me a little off guard - I thought they were simply going to hold them until I arrived. We started discussing how I might make payment when
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