Ben mentioned the nice fares on Xiamen Airlines from LAX to many cities in China for about $1,850 round trip in business class, available this September to December. I was thinking it’d make for a fun trip.
Now, getting Ben to commit to planning a trip is sometimes a bit like a cat trying to grab onto the light from a laser pointer. He doesn’t make many firm plans far in advance, and thus can do awesome things like take advantage of last-minute award space.
I, on the other hand, have a “real” job and therefore must plan my travel around other commitments. But this is a very good deal, and it has been a while since Ben has had to put up with my sense of humor and love of board games on an international trip, so I think the time is right for a long weekend trip.
Since this fare seems to be valid to so many cities in China (with a connection in Xiamen), there are a lot of potential options for destinations. I’ve been to Beijing before (with Ben, actually), so I’d like to try somewhere new. While I’ve never been to Shanghai, Ben has, and it’d be nice to go to a city neither of us have visited.
Here are some ideas for places to go on this fare:
Chengdu
They have a panda breeding research facility that you can visit, which looks amazing. Given that pandas are very reluctant to reproduce, I’m super curious how the folks at this research center manage to bamboo-zle them into doing so.
Dalian
I think it’d be fun to stay at the Castle Hotel (an SPG Luxury Collection property!). Kind of looks like what you’d get if Medieval Times, Camelot, and Cinderella’s Castle were all smashed together.
Sanya
To check out some of their fancy hotels and beaches, which seem generally very reasonably priced (thanks, @Mike, for this idea!).
Ürümqi
Mainly because of the umlauts in the name. What’s the deal with that? Seriously, I’ve always been fascinated with the culture and identity of the Uyghur population there.
What do you all think – where would be a good place in China to go on this fare for a long weekend?
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