Eric's Beijing Diary

Left Beijing just after 8 this morning. After a brief layover in Hong Kong, we took off into a beautiful blue sky. This is only the third time I have been to Chek Lap Kok Airport. The other two times were on the first trip I took to China back in the fall of 2001. If you live in China, and you want to visit Hong Kong, it is not a good idea to fly to Hong Kong directly for a couple reasons. First, it is an international flight, so it will cost quite a bit more. Much cheaper to fly to Shenzhen and take the bus to the border for 20 kuai. But the other reason is that the airport in Hong Kong is actually quite a ways from the city. Getting into the city from the airport is not free. So it is actually much more convenient to go to Shenzhen, because as soon as you cross the border at Shenzhen, you are at the Metro station. Buy your octopus card for the Metro, and you're good to go.

But this time I wasn't going to Hong Kong. Just passing through because the ticket on the combined flights (Dragon Air -- Cathay Pacific) was quite a bit cheaper than the flight on Northwest, which has merged with Delta. I haven't figured out how to check the specials on the new Delta Airlines website, and when I called the number on the web site, the lady just said, "These are the cheapest rates." If that's true, I don't think I will be flying Delta much anymore, unless they have a special to Japan sometime or something. It's too bad. That's one merger that did not go well for the consumer. Guess I shouldn't begrudge them their success. Rich people have to fly too.