To Book or Not To X Not a Single Clue: Travel Blue I

ever since the “nightmarish”

experience of no-seat journey

on a high speed train

which lasted for 4 hours

 

Long Day X to a Lovely Stay: Monday’s Gray!

 

is seriously planning to

buy train ticket in advance

for my travel in China

 

did attempt to

download the app/

visit the official site

12306.com

 

yes

it’s great for checking

schedule and remaining tickets

 

yet didn’t manage to proceed

as booking requires a

mainland phone number

can’t even sign-up for an account

without one

 

besides payment is another issue

as local card is required

 

---

then decided to go for

the next resort, CTrip

 

it’s trustworthy, i supposed

public listed on NASDAQ

going at $ 47.95

W-O-W

 

and they have actually

acquired Skyscanner

at 1.74b USD

 

there’s processing fee

at a reasonable rate of

USD 3 per booking

 

it’s fine i guess

and i fell in love immediately

with the app itself

 

for the baby blue interface

and the Dolphin, Youyou

 

not to mention

it’s all under one roof

with hotel, reviews, itineraries

top-destinations, nearby attractions

all you ever need in a travel app

 

i would say it’s user-friendly

as they even suggest

alternative transit route

 

to get from A to C

in case the ticket is sold off

i.e. you buy 2 tickets

from A to B and

another from B to C

 

gosh roar!!!

i should have

downloaded this app

like ages ago

 

I have nevertheless survived

and came that far

so i guess it wasn’t too late

 

would definitely

add this to my

must-have app

along with my saviors like

大眾點評、百度地圖、螞蜂窩

 

it’s funny how

i am typing these in English

no worries

the app comes in English version too

 

Ctrip.cn / Ctrip (iOS & Android)

 

but probably content wise

will be not as rich

since the public contributed posts

will definitely be much lesser

 

it’s more of a plain (boring)

booking app

way much different

from the Chinese version

 

but it’s equally handy for sure

 

and everything is 1/6 off

the original price if

you choose to display in USD

 

i have researched

several ways to get here

and for real, isn’t it?

 

had been meeting with

some issues planning the trip

 

should we get travel overnight

and spend a night on the train?

 

how many nights should we

spend in Wudang Shan?

 

what if it gets cold?

it’s snowing there next Monday

 

is it convenient to pack everything

or should we just leave them

in a hotel room in Wuhan?

 

but isn’t it a waste to

leave a room empty

for maybe 2-3 nights?

 

so is it 2 or 3 nights?

 

how many nights do I

actually have to book and

where exactly in Wuhan?

 

nearer to the train station?

or nearer to the attraction?

 

by the way

there are more than

one train station

 

nearer to the airport?

nearer to town?

which one?

 

the air quality in Wuhan

doesn’t seem to look good

it says Very Unhealthy Air Quality

 

so should I buy the train ticket now?

so should I just wait?

 

it’s the Chingming week

and i actually saw

some return tickets

were in fact already sold off

 

---

thinking back of how

i have survived previous trips

it’s really a myth

 

is it true that they say

the more you plan

the more worrisome and

less adventurous you get

 

but at least

i would like to

have an idea of

how do i go about

 

pre-departure travel planning

that’s part of the fun

isn’t it?

 

---

those are the moments

i actually do feel that

i need a reliable travel partner

someone i can plan a trip with

 

provided that

we have the same destinations

on our travel wish-lists

 

or we can take turns

to visit the destinations

on our different wish-lists

 

forget it

life is tough enough

 

to be continued..

To Book or Not To X Finally Some Clue: Travel Blue II