Oh, I am so clever

I usually don't brag, but I thought this was pretty smart and a great way to SAVE MONEY!  I was booking a flight for us to San Diego for a wedding.  I found on Orbitz that United had good, cheap rates $180.  So I went to United.com to book - sometimes I get extra miles if I book directly.

On the flight search page, there was a field for promotion code or electronic certificates.  I thought what the heck, I will google United airlines electronic certificates and see what I find.  A whole new world!!!  Many people are selling their electronic voucher at less than face value since they cannot use it in time.  I found out the best search is for United Airlines electronic vouchers.  I found a few people on craigslist and on a few sites selling $150 certificate for $110 etc...

 
Still I wasn't sure.  What if I pay for it and it doesn't work?  Well as it turns out, if you pay by PayPal and you and they are verified, you are protected I think.  Also I actually got the seller to send me the code first to try/use it before paying him.  Some tips are

• flight has to be operated by United and NOT their partners
• flight base price has to be higher than the voucher value
• if you are buying two tickets, you need to do it separately to use two vouchers.

I ended up getting two vouchers from two different people - the second one, I paid first and then he sent me the code.  Both worked great.  I ended up paying $40 each for the flights + $110 each for the vouchers, so $150 instead of $180. Yeepy!  I am sure I can get the voucher for even cheaper next time, but for a first time experience, this was great!  ;-)

Happy Travels!

Lei

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"Vision without action is a daydream; action without vision is a nightmare!"

Faster than the bullet train

Did you know China has the fastest train in the world? Faster even than the bullet trains in Japan. I took this one from Tianjin to Beijing - a typical 2-3 hour car ride took only 30 minute by this train.

Lei

Home sick

I know I am back home in SF, where I belong with Jaime and Isabel. I cannot help being home sick though for China. I have a big extended family there and I was surrounded by activities. It's probably because I was visiting and I was on vacation as usually life there is probably pretty simple and quiet.

I guess I just missed the feeling of close family. Being an only child with my parents in Houston, I am used to being far away, but when I do get a dose of family like this, it's addictive. I am sure if I had it everyday, I would not be used to it.

It's always a balance. This must mean my trip was the perfect length - enough to visit to all family, not too long away from Isabel, and leaving me with only fond memories and strong feeling of closeness to my far-away relatives :-)

Lei

Rollercoaster ride with tv and a meal

What am talking about? My flight to kunming, actually. We hit some turbulance and we felt our stomaches hit free fall afew times. Being scared would be useless as there is no way out so I just tried to enjoy it.. The bumpiness actually can feel like someone rocking me to sleep. .

I am not too surprised this happened in china. I hear some ex-military pilots fly commercial sometimes tends to go a bit faster. I remember taking a flight to shanghai from HK when I used to work in asia where the whole plane started scraming as if we were on a dead drop rollercoaster ride. My male korean colleague had to go threw up. That was a lot worse and about 15 yrs ago. This was just entertaining. So be prepared if you fly within china.

Lei
Ps: perhaps I stand corrected. I sat next to someone on my flight back to sf fro beijing that is a pilot in china. He said the reason it's bumpier flying in china is becoz the chinese military does not allow commercial flights to deviate much from their path for national security reasons while american airspace has more flexibility to fly around bad weather turbulance.

Two different worlds

China and US - both are my worlds full of love and fond memories. My trip to china brought me tears and laughter, joy and love, as well as many shopping loot .

I am so fortunate to have such a loving family - I always feel like a kid when I go home to china, as if I am only 20 and everyone is still young. Everyone tries to take care of me in their own way.

I miss my grandma who passed 2 weeks before my wedding 3 years ago. I like to think she is in a better place and wanted to see me and bless me on my wedding day from above.
My aunts and uncles looks quite healthy even in their sixties. They cleans the house everyday, shops for breakfast, cook, go work out and visits each other. As much as I love my life in sf, I miss the familiar feeling I feel when I visit them. They are so caring without judging, they welcome me with open arms and only wishes for me to be happy and come back when I can. Like I said, I am very lucky!

My trip to kunming and lijiang was nice - a chance to connect with my older cousin, she is like my older sister. I love her and miss her already. It was also a chance for me to avoid the stifling heat in tianjin. Yunnan is known for forever spring weather - still more humid than sf. I think I won't complain about sf weather anymore. We are lucky it's always so comfy.

My two worlds are vastly different. and instead of feeling torn, all I feel is joy that I can still be part of both.

Lei