JY和我计划九月底回上海。
我从来没去过上海那边。 这次JY怀孕时候回去，估计我们没法走太远。而且只有两个星期，也去不了太多地方。
我们的朋友Alex借给我们一本上海旅游指南和一份上海地图。 我看过以后暂时定了这些地方：豫园/城隍庙，浦东，南京路，外滩，徐家汇。 我还想看看江南水乡的景致，所以将会考虑朱家角，同里，或者 乌镇。
如果你们知道什么其他好玩/好吃的地方也请告诉我，先谢了。
United Airlines new free baggage restriction
For those of you who will be traveling on United Airlines, there is a new free baggage rule coming into effect for tickets purchased after September 7th. You can find the announcement here. Basically, each Economy class passenger is allowed two piece of free check-in luggage with each one not exceeding 50 pounds. Before it the weight limit was 70 pounds each.
You may think 20 pounds per luggage doesn’t make that big a difference, it actually does. My hard case is 15 lbs when empty, so going by the 50 pounds rule, I can only put in 35 pounds of stuff, which isn’t that much compare to the 55 pounds I could put in according to the old rule.
We got our tickets before September 7, so our trip will not be affected.
Keep the new rule in mind when you are traveling on United Airlines.
Shanghai trip planning part 2
Well, I did it.
I finally went ahead and booked a pair Economy Plus tickets for JY and me to travel to Shanghai at the end of September.
The EPA pass purchase went rather quickly, I was able to book my E+ seats the very next day. It’s not business class, but with the addtional 4-5″ leg room, I think we’ll manage just fine.
We met with our friend Alex and Jay today over lunch. Alex just came back from China, and he brought back tons of digital photos that he graciously shared with us. There are so much changes happenning everywhere in China. Shanghai especially, looks like a modern metropolis.
Alex got us excited about our trip, hopefully we can keep blogging while we are in Shanghai to share our trip with you guys.
BTW, a good United Aireline ticket consolidator in the bay area that we used for our UA tickets is May’s Travel in Oakland CA, here is her (May, the owner) phone number: 510-832-7128. May has access to low-price UA tickets, although they are still more expensive that Air China tickets, UA seats are slightly bigger, and they offer the E+ seats. From my dealings with her, she seemed honest and helpful.
Jay, thanks for the baby bath tub, it’s just the thing to get the job done.
Shanghai trip planning part 1
JY and I are thinking of making a trip to Shanghai to see her parents. We still haven’t decided whether to go yet, it really depends on how our baby’s ultra-sound result come out.
However, for the past few days, I’ve been researching traveling options, trying to make the flight from SFO to PVG (Pudong Airport) more pleasant.
There are a few options. It’s a really hard decision. United charges $5000+ for business class fair, Air China charges $3,000+. I’ve been thinking about creative ways to get the tickets so we won’t go broke before the baby even gets here.
The best option right now seems like United Economy Plus. These are special seats on United that gives you a few inchs of additional space, which will definitely help. It will also make upgrade to business class easier if there are operational upgrades available.
United just came up with a new plan that will sell you one year of economy plus access for $299. It applies to a Mileage Plus account holder, and allows the account holder and a guest to book E+ fares. It even works with Award Tickets.
JY and I can sign up for E+, get two tickets in E+ for our trip, then take operaitonal upgrades if offered at check-in. It’s the best I can come up with.
There are actually other options. If any of you have 90,000 miles with United, please contact me, I’d like to see if I can purchase them from you so I can get a business class reward ticket directly. If you have any United System Wide Upgrades, talk to me as well, I may want to buy a couple from you for the E+->Business upgrade.
Pray for us that the baby will be healthy and that we can learn the gender of our baby tomorrow.
A very helpful website for frequent flyer programs:
FlyerTalk