We did it. We now have our visas and tickets to China. We used Lastminute.com to book the flight. We managed to get a flight from London to Shanghai for just under $1000 (yes kiddies, that was expensive for us) and we leave Sunday (Oct. 15th). We will be staying for a week at Shanghai City Central Youth Hostel for only $90... thats like $6.50 a day. Definatly an improvement over these $20 hostels we've been at (and those were the cheap ones). Hopefully this is the beginning of a trend of low living cost for us... we really need it.
We stayed at Dover Castle Hostel while in London. At first we thought it was ok. The location was a bit seedie but nothing really serious. The place was a normal London building (read narrow stairways and small rooms) and reasonably clean. Its the staff that's the problem. We were on the 'overbooked list' (which mean that we wanted a bed but had to wait for a cancellation). We went out to take care of the visas and stopped at an internet cafe and got an e-mail survey asking us what we thought of the hostel. We gave an average rating except for a poor mark for security (NO ONE locks the doors) and a little comment saying that you can't really get a wireless signal in the room like they advertise you can and the router keeps locking up. When we got back to the hostel to collect our bags and check if there was any empty rooms, the girl on staff said something to the effect of 'why do you want to stay at a hostel you rated badly?' and would not help us at all. Even when she herself admitted the wireless was faulty and they were getting a guy to come out and fix it, she was unhelpful. When we pointed out we gave them pretty much an average rating she said 'why do you want to stay at an AVERAGE place?' Then basically said 'get the fuck out'.
So anyways, we're not sure what's going to happen in China. We'll try to stick to the big cities and internet but we're also hoping to visit Tibet. We'll contact home as much as possible.
Wish us luck!
-K
P.S.- Yes, we have figured out the hyperlink button.
Sorry I haven't been in touch lately. Lots happening here. New car without manual transmission so I can drive again. Made house wireless. New kitten (yes, that makes 7 but Stef just had to rescue this cute 2-week old - name's Honda - guess where she was found?). Fixed my hand - turned out I had "trigger thumb" and steroid shot did the trick. Fixed dry eye with tear duct plugs. Brain tests show some weird organic deterioration in frontal/temporal lobes - need to follow up. Teri's done with GED, another SAT test and application to USC in January. Teri & I head to FL saturday for my neck surgery. Got DVD recording working so we'll have movies to watch while down there. Copying DVDs is rocket science! Nick's - well, Nick's just Nick as usual.
ReplyDeleteGlad you got to China!
-kathe
How's the neck?
ReplyDeleteWell, we're coming to an end to our trip. I think we'll be back around x-mass. We may stop by some of Brian's family before heading home