Talking Travel: Plan Your Winter Holidays Now and Save Money

The credit card bills for October 1 trips haven't even arrived, and it's already time to think about winter getaways. But it's the smart thing to do: booking now before the leaves fall off the trees means more money for duty-free when that time off comes around.

In the nearer term, good fares are still available for both Christmas and Spring Festival (Chinese New Year). United flies to the New York area for just over US$1,000. Korean Air will cost just under RMB 10,000 for Beijing to New York via Seoul. Air China from Beijing to JFK would be about RMB 8,500, including tax. Of course, all of these are somewhat date dependent, but the variation in price is in hundreds of RMB, not thousands.

Flights to Europe also seem pretty reasonable. Air China is offering RMB 7,132 including tax  to Paris during the Christmas holidays (departing Dec. 23). Air France's fare for the same period is almost RMB 8,000. To the UK, British Airways to London Heathrow is RMB 7,137, which is about the same price it always seems to be, with Air China offering RMB 8,413.

One thing that came up recently was the arrival of lower fares from the US west coast to Beijing on Delta. Flights booked by October 28 from destinations including Los Angeles and Seattle can get passengers to Beijing for as little as US$785 including tax. A similar flight from Beijing to Los Angeles would still cost about US$1,100. The available dates would cover Thanksgiving (November 28) in case anyone wants to come to Beijing and stay for a while.

For Spring Festival, now is the time to book. It won't make flights any less full when the holiday comes in three and a half months, but it will be much more affordable and allow for greater seat selection. Case in point: Beijing to Bangkok on Cathay Pacific, departing on January 31 and returning February 7, is currently priced at RMB 4,490, without tax. That fare will likely double as the holiday approaches, and eventually, many of those flights will sell out. However, hold that departure until February 3 (go eat jiaozi with the family, then get ready for the beach) and stay until February 10, and the price drops to RMB 2,290, which is the usual non-discounted economy fare. Again, that fare won't be available much longer. The days of being able to buy reasonably-priced tickets to Southeast Asia one month before Spring Festival are ancient history. Use the Talking Travel Rule of Holiday Planning: buy air tickets for your next holiday as soon as you return from the previous one.

Speaking of Spring Festival in Thailand, due in part to the popularity of the film Lost in Thailand, Air China is launching non-stop flights from Beijing to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand starting November 7. The new service departs Beijing at 6:30pm and arrive at 10:40pm local time, and returns with an 11:45pm departure from Chiang Mai and arriving at 5am Beijing time. Threre is a one-hour time difference between China and Thailand.

Beijing Sailing Center has already made their Spring Festival plans: they'll be sailing one of the seven seas, in this case the Andamann Sea, as part of their Sail the World program. They've organised a fleet of luxury catamarans with skippers and, even chefs, so landlubbers are likely to enjoy it as much as salty seapeople. See their website for more information.

All that information should keep you distracted for the coming week. Until then, one road flat safe.