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Travel Which Way Decision: Should you use a travel agent?

December 4, 2023 No Comments 10 Mins Read

Featured photo above: Borobudur Temple, Central Java, Indonesia.

Many people use travel agents – so should you use one for your next trip? (Note this isn’t about guides or group tours which is another topic altogether.)

Pros of using an agent:

Can give great but unobvious suggestions
Help plan from the mundane to more exclusive experiences. May be able get hard-to-find tickets
Help to recover from any snafus
With a few exceptions, can save time while on the trip

Cons:

May/often cost more
Need to prepay, cancellation penalty
Lock into an itinerary

More than most decisions, whether to use an agent can be tricky! Although I generally plan all aspects of my trips, I did use a couple agents on a recent 4-week trip to Southeast Asia and learned a few things.

Here are 3 phases of a trip where an agent can be particularly helpful: Itinerary planning, Logistics and During the trip.

Itinerary planning

I suppose there are people who only have a vague idea of where they want to go – maybe someplace warm and costs <$1000 for a week and then seek suggestions from an agent. I’m not one of those folks, so I don’t have much insight there.

First, based on books, Internet research etc., I came up with a sketch of an itinerary. Then fleshing out the plan is when I might get help.

On my trip to SE Asia, I knew I wanted to fly into Bangkok, visit Chiang Mai, Luang Prabang, a nice beach somewhere, and then fly out of Vientiane for Indonesia. I looked at some sample itineraries in guidebooks and on tour companies’ websites. I then contacted a SE-Asia-based agency that customizes trips to see what they can offer.

After some back-and-forth via emails, the agent suggested Phuket, Vang Vieng (a convenient stop between Luang Prabang and Vientiane) and some great activities: bicycling in Chiang Mai and hot air ballooning in Vang Vieng, which I probably wouldn’t have thought of. Also helpful is the suggestion of how many days to stay at each place, given my general priorities. When the itinerary got squeezed, I loved her suggestion to only spend a half-day at Vientiane. Though it was a pleasant city, for me the duration was sufficient.

However, I did override her suggestion on where in Phuket to stay (Karon instead of Rawai Beach) and the order of the cities – I found a direct flight from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang which cut the travel time from 6+ hours to less than 2.

While planning for the Indonesia leg of my trip, I asked another agent who specialized in Indonesia whether there was anything else to see on the long trip (10+ hours by train+car) from Yogyakarta to Mount Bromo, and she suggested a couple of waterfalls. I might have seen them mentioned in some tour descriptions but those tours often pad itineraries with minor attractions (“This is the 5th largest egg-shaped boulder in the area!”) to make the tours seem more worthwhile. The Madakaripura Waterfall turned out to be a highlight of the trip despite not being even mentioned in the 800+ pages of the Lonely Planet Indonesia guidebook!

Madakaripura Waterfall, the tallest one (not pictured) is the second highest waterfall in Indonesia.

Again, I did veto the suggestion of an overnight stay at Surabaya. I just spent a couple of hours there and guidebooks are correct that it is a place for stopping by on the way to somewhere else. However, the agent was right to recommend staying a couple of days at the island of Gili Air as opposed a very rushed day trip (she cast doubt on whether it was even possible to do a day trip).

One of beaches on the island of Gili Air, Indonesia.

2. Logistics

The Thailand-Laos agent told me that the flights would be cheaper if I booked them myself – this proved to be a headache later on, as I will discuss in the during-the-trip section. I also know that airlines play a lot of pricing games, err, have “sophisticated pricing algorithms” that take into account where in the world that the booking originates from. I expect in certain situations, the agent would be able to access lower fares.

Even with most lodging bookings available on the Internet, it can still be a hassle comparing hotel locations, features, availability, reviews and pricing. I had intended to have the agent book all the hotels for me, but it turns out for Thailand/Laos, it seemed to be cheaper if I booked directly. Being not especially picky about hotels, it’s ironic that I ended up picking all the lodgings.

Indonesia was much cheaper and so I just let the agent book all the hotels and the one domestic flight. When a name-brand Marriott hotel goes for as low as $28/night (I didn’t end up staying there as I skipped Surabaya), I didn’t particularly worry about any slight price differences.

I also let the agents book the train tickets which turned out to be a good idea. I didn’t realize that the demand outstripped the supply for Laos’s relatively new high-speed railway so tickets were effectively available only through brokers. On top of that, they quickly sell out so I was glad that I let the agent handle it.

A rafting traffic jam. One of many modes of transportation on my trip. Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Lastly in terms of transportation, the agents arranged transport to/from the airports. Sure, pre-booking incurs a price premium, but call it peace-of-mind. With those few dollars, you could avoid the gauntlet of hustlers at the airport after a tiring journey or a flakey driver who (perhaps not terribly unreasonably) decided to get more sleep instead of picking me up at 5am from the hotel.

Beyond hotels and transportation, a good agent can also book with good local operators for tours so you hopefully don’t need to worry whether the snorkeling boat is seaworthy or the guides are knowledgeable.

Of note, except for flights, the bookings I made do not require prepayment. However, going through an agent, I needed to prepay for most of the trip, with the cancellation penalties getting quite severe (to the point of zero refund) the closer it got to the departure date. Travel insurance is not standard practice for me but would be wise if going through an agency for much of the trip.

3. The experience and support while on the trip

When an Indonesian domestic flight was cancelled with only a couple days notice, the agent quickly reserved a replacement flight, informed me of the cancellation and made sure I was ok with the new flight. This is in stark contrast with the flights I booked myself. Two flights were outright cancelled and two more were shifted by 12+ hrs which would cause me to miss connections. I spent hours on the phone and queued up in 4 separate lines at the airport to straighten out the mess. How I wish I had an agent then. (I wouldn’t go so far as to recommend you get an agent to book flights in general as this is probably a special situation of post-COVID travel in SE Asia. In my decades of travel, I haven’t experienced anything like chaos wrought by airlines willy-nilly messing with schedules.)

If you do go with an agent, I’d recommend one that has round-the-clock urgent support (in an agency, the agents often rotate off-hour support on a shared WhatsApp chatline.) During the complicated flight snafu mentioned above, I ended up at the Jakarta airport at around 11pm and needed to wait ~7 hrs for a connecting morning flight. Jakarta wasn’t a planned stop so I had no idea what my options were – a quick conversation on the WhatsApp support line gave me the needed info on local lodging and the associated transport choices.

Another pleasant surprise was that the agent informed me on the day before I was to visit Borobudur Temple, that they started letting tourists climb onto the monument again. However, there is a surcharge and an attendance cap and so I instantly agreed to pay a bit extra and getting up at 5:30am. As expected, it was a top-5 highlight of my 4-week trip. The top of the monument had been closed due to a combination of COVID and UNESCO demanding a sustainable visitor plan. They conducted a trial in early 2023 with visitors being compelled to wear monument-provided sandals. As my agent hilariously explained: rain, cheap sandals and smooth stones don’t go well together. (I wore improved sandals – it wasn’t the rainy season so I can’t vouch whether they will shut things down when it gets wet again.)

Borobudur Temple, Central Java, Indonesia.

One downside of having agents arrange the transport is that one always gets picked up way too early to go to airports or train stations. This was true with multiple agents on multiple continents. I would get up in the wee hours of the morning, frantically finish packing and race out the door only to be forced to “relax” for 1-2 hours in an uncomfortable chair waiting for said plane/train. If I was lucky, I could find some breakfast as I often left the hotel way before it started serving any food. (Although one hotel was nice enough to buy a tasty breakfast in a box for me to grab on my way out – though not a luxury hotel, it was nice touch that might contradict my article on fancy hotels.)

I get it, as if I was an agent, it would be a nightmare if a client misses a flight. No one would be happy and the ripple effect might require days of adjustments. Indeed, one time a driver got caught up in festival-caused traffic jam and was late by 1/2 hr but there was enough of this buffer time to make my flight. Also, each agent has their own idea of how much margin to leave and one agent amusingly left maybe a 5 min buffer in his recommendation. Knowing the pains I went through get my flights in order for the third time, I chose to leave 30min earlier than he had suggested! In the end, he was right, I didn’t need to leave early.

Yes, I could have arranged those transports on my own but in foreign lands with tight schedules, I’m willing to pay the relative small price to be assured of good, punctual drivers.

Recommendation: This one is tough as it really depends on how much you enjoy the trip planning and arrangement, but if your travel style is close to mine, I would say use a local agent to help on any complicated trips.

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Travel Which Way Decision: Should you go to touristy places?

December 4, 2023 1 Comment 9 Mins Read

Featured image above: Iconic Piazza San Marco peaceful late at night, Venice.

Touristy places, by definition, are popular with travelers and yet at many such sites, those very same people complain that the places are overrated. Sometimes they are even called the ultimate put down – a “tourist trap”. So, should you go to these potentially disappointing places?

Pros of going to touristy places:

Could be a true highlight of a trip (and mass wisdom was right)
Dispel any nagging feeling of FOMO (fear of missing out)
Pacify the expectations of friends/family/social media – Imagine all the weird looks you’d get if you went to Paris but didn’t see the Eiffel Tower

Cons:

Potentially a crushing sense of disappointment
Might not be worth the expense (may be high due to the law of supply and demand) and might not be worth the time and energy
May get a distorted view of the destination: Los Angeles is not Disneyland

(Note that I have a separate article just on whether one should visit observation decks.)

Let’s first discuss the #1 complaint I hear when people discuss “overrated” touristy places: Excessive crowds! Long lines to see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, or throngs of people walking the iconic walls of Dubrovnik, where one would be lucky to see something interesting between the heads of other tourists.

I get it – I went to see Xi’an’s terra cotta warriors during the first summer weekend when all the kids got out of school. To make matters worse, this was during the “COVID revenge travel” of 2023, when the vast majority of Chinese chose to travel domestically. Outside of concerts/sporting events, I have never, ever seen so many people in one place! People were struggling to navigate through the crowds to keep up with their tour guide waving a flag in a sea of other flags. Steady streams of presumably crowd-hardened Chinese bailed out the side exits instead of slowly shuffling from one end of the long hall to the other. It’s hard for me to believe that there was a limit of only 65,000 tickets per day!

The warriors themselves were certainly interesting, but spending more than a dozen seconds admiring some of the warriors that were removed from the dig would’ve been nice.

Crowds at one of 3 pits of the Terra Cotta Warriors – note the packed crowds down both sides of the hall. Xi’an, China.

Kneeling archer, Qin Dynasty (~200 BCE).

Were these warriors over-rated? No! I understand while the sea of humanity distracted from the experience, the sculptures themselves are no less fascinating. I went with the flow and enjoyed the entire event as an observer as well as a participant. It was fascinating how the attraction was set up to handle the crowds (and to try to extract more money from them – even the official guides kept pushing the on-site jade store…) If I return, I will surely aim for a rainy weekday when all the students are in school. It also helped that I didn’t travel to Xi’an with just this attraction as my main motivation (the city itself is pretty interesting as are its food and the nearby Huashan is great, especially if you like stairs).

Crowds again are responsible for a big difference of opinion on Venice between seasoned travelers. I imagine the situation of some tourists: a few leviathan cruise ships disgorge thousands of people all at roughly the same time, organized into tour groups that follow each other around the town. In such circumstances, yes, the visitor might only remember being surrounded by fellow tourists all day – not unlike my Xi’an experience. However, in both of my Venice visits, I overnighted in Venice instead of visiting on day trips and so was able to explore the smaller maze-like lanes and admire the San Marco square in relative solitude. That is the allure of Venice to me and so it is near the top of my favorite places.

Canals means bridges – over 400 of them in Venice, each with their own views and character.

Yes, crowds often diminish the appeal of a place but I try to evaluate the intrinsic appeal (i.e. if there were far less people). Then, if it is somewhere I want to visit, I employ various strategies to mitigate the crowd effect: weekdays, early morning/late night, off-season, finding a different vantage point etc.

Now, what about the places where crowds are not a problem? I posit that it comes down to your expectations vs. what the place is like in reality. Let me illustrate with four examples.

The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a ~2km long sidewalk with names of 2600+ stars and occasionally, their handprints. There isn’t really much more than that. But if you are into the entertainment industry, and enjoy comparing your anonymous hands to those more famous, then it’s not overrated. If you are visiting just because it is popular, you might leave a scathing review on TripAdvisor. I had pretty low expectations based on the descriptions so I found it worth an hour of my time.

The Capilano Suspension Bridge around 1990, North Vancouver.

Another example where I saw complaints on the Internet is the Capilano suspension bridge just north of Vancouver. When I was there many years ago, I remember scratching my head and wondering, “Is this it?”

The bridge doesn’t really lead anywhere, isn’t in a particularly scenic area, and delivers no thrill unless you are quite scared of heights. I regretted not doing much research on this attraction. I suppose if you love suspension bridges and get joy from feeling its sway then more power to you. Eye of the beholder and all that.

The active Bromo volcano in Indonesia has the nice classic cone symmetry of volcanoes (think Mt. Fuji). This one is in a particularly picturesque setting with 4 other nearby volcanoes all in a massive caldera and backed by an even bigger volcano. I read about it online and knew it took 10+ hours from Yogyakarta by train and car, as well as needing to wake up early to catch the often-chilly sunrise.

Sure enough, I was picked up at 3am sharp by a 4×4 jeep which followed a convoy of hundreds of similar jeeps snaking up a mountain overlooking the volcanoes. I waited 1.5 hours for the sunrise in the 12C weather – manageable because I stuffed hotel towels (returned before I checked out) down my light jacket. I was grateful that the clouds cleared sufficiently to have a great view of the volcano cluster. About an hour later, I found the jeep again, which brought me to the foot of Bromo for the steep ~25min climb. Due to the volume of steam/sulfur gases, I couldn’t really see into the crater. I can’t imagine I missed much though – the volcano was pretty quiet anyway (if there was active lava flow, the whole place would have been off limits).

Cluster of volcanoes with the active one being Mount Bromo, East Java, Indonesia

Now I do have an affinity for volcanoes – I’ve hiked on the lava fields of Big Island of Hawaii, marvelled at the night sky of Crater Lake, climbed Pacaya with an armed guard and relaxed at the picture-perfect Santorini (ok, it’s more accurately described as a part of a volcanic caldera). Even from that perspective, considering it took pretty much two full days to get to and from Bromo just for a couple of hours of viewing, I would say it is overrated. It’s the nearby waterfall side trip that made the entire journey to that area of Java worth it.

The surprisingly fit guide that we struggled to keep up with. Pacaya Volcano, Guatemala

The Grand Canyon for me is overrated despite being one of the most famous natural wonders in the world. Yes, the place is impressive to look at, but how long do you want to admire the view? Maybe 20 minutes? Then you drive 1/2 hour to another spot where the view, frankly, is pretty similar. I waited until near sunset to see the canyon glow which was indeed pretty, but it was just like all the photos of the canyon I’ve seen over the years. I did enjoy the short steep hike down the canyon’s side. Short because unless one made reservations at the lodge at the canyon bottom, or is extremely fit to do the ~35 km of top-to-bottom-back-to-top hike in 1 day, one is limited to relatively short hikes – you don’t want to hike down until you get tired because you have to turn around and hike straight back up.

A rafting trip through the canyon could be spectacular but I did what 99% of the tourists typically do. If you want to visit Las Vegas or combine with seeing other nearby National Parks, then by all means tack on the Grand Canyon. However, I would find the effort vs reward questionable if flying a long ways just for the canyon.

Other places that pop up on some of the overrated lists include the Stonehenge and the Leaning Tower of Pisa but since I have not been there myself, I’m just passing on the warning that many “must-see” places deserve scrutiny if you want to get the most of out of your travels.

Oh, I greatly enjoyed Dubrovnik and the Louvre but both were relatively uncrowded during my visit.

Dubrovnik’s old town ringed by a tall wall. Croatia.

Recommendation: Determine whether crowds will be a big problem and whether your interests lines up with the intrinsic attractions of the place enough to bear the cost of money/time/effort. If both are green lights, definitely go. After all, there are often excellent reasons why a place is popular with visitors.

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Travel Which Way Decision: Should one venture out of the airport on a long layover?

June 5, 2023 No Comments 6 Mins Read

Either by inconvenient connections or intentional planning, a long layover presents an opportunity to visit someplace outside of the transit airport.

If one visits a faraway place, chances are direct flights are rare/expensive/nonexistent which means at least one connection. The airline flight fare algorithm undoubtedly knows that long connect times are undesirable and so some of the cheapest tickets involve long layovers. Now, that could be a bonus if the transit stop is in an interesting place. So, should one leave the airport to look around?

Pros for leaving the airport:

Chance to see another place as a “bonus” on a trip
If in another country, in additional to any specific place, can get a taste of a different culture

Cons:

Added hassle and expense
Risk of missing onward flight if things go wrong

Here are the key factors: 1. entry requirements; 2. time; and 3. attractiveness of the place.

If it is a domestic flight, then there is of course no immigration/customs requirement and one is free to leave the airport. In a foreign country, one may need a visa which could hopefully be something like an on-the-spot transit visa. I’ve had immigration officers totally understand my motivation to have a look around to others who were slightly puzzled. Nonetheless, every single time I’ve tried to leave, I’ve been successful except for one time. Most airports have been very accommodating and they have even let me to reverse through the security/x-ray line to get out on a couple of occasions. That one unsuccessful attempt was in Incheon (Seoul) airport in late 2022.

I’ve been to the Incheon airport a few times and have a good impression up to that point – it had been well organized with scheduled parade of actors playing historical royalty and even offered free tours to outside of the airport (e.g. to Seoul). I did double check that a visa was not needed but when I tried to exit the airport, it turns out that I had to have an ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization) which needed 3 days to process. It’s my fault that I didn’t surface this requirement but, in my defense, plenty of websites gave all greens status to visit in terms visa, COVID test, COVID quarantine etc. There was no category of ETA on such checklists. If I ever create a “rant” section on this site, the poor signage, the false advertising and the bothersome inconsistent security screening are additional reasons that Incheon airport isn’t one of my favorites.

*Imperial parade to entertain those waiting for their flights at Incheon airport, South Korea*

I think that’s enough about the exit aspect – now onto the time consideration. It takes time to exit the airport as there’s immigration/customs, possibly to collect and store luggage. It takes time to get to your destination be it a monument or the town center. Add in the times enjoying the place, getting back to the airport, going through immigration/customs/security checks and possibly retrieving the stored luggage (note that some luggage depots close relatively early – e.g. 7pm). While one should do specific research on the destination, taking account the time of day + day of week, my rule of thumb is 1 hour to exit and 2-3 hours to get to the departing gate from the time of arrival back at the airport.

A potential wild card is the transit time. Many airports are far from the city center so that can take some unpredictable amount of time, especially in cities known for traffic jams like Bangkok and Istanbul. The best case is to have the airport connected by a modern rail link as those tend to run on time. Aside/fun fact: in Laos, the airports are often very close to the city center while the high-speed rail stations are far away because the rail stations were built very recently.

Before the Taoyuan airport in Taiwan got a rail link, I negotiated at an airport counter for a car and driver to take me into town for 4 hours. It was reasonable at ~$60 USD which wasn’t that much more than a couple one-way airport taxis. I got to see the happy frantic Chinese New Year shopping street as well as the Taipei 101 skyrise which was the tallest building in the world before the rise of Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Now that the airport is served by the mass transit rail, I can pop into town for one of my favorite dishes in the world – Lin Dong Fang beef noodle soup. I would gladly go through all the hassles of getting out of the airport for just that dish but now that a branch opened in the airport itself (in the departure area after security), I have more options.

*An enthusiastic seller at the Taipei’s famous New Year’s snack-food bazaar on Dihua Street*

*A somewhat less enthusiastic seller on Dihua Street, Taipei.*

*One of my all-time favorite dishes: beef noodle soup at Lin Dong Fang, Taipei, Taiwan*

As for the destination, obviously research what one would do and the logistics involved. For example, make sure it is actually open on that day and if so, whether any needed reservation is attainable.

Part of the attractive equation is the safety and hassle factor. I was mulling over connecting in Manila, Philippines but I remembered some time ago, someone at the airport tried to trick my dad. However, my dad alertly asked for some contact names that the person should have but didn’t actually know. After a long trans-Pacific flight, the thought of being in a chaotic airport, on guard against taxi drivers that didn’t want to use meters or pickpockets on transit system just didn’t appeal to me. I ended up choosing another itinerary. Now, I’m not picking on Manila, as this could happen at so many places. On each of my first 2 visits to Beijing, which is not known for lawlessness, an airport taxi driver tried to rip me off. The first time, it resulted in the hotel concierge helping me to get a full refund from the taxi company. The second time, I tracked down a policeman at the airport so I only paid the fair price.

The attractiveness of the destination can be weighed against what is on offer at the airport. Many airports are dull affairs but more and more are featuring shopping and food. There are exceptional places like Singapore’s airport that boasts a free movie theater, multiple gardens and more.

I once happily spent 7 productive hours at the Turkish Airline’s lounge in Istanbul. It is the best airport lounge that I’ve been to: tasty food cooked to order, a library and roving therapists for shoulder massages are just a few of the amenities. (I spent a couple days at Istanbul the city on the way back.)

*Turkish Airline’s lounge at Istanbul, Turkey*

*Connecting through Munich, Germany on a cold day.*

Recommendation: If one is feeling energetic and motivated to see an area not too far away, go for it and leave the airport – just make sure to get back in time!

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Travel Which Way Decision: Is it worth going to high observation decks?

June 5, 2023 1 Comment 3 Mins Read

Featured image above: View from the Shanghai Tower.

High observation decks abound in many cities: New York and Shanghai have at least 4 each, Tokyo has the Skytree, and Toronto the iconic CN Tower but this post isn’t meant to be a compendium of such places. I don’t recall any of such places being low cost – some of them can be quite exorbitant. The question is should one partake?

Pros of going up:

See the city from a different perspective
Views could be stunning
Cheaper than chartering a helicopter 😆

Cons:

Usually pricy
Weather-dependent

Let me describe the best case scenario:

1. The place has a beautiful skyline (e.g. Hong Kong, London)

2. One appreciates such views and enjoys identifying landmarks

3. The weather is good (i.e. good visibility)

4. The cost in money and time (getting there, lining up, ticket price) is quite affordable

Even if the answers to the 4 questions above are all yes, there’s one final check – is there an alternative to these highly commercial attractions? A hill that one can get to with a cheap taxi? A restaurant or a bar high up that one can nurse the undoubted expensive drink that nevertheless should still be cheaper than the deck ticket? Indeed, often the very same buildings with the observation decks have bars that might be a few insignificant floors lower.

View of Taipei 101 from the Elephant Mountain (free!)

If the answer to one or more of the questions is “no” – then it depends. The weather in particular can be a deal breaker. There’s little point in going up in inclement weather unless someone has an affinity for seeing fog.

Here’s how I went about deciding on a 2021 trip to New York. First, browsing the online reviews gave a good indication that, in general, the views were impressive. The websites of all the candidates^[1] One World Observatory, Empire State Building, the Edge and Top of the Rock spelled out the pricing (of note, there are various prepaid passes that bundle different attractions so modest discounts could be had) and more importantly, an idea of the specific views. Having determined that the views were worth it, I chose the Rockefeller because I could see the iconic Empire State Building (which is not really viewable from its own deck) and because I could see both downtown and uptown. After checking the weather forecast, I purchased a late afternoon entry and saw the marvelous Manhattan skyline with Liberty Island off in the distance in one direction and the oasis of Central Park in the other. Hung around for an hour reading then saw the scene transformed as it turns to night. Both day and night views are worthwhile and seeing both made my day.

*View from Top of the Rock towards New York’s Central Park*

Recommendation: I would say the answer is a qualified “yes” to going up high to see the city unless one is quite tight on budget.

^{^[1]} Now there’s also Summit One Vanderbilt which opened in late 2021

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Travel Which Way Decision: Should one save the best for last?

June 4, 2023 No Comments 4 Mins Read

Should one end the day or indeed a whole trip with the top highlight?

Pros for saving the best for last:

Having something to really looking forward to during the entire trip
Possibly deepens appreciation of that highlight

Cons:

Things constantly go wrong on trips, so there is always a possibility of missing a highlight
May not have the chance to go a 2^nd time, if desired

There is something to be said for building up to a crescendo. Do you want to eat the absolute best paella in Spain on day 1 and be slightly disappointed in all other paellas on the trip, or alternatively, build up the appreciation over time by saving that unsurpassed paella for last?

Some 20 years ago, I visited Paris which is of course full of world-class attractions. I spaced out the must-visits (Louvre, Eiffel Tower, d’Orsay etc.) over a few days. On the last day, I went to the famed Sainte-Chapelle only to find it closed for some official function. I was philosophical about it – one can’t see everything anyway – be grateful for all the sights seen already.

In hindsight, it would have been better to “front load” the trip and leave a day or so free at the end in case something was missed. I could have been extra tired or the weather could be bad on a given day. In developing countries, occasionally the electricity would be out for an entire day! And sometimes I liked a place so much that I wanted to see it again and that free day would be perfect for the revisit.

*Forbidden Palace, Beijing. I was so impressed that I went again the next day. If I visited the palace on the last day of the trip, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity.*

Last year, I finally got a chance to go to Paris again and I made sure to reserve a month in advance to visit the Sainte-Chapelle. Even though I have visited countless churches already, this one still blew me away. The light flooding the place was stunning.

*Sainte-Chapelle, Paris. After a couple decades, I finally saw it. It was worth the wait.*

On the other hand, on a recent trip to Bangkok, my first meal there was at a Pad Thai specialist. Pad Thai Fai Ta Lu only had 3 main dishes: Pad Thai with pork loin, Pad Thai with shrimp and Pad Thai with crispy skin roasted pork. The server-recommended pork loin version was by far the best Pad Thai I’ve ever had. I was so impressed that after I finished eating and was already fairly full, I ordered the crispy pork one as well. It was very good but not quite as good as the previous dish. Lest you accuse me of being a pure glutton, I’ll defend myself as only a semi-glutton as I was on my feet for 5 hours in 40C temperature sightseeing my way through central Bangkok. I think I needed/deserved some extra calories.

For the next 3 days in Bangkok, I ate at many interesting places with superb food, including at a couple of other Michelin Bib Gourmands recommendations. However, none rose to the height of that first meal and so they fell short of “full” enjoyment as I involuntarily compared my meals. I did eventually decide to go back to that Pad Thai place on the last day but a 6-hour flight departure shift laid waste to that plan. Aside: I have never had so much trouble with flights as I had with that one particular transit. One outright cancellation, 2 schedule changes of greater than 12 hours, 2 changes of > 12 hours which resulted in 3 rebookings, all on different airlines. How I wished I had a travel agent for that day.

Recommendation: In a perfect world, sure, save the best for last but with the uncertainties of travel, prioritize the must see/do/eat to ensure that one doesn’t miss it.

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Travel Which Way Decision: Should I eat today’s meal at a restaurant or try the street food?

June 4, 2023 No Comments 4 Mins Read

The answer, as it almost always is, is that it depends. Are you at a place that is notable for the street food? What is your risk tolerance for cleanliness? How much of a premium are you placing on comfort – maybe it’s 38C and humid, so that air conditioning would be so welcoming!

Pros for street food:

Likely genuine local cuisine
See the what the dish looks like and how it is cooked, exactly
Can be atmospheric
Cheap

Cons:

Limited menu at each place
Usually harder to come across reviews from the Internet
Less comfortable
Variable cleanliness

A few of my top meals were (merely) cheap street eats. In Penang, Malaysia, I wondered around a small market, trusting my nose to a noodle soup (duck koay teow) that costs just ~$1 USD. The dish sounds straight forward and indeed is offered pretty much all over town. If a place specializes in just a couple of dishes, they ought to be good or they will soon go out of business. This cart didn’t have a line (nor did any other stalls in that market at that hour) but I saw a steady stream of motorbikes and scooters come by for to-go orders. Since those people could easily go to a number of other places, this stall must have been compelling in some way. As suspected, the dish won me over with its deceptive simplicity – the dish looked like many other soup noodles but the flavors were so harmonious. When I went back the very next night, the smiling proprietor gave me the honor of sitting at the cart’s lone stool.

*Food cart in Penang, Malaysia serving cheap yet delicious noodles.*

Penang’s hawker street food scene is well-developed and generally food cleanliness isn’t much of a concern but a dish like a steaming hot bowl of soup noodles that is cooked at/near boiling temperature has an additional safety margin.

I ate at bigger and more famous hawker centers but no dish impressed me more than this one. Serendipity and a lack of high expectations probably helped the enjoyment factor.

Another time, my dad and I had reservations at reputedly the best seafood restaurant in Ensenada, Mexico. While strolling towards the restaurant, we walked past an indentation in the wall making tortas (sandwiches). We watched them grill meat which sizzled so much that the purpose of the aluminum foil covering nearby surfaces was apparent. We continued on our way. However, the heavenly smell wafted down the street and we didn’t go more than a ½ block before we looked at each other and decided to ditch the restaurant (cancelling the reservation in time of course). We ordered a couple of flavor-packed dripping tortas and ate sitting on the street curb. Many years later, we still talk about that meal.

*Torta (Mexican sandwich) place in Ensenada, Mexico. After eating a superb meal the night before, I went back in the daytime to get another.*

Of course, great food exists in restaurants too! I don’t think I need to illustrate this point but I do want to highlight that in addition to the food itself, some restaurants provide memorable sense-of-place experiences. At the small counter watching the master and the apprentice expertly fry tempura in Nara in a serene yet focused fashion drives home the Japanese pride of refining one’s craft. No scrambling around, no hurried words, just deliberate precision. And yes, the tempura was divine.

*Tempura expertly fried in front of diners. Nara, Japan.*

A Michelin-starred restaurant at Dubrovnik, Croatia has outdoor tables right on the famous old fortress walls. With views of the old town on one side and a harbor of boats on the other while the sun sets – what a glorious place for a meal! Yes, the food was good but the memorable part is the setting as there can be no doubt on where we were. We debated on whether to splurge on this restaurant when there were many other tempting options in town but I’m glad we took the plunge.

*Outside tables on the fortress wall are recommended over inside tables. Dubrovnik, Croatia.*

Lastly on the merits of restaurants, if you are traveling in locales where you can’t drink the tap water directly, eating at restaurants doesn’t guarantee safety. The only time I got stomach problems in Peru was when I let my guard down and ate some salad at a very nice restaurant that mostly caters to tourists.

Recommendation: When in doubt, go for the street eats – take a look at numerous articles on the Internet on how to choose one.

Features-Which Way Decision

Travel Which Way decision: Should I stay at a fancy hotel?

June 4, 2023 No Comments 4 Mins Read

Lodging choice for a trip can greatly impact the experience as well as the budget. So, what are the considerations when deciding whether to stay at a fancy hotel?

Pros of fancy hotels:

Location
Service
Comfort/amenities

Cons:

May be too insulating and one doesn’t immerse in the locale
Cost (and not just the cost of the room)

*As the atrium of Grand Hyatt Shanghai is open to the public, you don’t have to be a hotel guest to admire the architecture.*

Expensive hotels tend to be at desirable locations, which is the main thing I look for when choosing my lodgings. Note that great location can mean a couple of things: 1. central to the main sight and have multitude of dining options nearby; or 2. a resort on the outskirts where it is uncrowded and nicely manicured. Since my vacations are not relaxation focused, I like to be central.

Fancy hotels may or may not give a sense of place. Some of the international hotel chains can be very cookie cutter which can be comforting for guests. However, look around the room or lobby and one may not be able to figure out which continent one is in.

*Guess which country or continent this hotel is in? I couldn’t tell either if I didn’t remember staying there. St. Regis hotel, Shanghai.*

A suite at Riad dar Essalam, Marrakesh. A lot of character for not too much money.

Of course, fancy hotels are more expensive but it may be even more expensive than one expects. Extra service charges, higher food prices and parking costs can be outrageous. A colleague once returned his rental car every evening and took a new car in the morning to escape the insane Manhattan hotel parking fees. Another example, and a pet peeve, is that hotel laundry charges are usually complete rip offs. $4 USD to wash a pair of socks?!? I could buy a decent new pair for that amount (but then I would need to carry around more stuff). These high costs are often the case even in areas where labour cost is low. Cheaper hotels sometimes offer laundry on a per-kilogram basis, which tends to be reasonable. If all else fails, I usually bring quick-dry clothes and wash in the sink as necessary.

On the other hand, service is expected to be top notch at a fancy hotel. I was staying at a Ritz Carlton Hotel in China when I got food poisoning. There are few things worse than being sick alone in a foreign land. The concierge arranged to get me medicine and when the cleaning person took one look at my pale face, she made me a bowl of steamy soup noodles at the staff kitchen. I will never forget her kindness.

I have also stayed at high-end hotels where the staff strives to remember all the guests’ names. Some people may like that but I find it mildly unsettling if someone I don’t remember meeting greets me by name in the hallway!

Other than the room, the hotel could have an awesome view, lobby, pool, spa or restaurant. In many instances, you don’t have to a guest to experience those treats.

On the Big Island of Hawaii, I drove down a volcano early one morning and found a nice Hilton resort on the beach. Still tired and suffering from a lingering altitude sickness (that’s whole other story), I relaxed on a hammock with a view of the ocean. As it was ~6am, there was no one around or I’d be happy to buy a drink to help justify my presence.

My feet in early morning in a hammock at Hilton Waikoloa Village, Big Island, Hawaii

The Ritz Carlton at Half Moon Bay, California has wonderful views. The winding path between the building and the beach is a public path (mandated by law, I believe) so non-guests can enjoy the those same expansive views. Those ~~cheapskates~~ value-minded visitors can also chose to blow their many pennies saved on the hotel’s delicious – but quite expensive – brunch buffet complete with caviar.

*Guest chef at the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay brunch buffet. It was delicious and expensive but much less pricy than actually staying there overnight.*

Recommendation: Save some money by staying at a more simple hotel in a good location and visit the fancy hotels if so inclined.