Talking Travel: Trains, Automobiles, and Grasping the Gold

I'm gloating – I reached Premier Gold status in United Airlines' MileagePlus frequent flyer program. The most amazing thing about it is I can now check three, 32-kilogram suitcases per flight, for free. I think I'm about to embark on a new line of work.

Speaking of United, a quick glance at Christmas week bookings to the New York City area shows fares just barely under USD 1,000 round-trip including tax, with seats widely available. That's a pretty good deal, but if you want it, book it now, come November 1 it will be a different situation.

A whole bunch of government employees and other Beijingers are about to receive a six-day holiday November 7-12, due to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit that will take place then, to relieve traffic and some of Beijing's other common ails. A travel option that has emerged for those suddenly liberated from their desks is auto trains, where you drive your car onto the train, the train takes you somewhere else, then you drive it off and speed away. Talking Travel wrote about the first of these trains, which travels between Beijing and Hangzhou. It ain't cheap. I guess the other question is, how much does one really drive in a travel destination, and at that rate, why not just drive there in the first place? Just take the train.

Speaking of cars, The Ritz-Carlton Beijing, Financial Street will be very pleased to pick you up at the airport in a McLaren supercar. All that's required is that you first book the Ritz-Carlton Suite at said hotel. Two hotel guests will also be selected per month, between now and January, 2015, for a free airport transport "upgrade." See their website for more information.

For the more environmentally conscious, our friends at Fairmont Beijing are showcasing BMW's new i Series of electric cars. Guests staying at the Fairmont Beijing can choose to be picked up in one of the new cars, and can visit 798 and the National Peking Opera Company while riding around in one if booking the "Passion Package." See their website for more details.

A shipyard in China and Carnival Cruise Lines are building the country's first luxury cruise ship. Cruising is a rapidly developing sector of China's travel market, with departures for Beijingers out of nearby Tianjin. As expected, the market is predicted to soon be worth billions of dollars and require whole fleets of cruise ships to satisfy demand.

The lagging 72-hour, visa-free travel scheme for Beijing now has a new sweetener: participants may store a piece of luggage for free at Beijing Capital International Airport during their stay. I'm guessing this will convince exactly no one who is on the fence about a quick trip to Beijing to go ahead and pull the trigger.

The Grand Hyatt Beijing has invested in a second filtration system for its hotel, to combat Beijing's occasional airborne unpleasantness. More on that here.

I'll write about that skiing stuff I said I'd write about next week.

More stories by this author here.

Email: stevenschwankert@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @greatwriteshark

Photo: Popular Cruising