Take the Train Not the Plane to Shanghai; Grand Hyatt Beijing Celebrates 15 Years
Having just done a 24-hour bounce trip to Shanghai, I am more convinced than ever that taking the train there is the way to go. Now is the time to reconsider air travel, especially as we are well into the spring thunderstorm season, which can cause multi-hour delays – simply grab a train seat, and relax. I took the new 7pm departure (considered a "night departure) and arrived at 11.48pm. Pretty cool.
RELATED: Beijing Capital Airport Implements 'Women-Only' Security Checks
If you're hustling to the train station or neighboring Hongqiao Aiirport, you'll want to jump on tge Shanghai Metro. From the Oriental Sports Center in Pudong, I made it to the train station in about 40 minutes, including one line change, for RMB 5.
For fans of our Fast Food Watch column, Hongqiao Railway Station is a fine collection of unhealthy outlets, with big operators like McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, Starbucks, and KFC offering multiple outlets on different floors or different parts of the terminal.
Is there any way we can put a stop to travel's new most annoying habit: people watching video on their phones or tablets without earphones, at full volume? On a train it's bad, on a plane it's worse. This cannot be allowed to continue.
In other news, there were 30.2 million outbound trips by Chinese travelers in the first quarter of this year. It's a minor increase over the same time last year, but still represents a major force in the travel industry.
Finally, congratulations to the Grand Hyatt Beijing, which is celebrating 15 years of serving visitors and residents of our fair city. We're sure they'll have plenty of events and activities to mark the occasion. Learn more on their website.
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Email: stevenschwankert@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @greatwriteshark
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Photo: Wikimedia
