Singaporean Entrepreneurs

In one of the most exhausting experiences ever- my friend and I found ourselves stuck in Beijing’s Capital airport for SEVEN HOURS due to a friend’s delayed flight coming in from New Zealand via Singapore. The airport personnel had no idea what was going on and the service counter for Singapore Airlines had closed as it was past 5PM. We all thought it was ridiculous that of all airlines, Singapore airlines which is supposed to be known for its service, didn’t have anyone to keep worried and waiting friends and relatives informed.

TIP#1: Make Friends at the Airport, they know more than Airport Personnel
Listening in on conversations around us, we found someone who was able to talk to their friend who was onboard the same flight. Thus we learned that the plane had been diverted to Tianjin to refuel after having its landing delayed due to the storm in Beijing. While refueling, ground personnel found a small fault with the plane and Tianjin didn’t have any engineers who could service a 777 and had to have one sent from Beijing. It would take at least 3 hours before they took off again.

TIP#2: If you’re going to be stuck at an airport in China, sit yourself at a Starbucks and you’ll be well fed even if you have very little money left.
Needless to say, our friend was fit to be tied when she finally landed and we were all equally knackered, even after 3 cups of coffee and several free small pastries and shots of new coffees being introduced- thank you Starbucks.

TIP#3 Have alternative Hotel Bookings on hand
The adventure had not ended, our friend’s booking at her hotel had been automatically cancelled after she didn’t show past 10PM. We were able to help her out of course, but if she had been travelling on her own, exhausted, hungry, and probably not thinking too straight, it would have been a nightmare. If you know the local language of the country you’re visiting, great! But if you don’t have some other bookings handy in a notebook.

Here are some great content aggregators you can use to find hotels, especially last minute ones:
(1) Ctrip.com – for China, this is a great tool. However, its English version is much more limited than its Chinese version so get a Chinese-literate friend to help you if you can. Every time you book you also earn points which can be used towards payment of your next booking.

(2) Hotelscombined.com – covers world hotels & has reviews that can help you make your decision, especially for the boutique hotels. It takes a while to process the database but is worth the wait. Contains maps, rates, photos. Available in 12 languages. If you find the service too slow,
browse by country for faster service.

(3) Hotelclub.com- is also a pretty good site for worldwide hotel booking & we’ve found some good deals on it when booking for friends who are visiting Singapore. You have to be quick in decision making though because sometimes the offers are completely taken up just after a few hours.