| China Train Ticket Question | |
|---|---|
| May 27, 2008 21:46 |   |
| guest14833 | Has anyone ever used travelchinaservice.com to book in advance for train tickets? They seem to be pretty cheap (only $20 american added onto the price for service fees and delivery to your hotel), but I haven't seen anything about them on the internet. Any info would be great. |
| May 27, 2008 23:54 | #1 |
 | <but I haven't seen anything about them on the internet.> travelchinaservice.com Strange comment to make about an internet based company!!!!!!!!1 Wait till you arrive and have your hotel book your tickets. You should never pay more than Y30/50 extra for this service. US$20 seems a little steep. You may as well spend the money on flights. |
| May 28, 2008 02:23 | #2 |
| Yes, 20 USD is too much to be paying for train ticket commission. I presume you're talking about PER ticket. |
| May 28, 2008 21:23 | #3 |
| GUEST14833 | Yes, it is per ticket, but I need to reserve a train for a very specific time (from Beijing to Xi'an) so that's why I was looking into it. There are a few trains that leave at that time, but I really do need a soft sleeper considering how long the ride is. I'm only in Beijing for 3 days. Will that be enough time for the hotel to reserve a ticket for me ahead of time? Also, if I can't get a soft sleeper, any recommendations? Should I get a hard sleeper? or a soft seat? Thanks for the help. |
| May 29, 2008 03:08 | #4 |
| Good grief, you REALLY don't need to pay any more than 50 RMB/ticket, and that's quite relatively expensive already! Stop thinking in terms of USD... that's too expensive for China. And, you're not asking for some very obscure train either. If you want some peace of mind, I'll be happy to help you with the train tickets myself. When are you travelling? Hard sleeper is fine if you can't get soft sleeper. |
| May 29, 2008 22:06 | #5 |
| If I remember correctly there are a few night trains from Beijing to Xi'an. It's really not a far ride. You fall asleep in Beijing and wake up in Xi'an. If you're traveling alone it doesn't quite matter if it's soft sleeper or hard sleeper. I agree with all the above, though, about the $20 fee for train tickets. Way too much money! I understand how hard it is to stop thinking in terms of dollars, but realize that that fee is somewhere between a 25%-33% commission on your actual ticket price. That's unacceptable anywhere you travel. If you're traveling anytime in the next month you shouldn't have any problems getting a ticket from your hotel once you arrive. Remember that if you get here and don't find the right train tickets, the closer you are to the date of departure here in China, the cheaper the airline tickets. In other words, don't fret. Hopefully you can get a train for the experience of it all, but if not there will be an airplane in the nice, new Beijing airport waiting to whisk you away to Xi'an. |
| Jun 23, 2008 10:37 | #6 |
| GUEST14833 | I'm guessing it won't be a problemt that I'm staying at hostels then for a good part of the trip? Most of you are mentioning hotels, I guess I'm just wondering how a hostel (or small hotel for that matter) can reserve the tickets so easily when other people have to wait for hours at the station. Also, I've got a guy my wife has been talking to who is living in Beijing now saying that we should DEFINITELY get tickets as far in advance as we can (saying that students will be traveling home for summer vacation). That's the reason I'm asking these questions. The guy seems pretty sure of it. |
| Jun 23, 2008 10:57 | #7 |
| GUEST14833 | The reason I mention this, is my wife is talking with a friend who is living is from Beijing. He insists that this will be the season when students are traveling home from school and therefore booking train tickets as far in advance as possible would be good. I understand to not think of things in dollars. I just also don't want to stand in line waiting for tickets (which I've heard can be quite a long ordeal). |
| Jun 29, 2008 10:59 | #8 |
| GUEST93438 | Sorry Ellyse, I posted a couple of times, but not in reply to you. You can check out my previous posts, but will there be any difficulty traveling during this time with college students going home to see there families? I was warned of this but obviously I have no idea. At the moment, our plans are: Beijing -> Xi'an -> Nanjing -> Huangshan -> Shanghai |
| Jun 30, 2008 04:44 | #9 |
| Students don't travel in Soft Seat class, so it shouldn't make too much difference. I would stop worrying about it, and wait until you arrive. Or how about this for an award winning idea.... Get your wife's friend who you say is living in Beijing, to get the tickets for you! Hard bed is better than soft bed in my opinion anyway. The atmosphere is far better. Even if you have to queue at the train station, I think the stories you are hearing are exaggerated. I have never had to wait more than 10 or 15 minutes to buy a ticket from a train station. There are many authorised ticket agents dotted around the city where you can buy tickets for an additional 5 yuan. These places rarely have queues. Conclusion - stop worrying about it and enjoy your trip. |
| Jul 1, 2008 11:19 | #10 |
| Rememeber that 'hard' does not mean hard, but second class. The conditions are generally quite good. The journey is only 12 hours so a hard sleeper is fine. I would choose that rather than a soft seat. I think you could have trouble getting a ticket with only 3 days notice, but ask the travele agaent or hotel/hostel as soon as you arrive. Hard seats are definitely not much fun - again they are not hard but crowded... five across (3+2) but there might be another hundred standing in the same carriage. For seats, make sure you have a seat number on the ticket, no number means you are standing! If you cannot get a train ticket ask about overnight buses - they too have bunks, a little cramped but they are acceptable. I would guess it will take a little longer than the train, but probably not a lot more. Tickets are usuaaly available much closer to departure than trains. My research suggests that buses go from Lianhuachi Long Distance Bus Station, Address: No. 35, Guangan Road, Fengtai district. Get a local to do it for you as you would waste a lot of time doing it yourself. As a sightseeing trip, the first half has little to offer, you need to get some distance beyond Taiyuan for anything worthwhile. |
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