December Holidays Part 1

My last holiday to Japan was in Dec 2009. I started planning this trip as early as Sep 2009. This Sep, I did nothing except work.

D has been pressing me to go either Korea or Taiwan on our own for this Dec holidays. But I have been to Korea twice and looking at the prices of air tickets, I turned down the offer.

D finally decided to go Taiwan and surprisingly when I mentioned to my "finance minister", J, he thought was a great idea to spend our year-end hols in Taiwan. The problem is where to get reasonably priced air tickets. D suggested getting tickets from CPA but have to transit at HK. The price for an adult air ticket is about $660+, slightly cheaper for a kid. J immediately checked his KrisFlyer Miles and found that he has sufficient miles for 3 persons but on the Saver type which means seats are really limited or possibly not available during the peak period in Dec.

Nevertheless, we decided to try our luck, noting that using this Miles to redeem air tickets is not really FOC as we still have to pay for the various taxes plus the fuel surcharges, which amount to nearly $800 for the whole family.

The next early morning, J received an sms from SIA and our outbound trip was confirmed! What a swift response and this no doubt increases our confidence in making this Taiwan trip possible.

I called SIA Contact Centre and was told since we were on the priority wait list (there are priorities in the wait list ???), our chance of getting the return leg was high.

After a day, I called again to ask about the status of our booking, only to be told that our chances of getting the return leg was slim. What a joke and confusion? I asked immediately when (date and time of departure)and how to increase our chance of securing our return leg. The kind staff advised me and I immediately agreed to the date and time of departure.

Money is leaving my bank account to SIA and the e-tickets are on their way to me. I have secured the air tickets to Taipei and we are travelling by SIA!

Now the burden falls on D to do the planning of our week's stay in Taiwan.

Stay tuned for further updates.