Chapter 17. PTR stuff and some more China.
I listen.
I took the advice of many and wrote my friends an email..wait. Let me cut and paste...just a sec. Here's the email I wrote:
Gene and Jeff,
I thought I'd just give you an update on WDW. Right now it looks like for 3 of us at Pop Century, it'll run 1075. That includes room, tickets to everything (waterpark, arcades, parks), and meals. The only thing not included in that price is airfare and discretionary spending money (for drinks and souvies).
It's July and there are 6 more months until Feb. You can save about 350/month and be set. I will probably make a reservation at the end of August, beginning of September. They only require about 250 total to put a deposit down and then full payment is due 45 days before the trip. If you want to make monthly payments to the reservation I can set that up with the Travel Agent.
I know Jeff mentioned not having a ton of money right now. If you can't make it this year, I completely understand. It won't keep me from going and it won't piss me off. I'd just like to start moving ahead so I know how much I need to budget. If one or both of you don't go, then I need to put aside a bit more money and I would need to start doing that starting this month. So if could let me know that would be great.
Jordo
I haven't heard from either of them yet, but I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything.
Pricing airfare
We were so spoiled for many years with ultra low prices. I think I've mentioned this before, but Wendy has her plane ticket from our 1st trip in 1991 and it was 350.00 back then. I'll be okay paying 350 for a flight, but hoping I might be able to score one around 275-300. I've just started looking, but it looks like 325-350 is the going rate...I can buy a ticket now for my trip but it's at 450.00 right now...
If I were to change my outbound flight date from Friday or Saturday to Wednesday, my fare would drop anywhere from 75-100 dollars which leads me to.....
Should I add days
Using the
FDM, by changing the outbound flight to Wed., I save 100 dollars. Adding 2 nights on the front end would add about cost about 180 dollars. Adding 2 days would only cost me 80 dollars more. It would be like getting a night for free. Of course that doesn't include meals, but that kind of expense is not taken into acct with
FDM
If you recall my last PTR in 2007, I had the exact same dilemma. I did end up adding 2 days on the front end of my trip in 08.
We'll see how that pans out. I'm a bit less inclined to do it this time because IF I end up at Pop on my own then I will have plenty of down time in the evenings.
More China
So these pictures were taken the same day we were at the Temple of Heaven...it was a looong day, but we saw alot of stuff. After seeing the Temple of Heaven aka Epcot's China Pavilion, we took the bus to Tiananmen Square.
Here's Tiananmen Square. I wanted to take a funny picture of me laying down in the middle of the square in mock defiance of Communism. My friend highly suggested I don't attempt it. She said I would've been escorted out of the country...really.
There's a high military presence here:
Me in front of the entrance to the Forbidden City:
Inside the gates of the Forbidden City, but still not all the way in. We ended up not going all the way in. It was late in the day and they were about to close up tours.
Here I am listening to a tour guide...I understood her perfectly
We walked over to Wa Fu Ching-a upscale shopping area. It also has Snack Street. You may see this street on shows like Bizzare Eats or whatever it's called. I think I've also seen Samantha Brown here eating a starfish.
Here we are inside one of the malls:
The name of a restaurant:
East meets West
We found another snack street:
I would've eaten one of the scorpions except they were still moving:
We left and went to a mall closer to where we were staying....and lo and behold look what I found:
I couldn't believe my eyes!!!!!!
Okay that's all for this update
Click here for next installment
I was reading a TR the other day and she took some quiz that said her ideal mate would be an ASIAN!!! 
I asked her if she had met you! 
Anyhoo-it was Glendamax. Just thought I would through that out there! 
lmao
How spoiled was I??
I thought the atmosphere was more akin to a health club. Nice, functional, and clean, but not "an escape." (A guy may be more comfortable here, however.) Ed had a "Sports Massage" after running the half-marathon and he liked it.
then made me 
. We take so much for granted in this country don't we?
