Rapid Travel Chai

This week I join Seth and Stephan on podcast Dots, Lines and Destinations, listen here.

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I have listened to DLD since the first episode and got to ask questions of the avgeeks such as “what is a scissor hub?” to “why are you looking at Flight Radar all day?”

We talked about new airline routes to China. Tomorrow starts New York JFK-Fuzhou on SkyTeam member Xiamen Airlines. We talked about trips to Fujian Province and bonus on Hunan Province, which is served by Hainan Airlines nonstop from Los Angeles. Two fascinating provinces less visited by international tourists. If you like James Cameron’s Avatar, you will love Zhangjiajie. I even argue that Delta SkyMiles is the best program for Asia!

Photo by Ken Marshall, flickr, creative commons license

Stick around for Delta One and United Polaris side-by-side reviews, 4 Europe flights each in January. Learn about the hot, on demand mid-flight Polaris snack coming back from Europe and the disappearing Polaris cool gel pillows.

I provided show notes on the destinations, and here they are as well:

Fujian Province: coastal province known for seafaring, many ethnic Chinese in Taiwan and around Southeast Asia trace their roots to Fujian and maintain close ties

• Fuzhou: mainly a transport hub for travelers
• Wuyishan (Mt Wuyi): UNESCO-listed scenic area 5-6 hours by bus from Fuzhou or daily flights to Wuyishan Airport (WUS) from major cities including Xiamen but not Fuzhou
• Longyan: see the UNESCO-listed tulou (earth towers) of the Hakka people, a more rugged overland trip
• Quanzhou: see the Quanzhou Maritime Museum
• Chongwu: one of China’s best preserved walled cities and base of folk hero Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga)
• Xiamen: the other Xiamen Airlines hub, visit Gulangyu Island

Hunan Province: traditionally the last culturally Han Chinese region before the lands of ethnic groups that populate modern China’s southwest, lots of history of those borders and famous officials and scholars exiled here; in modern times the birthplace of Mao Zedong

• Changsha:
  • Visit Mawangdui Han Tombs and Hunan Provincial Museum, massively important for world histroy and literature for manuscripts that pushed back the earliest versions of texts such as Tao Te Ching, the 1,000-year old Yuelu Academy, and for those interested in the Chinese Communist Party, the Lei Feng Memorial Hall
  • Day trip to Shaoshan, Chairman Mao’s birthplace
• Nanyue Hengshan: the southern of the 5 Daoist holy mountains, each correspondents to an element in Daoism, this being fire
• Zhangjiajie/Wulingyuan: UNESCO-listed landscape said to be the inspiration for the scenery in James Cameron’s Avatar, quite remote, best to fly in to Zhangjiajie Airport (DYG)