This was published 6 years ago
Readers' tip: Be careful of the 72-hour visa-free stopover in China
Looking to do a stop over in China? You need to know this about the 72-hour visa-free stopover.Credit: Adobe Stock
TIP OF THE WEEK: NOTHING IS FOR FREE
Be careful if planning to take advantage of the 72-hour visa-free stopover in China. My daughter booked a flight from Melbourne to Beijing where she was to sojourn for 48 hours before travelling on to Venice.
The travel agent advised her that she would not need a visa, and gave her some printed information to that effect; the visa-free condition requires the traveller to arrive and leave from the same international airport and to stay within the administrative area of that arrival point.
Guangzhou airport, China.Credit: Alamy
However, unbeknown to us, the end point of the international sector of the flight was Guangzhou, with the second leg being a domestic flight (both flights with China Southern Airlines). On the ticket, it appeared to simply be a two-hour layover in Guangzhou, but the end result was that she was not permitted to board the flight from Melbourne and had to buy a new flight directly to Italy.
Now begins the task of trying to obtain recompense for the considerable extra cost, to say nothing of the disappointment in missing out on the Beijing sector of her trip and the destruction of her faith in travel agents.
Carolyn Marrone, Kangaroo Flat, VIC
GALLE OF FAME
My family and I just returned from a fabulous trip to Sri Lanka. The hotels were uniformly excellent and staff efficient, friendly and helpful. A standout for excellence was the grand old Galle Face Hotel.
I would also like to unreservedly recommend our driver Krishantha Hettararchi. He was always on time, cheerful, extremely knowledgeable and helpful.
One warning: in some hotels the showers over the bath often don't protect the floors adequately and could lead to a fall, as it did for me at the Amaya Hills Hotel in Kandy.
Mignonne de Witt, Box Hill South, VIC
The best deed a hotel concierge has done for me was, definitely, to summon an on-call doctor at 6am for my (very) ill husband.
As it turned out, I was also ill and, having been subsequently "grounded" by said doctor for four days, everyone at the hotel were exemplary and empathetic in their support of the two of us in our temporary frailty.
A great big shout out to the Apex Club of London for their effort. We acknowledged this at the time with a box of chocolates, but it deserves so much more.
Name and address withheld
GREAT DANES
To avoid paying Telstra's ridiculous mobile phone roaming rates on a recent trip to Europe, I bought a Lycamobile SIM from a salesman set up in the baggage claim area at the Copenhagen airport (also available in the Copenhagen central railway station).
The SIM costs 100 Danish kroner but having no kroner, I was able to pay $US17 (no credit cards accepted). More expensive plans with higher calling and data limits are available.
The SIM works for 30 days, provides phone and data roaming, and functioned just fine in Denmark, the UK, and France. The Danish phone number that was assigned in Copenhagen automatically switched to a UK number when I arrived in London, then reverted to a different Danish phone number when I travelled to France.
I rarely used the phone for calls or data roaming (always using free Wi-Fi in hotels and restaurants) and although I travelled for nearly three weeks, never had to top up the SIM on line.
Tony Bell, Hawthorn East, VIC
CAPE CRUSADERS
On a recent stay in Broome we hired a four-wheel-drive to travel up the Cape Leveque Road for a few days. Two and a half hours from Broome, we unfortuately struck a straying donkey.
Fortunately we had enough mobile coverage to notify the hire company, which dispatched a tow truck and replacement vehicle for the damaged four-wheel-drive. The driver came with all necessary paperwork and we were on our way again in under three hours.
On our return to Broome, all that was required was a signature from the driver. The company was Broome-Broome a local small operator.
Beryle Bevan, Scotts Head, NSW
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