December 17, 2003

• There is always an alternative…

  I’ve been trying to book airtickets to Hong Kong for the past two days… hoping to do everything on the internet, assuming that this would be the quickest and simplest method. (How I miss Katherine, our trusty travel agent in Sydney) Today, I learnt that the major travel websites like Expedia and Orbitz would not accept credit cards with foreign (ie Australian) billing addresses for booking flights.

  I rang Expedia to query this and the sales rep apologised and confirmed that “US travel agents are not authorized by the carriers to accept foreign credit cards.” Sorry, there was nothing she could do.

  “All US travel agents? Or just Expedia?”

  “All US travel agents, ma’am. No travel agents will book a flight with a foreign credit card. You have to contact the carriers directly”.

  Naturally Eddie and I were getting some baaad flashbacks to three months ago when we first arrived in LA:- the hassles we went through trying to buy a car with funds from an Australian bank, trying to insure the car without a Californian drivers license, renting an apartment with no credit rating, connecting utilities without a social security number….

  Now this. The expectation that everyone here does and should have a US-based credit card. Security measures, they always say.

  We were on the verge of giving up. The online fares were also rocket high. Ridiculously high. Way too much money to spend on a single week in Hong Kong.

  But we didn’t give up and I rang Flight Centre late in the afternoon. What a blessing. The dude who answered was Vincent and I could tell by his accent that he was from Hong Kong. Well, it so happens that Vincent got us a package deal that was 50% less the amount I was going to (reluctantly) pay on the internet, AND he accepts foreign credit cards.

  This sort of experience reminds us of the time we tried to buy prepaid SIM cards for our mobile (cell) phones. The guy in the first Cingular store told us that their prepaid SIM cards were definitely not compatible with our phones. We should look elsewhere, try a different carrier. But we didn’t give up. We went to Cingular store #2 two blocks away. No problems. The SIM cards worked just fine.

  So the lessons we keep learning are:

  • Never trust what anyone tells you.
  • If you want something, don’t give up.
  • There is always an alternative…

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  P.S. We’re going to Hong Kong  in January to catch up with Marc and Orion @ Cartoon Network Asia-Pacific, to visit the Hong Kong Toy Fair 2004 and meet some toymakers.

  • 1:49 am
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