I think mine is way more, maybe I should have checked more dates. Also I will fly to Paris on the first leg, and maybe summer is more expensive. Whatever.
Did the same in Shanghai, Hongqiao-Pudong. No problem. I’ve heard Beijing is more problematic for whatever reason.
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I’ve been stalking the website for months, this is like the second cheapest I’ve ever seen 
There was a sub 20,000 one last year but I missed it on a visa malfunction.
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You never really know. A couple of years back they tightened the rules and lots of people got caught out.
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So, when will you go? Maybe you can share your experience first. Are you planning to do anything in Xiamen? 
Mine is mid July so I’ll be after you. Was half thinking of checking out the zhongshan pedestrian shopping area as I did Gulangyu the last time. Ill probably just see where is the cheapest fivestarish hotel with a bargain price discount on Agoda and go with that.
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OK, then I will share my experience here first, probably in the first week of July.
Is Gulangyu worth the hassle of taking the ferry and being surrounded by the unwashed tourist masses?
I probably go there, then come back and rent whatever public bike rental they have and ride along the coast, looking at Kinmen and eating some local food.
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I found Gulangyu fascinating so I’d definitely vote worth it. Second time around though I doubt I’d revisit as I’d prefer see something I hadn’t seen already. What you say there about the bike plus snacks sounds pretty awesome!
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The discussion was about Xiamen Airlines, not the airport switcheroo in Shanghai to take China Eastern (a similar disconnect can also appear in some TSA-HND / NRT-final destination tickets through Tokyo).
Guy
What’s the state of getting a visa these days? My 10 year visa just expired so hoping I don’t have to go to Hong Kong for that. Is there a service in Taiwan that will do it?
I am in Xiamen right now, sipping a latte in a cafe next to Zhongshan Park. eSIM allows me somehow to use my phone as usual, which has come as a surprise. Did Gulangyu this morning. I liked it, especially the view from the highest point. Not too many tourists, no line at the ticket booth. Xiamen feels super clean and modern. No scooters on the roads! Just those silent assassin e-bikes on the sidewalk. Entry was super easy, people behind counters all helpful, not super friendly like in Taiwan, but not unfriendly either. No foreign tourists in town, just met one Nigerian who works here. Locals don’t bother me at all, no staring, no surprise at me speaking Chinese. Very much like Taiwan. Glad l came. Next up gift shopping on Zhongshan. I skipped the rental bike idea, cause l didn’t manage to set up of the apps necessary. Also, too bloody hot anyway.
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The mountain next to Xiamen University is a great hike. If it isn’t too bloody hot.
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I went to Zhongshan Road and regretted it. Ended up buying things l didn’t want. Vendors are super annoying, typical tourist trap. Avoid at all cost, unless you are a typical tourist.
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Sounds like a successful flight transfer operation! Must have been the school holidays factor for Gulangyu being super busy with tourists when I went last summer.
Yea I was surprised when I went, it felt nicer than some previous cities that I had visited anyway.
I have more than two weeks completely free coming up before my flights and am struggling to decide on what to do with them now.
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I didn’t manage to figure out how to use public bikes and buses with Alipay. Otherwise l would have visited other places like the beach facing Kinmen, the twin towers and maybe the botanical garden. Next time. 
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I would go to China if I weren’t afraid of being kidnapped by the govt.
I have a 10-year visa that still has some years left.
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Back in Xiamen (airport) after a week in Europa. I like the Songshan-Xiamen-Europe route. Xiamen and Songshan are small and conveniently located airports. And both Paris and Amsterdam are more likable than Frankfurt. Next time l will try either Fuzhou (if they still have flights to Europe) or Chengdu. The Xiamen Airlines staff is notably warm and friendly and Xiamen is an easy to visit tourist friendly town. Overall it was a pleasant travel experience.
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I had a similar experience. Everything was super smooth. The only glitch was that they didn’t give us our boarding passes for the second flight at the initial check ins, with the result that we wound up with non adjacent seats for one flight. I noticed another passenger also had this issue. Not good if you are travelling with kids. Other than that it is definitely a big thumbs up for Xiamen and Schiphol.
The price of everything in Euro on arrival was a bit of a rude awakening though. 
I did reserve seats when I bought tickets months before the flights, even paid extra for a “wall” seat, not exit row. Will definitely do that again in the future (especially next time I fly with our boy), though the wall is still a bit too close for my long legs. Anyway better than someone’s seat in my face.
Another good thing with that particular flight from Schiphol is the late departure time. If you fly from Frankfurt, most flights leave around noon or early afternoon, and with the unreliable train system in Germany it can be stressful for me to get to the airport in time. The evening flight from Amsterdam even allowed me a quick stop in the small Dutch town of Amersfoort on the way, where I walked for an hour and had a coffee. 
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Ah, I missed that, will keep an eye out if I use them again.
Nice, I know the place, I went to the even smaller town of Deventer, which you probably passed by on the train. The toy museum there and the town square are both highly recommended. That was on the way back. On the way out I went to the usual suspect town:
Wandering around at 6am with the jet lag and eating fruit off the stalls as the vendors were setting up. Was great. Felt like some kind of paradise. 
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