Asia Steps » New York http://www.asiasteps.com Discovering Asia One Step at a Time Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:52:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Back Home http://www.asiasteps.com/2008/01/21/back/ http://www.asiasteps.com/2008/01/21/back/#comments Mon, 21 Jan 2008 06:13:20 +0000 Tamar Hadar http://www.asiasteps.com/archives/190 Cuggits Isn’t Letting Us Travel Anytime Soon

Cuggits Isn’t Letting Us Travel Anytime Soon

After 24 long hours of flying, we’re finally back home. We went from 34 Celsius degrees and sunny to minus 4 and windy. We’ve missed our little Cuggits so much and are taking turns kissing and petting her. We’re going over our photos and are seeing them for the first time on a big screen. What a wonderful trip this has been!

]]> http://www.asiasteps.com/2008/01/21/back/feed/ 1 See You in Asia! http://www.asiasteps.com/2007/12/16/see-you-in-asia/ http://www.asiasteps.com/2007/12/16/see-you-in-asia/#comments Sun, 16 Dec 2007 13:13:08 +0000 Kevin Maes http://www.asiasteps.com/archives/50 Hi Everyone. It’s 8AM here in NY and we’re running out the door to take the subway to JFK. The A train goes from right here at 43rd and 8th Ave all the way to the Air Train which connects to our departing terminal. It’s a long ride but we can bypass the snow, traffic and stay out of the cold. Stay tuned to hear more from us “on the other side”. See you in Asia!

]]> http://www.asiasteps.com/2007/12/16/see-you-in-asia/feed/ 0 Goodbye New York Crappy Weather http://www.asiasteps.com/2007/12/12/goodbye-new-york-crappy-weather/ http://www.asiasteps.com/2007/12/12/goodbye-new-york-crappy-weather/#comments Wed, 12 Dec 2007 15:23:00 +0000 Tamar Hadar http://www.asiasteps.com/archives/43 For the past few days, I’ve been checking the weather forecast in Phu Quoc (dreamy island, pristine beach, sunny destination and my home for a week in about 4 weeks). To make myself feel even better, I open the NY weather forecast in a new tab right next to Phu Quoc weather and smile…

This is my 3rd winter in New York and I am definitely not getting used to it. True, I stopped converting to Celsius (it’s too scary to see those temperatures in Metric system) but that doesn’t mean I stopped complaining. In Israel, there’s only 1 thing you can always count on-gorgeous weather. It’s sunny, it’s warm and winter there feels more like a week long mistake than a real season. As soon as New York winter starts, I am all ready to go away to some tropical destination, I check plane ticket prices daily and have a mental suitcase all ready to go.

Leaving the cold, the rain and the snow in a few days is one of the things I am most looking forward to.

So goodbye coat, goodbye scarf, hat, gloves, socks and hat, I shall not miss you at all.

]]> http://www.asiasteps.com/2007/12/12/goodbye-new-york-crappy-weather/feed/ 1 Great Airfare Deals from NY to SE Asia http://www.asiasteps.com/2007/10/17/great-airfare-deals-from-ny-to-se-asia/ http://www.asiasteps.com/2007/10/17/great-airfare-deals-from-ny-to-se-asia/#comments Wed, 17 Oct 2007 23:28:06 +0000 Kevin Maes http://www.asiasteps.com/?p=6 This is the second time in the past year that I’ve looked into airfare from the US to Vietnam, specifically from New York. I’ve tried all of the usual online places like Expedia, Travelocity and Kayak.com. However, the best fares I’ve found both times have come from taking a little trip to New York’s Chinatown to visit Wa Minh Travel on Grand Street. This small agency is run by Happy and her cousin, Susan and is tucked away just up a flight of stairs on the second floor. Happy and Susan are friendly and very helpful and their prices are cheaper than anything I’ve found online, usually by a couple hundred bucks.

In December 2006 I found a fare for $1065 r/t to Ho Chi Minh City from JFK, through Seoul, including taxes and the visa to Vietnam. Most fares were $1,300 and up on the Internet. Now, almost a year later, taxes have gone up and there’s apparently a new surcharge for fuel and security which has raised the prices about $300. In addition we’re flying just before Christmas which is a popular time for people to go to Vietnam so the demand is high. This time the tickets cost $1550 (taxes/visa included) but I haven’t found anything on the Web for less than $1700 for the same dates and travel time.

So, if you’re booking your next trip to SE Asia and are having trouble with fares on the Internet, visit:

Wa Minh Travel, 223 Grand Street, Room 101, New York, NY 10013

Wa Minh Travel on a Map

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