This is still my favorite travel trick...

Hello from steamy Chongqing, China, and welcome back to Daily Drop!

I’ve got some fun travel tips on deck today, so let’s get into the good stuff:

• 🌎 This is still the best travel trick in the world

• ✈️ Singapore Spontaneous Escapes is back

• 😛Funny travel meme TikTok

🌎 This is still the best travel trick in the world

I’ve written a couple of times about what I think is the best travel trick in the trade (pardon my alliteration).

I’m talking about the ability to enter China with NO visa despite having one of the more complicated visa policies for Americans.

Having done this already in Beijing and Shanghai, I wanted to see how far I could push the limits of this policy.

So, I decided to use myself as a guinea pig to try out some new things, which, I am pleased to say, worked like a charm.

First, let’s roll things back a bit. Here is what I’m talking about:

China will let you enter the country without a visa as long as you follow these rules:

• You must be a citizen of one of the 54 countries listed on this page

• You must arrive from one country and exit to a third country

• You can only stay for up to 144 hours

• You can only transit through certain cities (check this link for more deets)

• You must have proof of onward travel and proof of accommodation

Earlier this year, I did this in Beijing.

Being the capital, a major city, and a hot tourist destination, using the transit for four days was easy and took about five minutes at the airport.

But after doing this in Beijing, I wondered…

Could I do this in a less popular city in the center of the country? Can I enter or exit from Hong Kong as a separate country?

If I booked a round-trip flight from one country but had layovers in separate countries before and after China, would they allow me to enter?

What about the 144 hours? Could I push the limits of that time restriction?

I now know that the answer to all of those questions is… YESSIR.

First, let’s start with my routing:

I booked a ticket from Indonesia to China and back to Indonesia.

If my flights were nonstop, I would not be allowed to enter China since you must enter from a different country than where you depart to.

However, my ticket had two layovers: one in Singapore and one in Hong Kong.

As I learned, these layovers count as different countries (even if you don’t leave the airport) for the sake of transiting.

Next, let’s talk about the timing…

I saw numerous sources that stated the 144-hour clock starts at midnight AFTER you arrive.

So, I wanted to test this out and arrive after midnight to effectively stretch my time in China to one week.

My flight from Singapore landed at about 1:30 am, which was perfect.

Here’s where it gets fun, though…

The immigration officers at the airport had no clue about this visa-free transit policy… and certainly weren’t aware of the clock starting nearly 24 hours after my arrival. 😬

But, sure enough, after about an hour of waiting alone at the airport until 2:30 am, I got a shiny new entry stamp:

I also learned a fun fact that I wasn’t aware of previously:

You are not supposed to gain entry to China if your passport is less than three months old.

My passport was ONE DAY shy of being three months old when trying to enter.

Thankfully, they made an exception and let me through, which raises an important point:

China is pretty chill about this stuff.

Yes, you should follow this policy to a tee, but they’re also willing to accommodate circumstances like this.

So, to summarize, I successfully did and learned all of the following:

• ✅ Enter a more obscure Chinese city without a visa

• ✅ Enter after midnight and stretch the 144 hours to 177 hours

• ✅ Depart and return to the same country using layovers as transit countries

• ✅ Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan very much count as countries for the purposes of this program

• ✅ Even if your details are a little bit off, just be nice, smile, and they’ll probably let you in 🤷🏼‍♂️

Sometimes, the best ways to maximize your travel aren’t with points and miles, but with tips like this which allow you to easily access parts of the world that are otherwise inaccessible.

But sometimes, it’s also VERY much about points and miles… like this next part.

✈️ Singapore Spontaneous Escapes is back

The other day, I spent eight hours in Singapore Airlines’ business class.

It was amazing, and even their smaller planes have luxurious, lie-flat beds:

But as one of the world’s best airlines, you’ll need to shell out a pretty penny or a big ol’ batch of points to experience such a seat.

That is, unless you can get a steep discount on Singapore awards. And that’s where their “Spontaneous Escapes” deals come into play.

They’ve just dropped a new batch of discounted award flights to help you save points on various economy, premium economy, and business-class flights.

Here are the deets:

• You must complete your booking by July 31st

• Travel can take place between August 1st and August 31st, 2024

• Awards are non-refundable and non-changeable (so be careful)

• Only specific routes and cabins have discounts (see the full list here)

Overall, this is great for anybody looking to travel in the next month and a half who wants to save miles while flying in style.

Specifically, y’all will probably care most about these routes, which are to/from the U.S.:

As you can see, these discounts apply to Premium Economy flights only, which is still fantastic on Singapore’s planes.

However, if you want to check out their other routes, you could try out business class flights such as:

• Singapore to the Philippines for 16,800 miles in business class

• Singapore to Hong Kong for 23,800 miles in business class

• Singapore to Australia for 47,950 miles in business class

If you do end up flying in business, you’ll also have access to Singapore Airlines’ amazing, world-class lounges. 👇

As a reminder, you can earn Singapore KrisFlyer miles by transferring points from the following U.S. bank programs:

• MR Points

• UR Points

• Capital One miles

• ThankYou points

So, if you’re feeling spontaneous this summer, Singapore has got you covered. 👍

😛Funny travel meme TikTok

Yeah, all bets are off on the monthly budget when new travel plans enter the chat…

@rawanandefrain

This is how 2023 travel plans got booked 😂 #MemeCut #Meme #MemeCut

That’s all for today, folks! I hope you enjoyed this Asia-themed newsletter.

Having now used this China visa-free transit program a few times, I’m curious:

Take care, and see you tomorrow ❤️

29.5657° N, 106.5512° E