There’s no better laboratory for learning how to travel than travel itself. Reading reviews, getting out on the road, staying in a variety of places, all of it hopefully adds up to a better travel experience the next time.

For example, if anyone besides yourself pays for a stay at a Hilton Hotel, then you won’t earn any HHonors points. That’s unlike the MileagePlus program on United Airlines, where the passenger who makes the flight gets the miles, regardless of who foots the bill. As such, Hilton is a looking a tad less attractive for upcoming stays.

It also helps to have time. The if-it’s-Tuesday-this-must-be-Belgium approach is nice for photo albums but it sucks as a traveler. Travel isn’t about rushing, it should be about stopping to enjoy what you went to a place for. 

Anyway, enough philosophy. Sri Lankan Airlines is putting Airbus’s A330-300 on its route from Colombo to Beijing and Shanghai. Nice place. Check out their whole schedule here.

Expect the orange weather alert in the same week as two major professional international sporting events to cause foreign tourism arrivals to dip even further. Sigh.

Photo: Steven Schwankert