For $100, I'll stopover on the Moon

BOSTON - Finals are over, college is over. I'm graduating in less than two weeks, and that means my return to Asia is drawing near. It also means I'm beginning to address some practicalities.

First up: a plane ticket.

Last time I used Orbitz to get a ticket on Cathay Pacific. It was very, very simple. I flew from JFK airport in New York direct to Hong Kong, and it cost about $1,050, for an unchangeable round trip fare. I thought I was getting a good deal; I was flying more than halfway around the world non-stop.

But when I arrived in Hong Kong, I was the fool. Everyone had gotten cheaper tickets -- $500 from Los Angeles, $700 from Toronto or $800 from New York. Most of them were of Asian descent, and used Chinese travel agents in Chinatowns back home. Those agents - typically ultra-serious women in their 40s - scour the ends of the Earth in search of a cheap ticket. It might include a layover in Texas, Guam or maybe Korea, but it will be cheap.

I wanted in. Boston's Chinatown isn't too large, but there is one travel agent right on the main intersection. I went there without success. June is pretty high season for connecting flights to China (although not in Hong Kong, because it's bloody hot), and Hong Kong is the most common place to do it. The woman wanted to sell me a ticket for $1,100, the day after a wanted to travel with layovers in Detroit and Tokyo. And I couldn't leave the airport in Tokyo. Typical Chinese travel agency restriction, without the typical Chinese price.

Things online were worse. Orbitz had no tickets below $1,400, and competing site Kayak, $1,500. I knew I could do better. I took the Metro to the Student Travel Agency, even though when I went in there for Spring Break tickets in January they laughed at me. "You have to book those in September," the agent, a woman with a Eastern Europe accent and very white teeth, said. "Do you want to reserve now for 2007?"

This time they found a deal: $1,000 for a ticket, with an international student card thrown in. It originates in Boston, and from proceeds directly onto Hong Kong. The carrier is Cathay Pacific, the best airline in the world. (And it's not just me: http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/02/pf/goodlife/best_airlines/index.htm)

Two weeks from now, I should be cruising at 35,000 feet, martini in hand, watching "The Da Vinci Code," with a belly full of steak. I love a good deal.