There are only two flights per week (on Tuesdays and Saturdays), but this will rise to five from late March, when the weather warms up. If you take only carry-on luggage, and avoid the inflight meal and insurance, return tickets can be had for less than HK$1,000 when the airline’s frequent promotions are running.

Of course, in the unlikely event that TripAdvisor’s forecast is correct, or if it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, you will probably need to book well in advance.

Changing places

On March 1, the Azerai Luang Prabang will become the Avani Luang Prabang. If this sounds familiar, the Ananda Hua Hin, in Thailand, lasted about eight months before the Avani brand swooped in and took it over a few weeks ago.

Getting on board

That most desperate of budget travellers, the stowaway has long been a figure of romance, at least in literature, and has been used to fictionalise the real-life exploits of explorers such as Captain Cook and Ernest Shackleton in books for younger readers, including Stowaway (2000), by Karen Hesse, and Shackleton’s Stowaway (2005), by Victoria McKernan.

Published this month, The Stowaway: A Young Man’s Extraordinary Adventure to Antarctica, by Laurie Gwen Shapiro, is the true account of Billy Gawronski, a New York teenager who hid aboard Richard Byrd’s first Antarctic expedition ship and was caught and kicked off so many times that he was eventually made a crew member.

Deal of the week

Charlotte Travel’s new Kuala Lumpur package starts cheaply enough, with two nights at the Novotel Kuala Lumpur City Centre from HK$2,050 per person, twin share.

From HK$2,350, though, you can stay at the Traders Hotel, where more impressive Deluxe Twin Tower View Rooms (above) are offered from HK$2,490.