I figured I'd share some of the highlights of my 37 hours of travel time from Sequim, to Seattle, Seattle to Beijing, Beijing to Ningbo, Ningbo to home in Beilun District…
The delay fiasco (hang with me; it's worth the read):
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(Click on image to get a larger view, see blue dotted line that is the
intended flight path, over Russia.) |
- In Seattle, we board plane 45 min late (2:45pm).
- 2:50pm, Captain informs us we’re missing an essential piece for the technological communications system that is required on this
flight path over Russia.
- Flight attendants start serving first meal (not
a good sign that we’ll take off any time soon). I discover Hainan Airlines offers coconut milk!
- We wait on the idling plane, still docked at the terminal, until 5:10pm, when we are informed we will
disembark the plane, as soon as the tunnel is re-attached (approx. 10 minutes).
Seattle doesn’t have the necessary part to repair the technical issue. Options:
wait for it to be located and flown in from another location, or rechart the
flight plan to avoid flying over the region where that specific communications tool is necessary. Captain chooses the latter option.
- Still on the plane at 5:55pm (10 minutes passed long ago, along with our hopes of ever getting off the plane), we are informed that
we will stay put on the plane, as we’ll be departing soon. They'd been waiting for approval on the re-routing of the flight.
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Fire/Rescue truck that arrived
15 minutes before we finally took off. |
- 6:15pm, I notice an emergency aid care vehicle (Fire
and Rescue) outside our plane on the tarmac, complete with flashing lights. Three rescue personnel board the
plane and head to the back. Concerned?
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After all the waiting on the ground, the Seattle staff literally
waved goodbye to us as we taxied away from the terminal. |
- We finally start taxiing at 6:35, and are airborne around 7pm... 5 hours after scheduled departure.
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| Flying out of Seattle, chasing the orange sunset. |
- We land in Beijing at 9:00pm local China time (almost an 11-hour flight), which is just 1.5 hours before my scheduled connecting flight leaves.
- I rush through customs/immigration and head to check in for my connecting flight to Ningbo (arriving in China, you must collect all your luggage and haul it to the ticketing counter to re-check everything in and get your boarding pass for your next flight).
- Once at the check in desk, it is 9:45pm, and it is determined that Hainan made a booking mistake. I apparently do not have a reservation on the flight for 10:15pm. The booking is
for the 10:50am flight the next day. I protest. What are my options? It’s
either purchase (again) the second leg for the 10:15 flight, or go figure stuff out with Hainan ticketing.
- Well, I'm not paying again for a flight I've already purchased, and I have nearly missed the 10:15 flight anyway by
the time they determine I should go elsewhere to resolve the booking
mistake. It’s already 10:00pm by then.
- So I head to Hainan Airlines (domestic flights)
in Terminal 2, a 10-minute walk away. Pushing cart with suitcases, pillow on
it, heavy backpack on me. Suitcases precariously balanced on the push cart/dolly. From a bystander's perspective, the luggage "comically" keeps falling off at the slightest jarring movement, bumping over cracks in the uneven floor. Not so comical to me, of course. Nobody helps. Seriously?! Suitcases topple no less than a dozen times before I finally figure out an more solid stacking technique.
- Problem #1 million for the day: my Global Data Plan on my phone was not working, so I couldn't communicate with anyone that I wasn't making the 10:15pm flight, and not to bother coming to Ningbo to pick me up at 12:20am.
- The Hainan ticketing counter issues me a flight for 10:50am. No! Isn’t there another flight out with
Hainan to Ningbo that is earlier?
- They send me to another Hainan counter, pushing my luggage, to speak
with the duty manager. I'm told I can fly standby on Hainan’s 6:45am flight, which is totally full, so it’s a gamble. I already
have the ticket issued for the 10:50am flight if standby falls through.
- I'm transferred to a hotel room to pass the
next several hours. At least I get free internet, finally, to communicate my status, and figure out how to restore internet access to my phone for future communications. I nap in the horizontal position for about 45-60 minutes.
- I return to the airport around 5:25am, and end up getting on standby for the 6:45 flight!
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| Beautiful clouds just above Beijing. |
- Check the luggage at 6:15am, then head through security. They take out my precious bike U-lock and are on the verge of confiscating it. I make a sour face and argue that I’ve made it all the way through US securities to China with it! They end up letting me take it at the last second.
- I run to my gate to board as nearly the last person, at 6:40.
- I cram my backpack in the overhead bin, and then wait expectantly for the men in seats 5B/5C to get up and allow me into my seat in 5A. They look at me, Man C motioning for me to slide in. Not getting up to let me in? Really?! I straddle Man C's legs, and past his knees I go. Might I mention these are VERY small seats, with almost no leg room. Their knees are touching the seats in front of them. Man B allows me to climb past/hop over his knees (he is a tall man). Good thing I’m nimble and limber and not touchy concerning personal bubble space...
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| Flying into Ningbo. |
- We finally land in Ningbo at 9am. My baggage is all there. First out on the belt (advantages of checking in last!). I have to wait 2 hours at the airport for my ride from the school to come get me. There is a big traffic jam delaying their arrival. So I figure out my Chinese SIM card and people-watch.
- 37 hours from Sequim to Beilun. Phew. Less than a combined total of 5 hours of tumultuous sleep, minimal food, and sore body from awkward sitting/sleeping, as well as pushing, pulling, loading, unloading, and carrying all that luggage. At least I got a workout.
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Entering the Beilun District, finally!
(It's 40 minutes out of Ningbo, where I now live.) |
Observations:
- I met some cool people in transit:
- an engineer for Hainan who educated me on the history of the Ningbo/Shanghai region of China
- a young woman who is an accountant in Houston, Texas, and travels frequently the Houston-Seattle/Seattle-Beijing itinerary
- a few traveling Mexican businessmen who market eco-friendly plastic cutlery (we had a nice conversation while crammed into an airport shuttle bus back from the hotel)
- a kind old man who advocated for me and translated to a ticketing agent, insisting that I MUST have a sooner flight. Cute and sweet old man.
- a businessman (in finance) who tried to make conversation with me in broken English on my flight from Beijing to Ningbo who was so boring I eventually had to put my earbuds in to send a signal that I did not want to carry on the conversation
- a kind young man who volunteered his basic translation skills to help me check into the airport hotel and reserve a shuttle back to the airport (really, at an airport hotel that is an international hub, out of 6 employees, nobody speaks English?!)
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| White grape juice, something like what I purchased. |
- My first purchase in China at
the only little convenience store/stand that was open in the airport around midnight was some grape(?) juice—green
with pulp and jelly stuff in it. It amazingly only cost the equivalent of 50 cents.
- Chinese culture: people are coughing and sneezing and hacking
and burping and making gross spitting noises all the time. No wonder they wear
breathing/face masks! It’s a germ cesspool! (I don’t think I would’ve noticed
the sounds as much if people hadn’t mentioned it to me prior.)
- There is soothing instrumental Oriental music played on Chinese flights.
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| Interesting airplane food. |
- Food: aside from rice, rice, and more rice, one of the flights served a bland, clearish porridge, white bread turkey(?), mayo, and cheese sandwiches (that I of course passed on), as well as some sort of pickled, packaged, MSG-mustard (that I also pass on). I scarfed the dehydrated
apple chips that I scarf. They also serve complimentary salted, MSG-soaked almonds. Whatever happened to just good old peanuts?
That post got way longer than I had anticipated. Represents my long, long travel experience.
