It's the summer holidays for us teachers.
For me, I only get about 6 weeks, a far cry from the 3 months or whatever American's get. But it's something.
Me and the wife planned a trip in the second half but in order to do that, we need a visa, because not everybody enjoys visa-free travel like myself.
To put it lightly, it is a a pain in the ASS.
Flight reservations, Hotel booking confirmations, 6 months of bank statements printed, ID cards, detailed itinerary, and half of the stuff I couldn't even tell what it was, but it was a THICK wad of paper, to say the least.
To make matters worse, you can't just do this anywhere in China. A citizen has to go back to where they're registered as 'coming from'. Yes, if you leave your hometown in China, you are considered an immigrant in your own country. Most workers in Shanghai are called just that: Migrant workers. they're Chinese!.
Anyway, the practical upshot of that is that she is required to take a flight to the other end of the country, book a hotel, and fly back. With me coming along for the ride, that's a good 5,000 CNY ($700 USD) JUST to apply for a visa. Ok fine you can knock 1,800 CNY off in the case I didn't join. But still!
The Punishment
Yeah, let's not make things too easy, eh?
Just as we were arriving back in Shanghai, barely 200 metres off the ground, we get an announcement. As I stare down at the calm, clear, dry air below us, we're informed that due to weather, we cannot land at this airport, and we will be redirected to Ningbo airport. That's about 220 km away.
Such a beautiful pristine sight of nature from satellite imagery.
No worries, we'll get a high speed train back. They're cheap, frequent and... the final train ended already.
Taxi perhaps? Yeah, if you wanna blow another $100 on a 2-3 hour drive.
Hotel? Sure - more expenses, but if you dare leave the plane, they assure us that you won't be eligible to any kind of compensation.
Either option requires further expenses.
So, we went with what they basically implied us to do - sit down and shut up.
They said we'll fly back to Shanghai in 45 minutes.
I had a throbbing headache I guess from being in the sun too long earlier or something I dunno, but it was getting worse the whole night so 45 minutes couldn't come soon enough.
Another hour passes.
Then another.
Then another.
They assure is we're definitely arriving in Shanghai before 1am, because the airport closes at that time so we have no choice.
1 am arrives and we're still on the ground in Ningbo. As a tall guy, the added pain of my legs digging into the seat in front of me did not help my headache much.
Thankfully they served us a single can of Imitation Gruel to get us through without complaining.
Anything else and you have to pay standard price for it.
Well, with my head almost exploding with pain, we finally flew back and we got home a little before 3am, at which point I overdosed on painkillers and passed out on my bed, 7 hours or so after expected arrival.
Wanna know the airline?
Spring Airlines! Never touch 'em, if you ask me. We're apparently not entitled to anything because they tricked us into staying on the plane which is our unwitting agreement, I suppose.
Usually I figure a budget flight for, what, 2 hours, is perfectly reasonable. No need to splash out on such a short trip. But now I'm second guessing.
The wife, strong as ever, actually went to work this morning somehow, too, after not even eating since pre-flight (the gruel was not edible to her).
I woke up to some good news
- England won the Semi Finals!
I never expected it, but it happened.
- My Copy Trading is paying off!
The overnight stock markets had earned me a full 1% in a single day! Beat that, 4.6%/year bank account!
Also my headache is long gone, which just feels phenomenal. But jeeze. I feel like I never want to fly again. Let alone casually coming along for the ride like I did this time.
That being said, it was still better than our trip to Suzhou. (For another day)
Kind of a nightmare flight experience with Spring Airlines. Glad you at least got some good news at the end dear friend
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