Thursday, June 01, 2017

Trials and tribulations travelling

Hello from Shanghai! All is well. It's hot, hazy, and humid. I am enjoying being away from work and being a tourist.

My VPN access works well. You can tell because I have managed to write this blog post!

My first day of travelling started off rough:

  • While driving to my workplace, my car's windshield got a stone ship. By the time I had parked at work, I had a three-inch crack on my windshield. I am hoping that my windshield hasn't shattered by the time I fetch my car.
  • I called a taxi number on my cellphone that I typically don't use. Luckily, the nice driver got to me in ten minutes.
  • My 14-hour flight was good, except for the woman next to me who kept flip-flopping everywhere. She slept on my shoulder. She sprawled across her husband's tray table. She curled up in both her husband's and her own seat, bumping her head against my thigh. Thankfully, for the last two hours of the flight, her husband changed seats with her. I was able to sleep for longer than twenty minutes.
  • I got to Shanghai and got a taxi driver who dropped me off at the wrong hotel. He was yelling at one point. I don't understand Mandarin.
  • I asked the woman working at this hotel whether it was the hotel name that I needed. I was still in the taxi. She said yes. I checked in and realized that she just nodded without understanding a thing. After talking to her manager, he got me a courtesy taxi ride to my hotel.
  • The taxi driver seemed to be on the ball, However, he also had some trouble finding the hotel, too. To put it into perspective, my flight touched down at 15:00. I got to my hotel at 18:35.
The good news is that the staff at my hotel have been exceptionally accommodating. The check-in process was smooth. I had ordered a cell phone plan for Shanghai. My SIM package was ready for me when I checked in. My luggage was set upstairs. I get lounge access, so breakfast and dinner are free, along with any beverage under the sun.

Both the bad and good balance out. All is great. I will write more when I am not exhausted from being out and about. Hope you are all doing well!

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