It seems every flight I am on recently has problems. A few weeks ago I was not able to fly to Guangzhou because of a cancelled flight, and yesterday and today I am encountering similar problems.
Last night I flew Shandong Airlines with two colleagues from Shanghai to Jinan. Everything went fine, until we approached the airport. There was heavy fog there, and after circling for about 20 minutes the announcement came that we were diverted to Qingdao. Well, better to divert a flight than to land in unsafe conditions, so no negative comment here. However, things changed a bit once we arrived in Qingdao. The official announcement was that we could leave the plane and would be informed later about what would happen. So we took the bus to the arrivals hall, and then… nothing. No airline representatives, no information, nothing. Because it was 11 PM we decided to curse Shandong Airlines and take a taxi into town to check if there would be any trains going to Zibo (our final destination).
Also Qingdao was foggy and the highway to the city was blocked. The taxi driver of course had no clue how to get to the city without using the highway, but he called some friends who helped him out. In Qingdao we found out that the main railway station was under renovation, so we had to take a train from another station. And of course that was pitch dark when we arrived. The first train would leave about 7 hours later. We then took a taxi to a hotel and tried to get a few hours of sleep. Although I was tired this was not so easy. First I had to kill two cockroaches in my room, and then I realized that it was very cold because the heating was not working. The room was quite filthy and to top it off it was located next to a busy road.
The next morning we got up at 6:30 in order to get to the railway station on time to buy tickets. That part worked out, but the 2-hour train ride turned out to be 3-hours. I tried to get some sleep, but the train was completely full and quite noisy. Next to that some of my neighbours were of the local farmer type, smelling badly and constantly spitting out their sunflower seeds. Gross. Anyway, we finally arrived in Zibo just before lunchtime, about 17 hours after we left the office in Shanghai. The meetings there went very well and very efficient (time pressure can be good), so at least that part was a big plus.
But when I arrived at the airport for my next flight early Friday night, I was unpleasantly surprised that it was among many other flights that was delayed. How long? “We don’t know, but around 2 hours.” Huh? Either you know or you don’t know. Anyway, my Friday evening will be spent on a airport. It’s cold here (no heating before November 15) and almost too dark to read. And of course no way to get online, or to even just recharge my laptop. Flying in China is not always a pleasure…
Update: I finally arrived in Beijing around 10:30 PM, with a 3 hour delay
You’re a young guy with loads of good luck in life: a super wife with whom you gonna have a Baby Pig, shares in several companies that will make you rich, an unbelievable amount of energy to even bike in the Himalaya, a extensive guanxi … but yes indeed sometimes you have bad luck. Mainly on the road in the air. Maybe it’s a sign you should stay home more.
Jan, thanks for the nice comment. I will follow your advice, because I have decided not to travel anymore in the next 3 months. A good feeling to know that will be home until next year Jan/Feb.