My travel (so far) to China. it's a long read. but it's real. every second of it. (updated)

It’s a sign I tell you!

So I have been fairly vocal about my desires to return to Asia. If things continue the way today has gone so far, there is clearly a sign that maybe I was on to something.

I dropped Terry off at the airport yesterday morning (he was flying to St Louis for his high school reunion) and then went shopping. I bought some last minute things, most of which I ended up leaving at home when I realized how heavy my suitcases were. I also bought a new digital camera. My old one was well, old (over 4 years!) so I got a new one with better MPs. And then went home and continued to procrastinate the packing, watched tv, did some cleaning and organizing… I couldn’t sleep.

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Chapter 1: New York

I chose to pull an all nighter last night, so I haven’t slept. I left for the airport at about 620am, 20 minutes later than anticipated, but I figured I would still get there 2 hours early, no big deal.

After getting stuck in regular rush hour traffic, I finally got to the parking lot (chose to park in off-site long term parking) and found a spot. After juggling 100lbs in suitcases, I finally got to the shuttle, and we were off. There were several other passengers who needed to be dropped off as well, so we began the rounds. Unfortunately, the driver forgot to drop me off, so he had to go all the way around the roundabout again to get back to the first airline, Air Canada, next to air tran, which had been our first stop as we dropped off two really nice pilots whom I taught to use Hopstop and MTA.info. I hadn’t even seen the sign for it, it was so small. Otherwise, I would have stopped him.

So after speaking with the ticketing/luggage/check-in agent who attempted to convince me that 3 others in my party (of 5) had not checked in (until she realized she was wrong), I ended up finally getting through security around 730am, which was still over an hour early but was not the 7am arrival I had intended. Just after I got through security, I wandered around, looking for our folks, and didn’t see anyone.

I knew they had checked in because the ticket lady told me everyone else had checked in (after her mistake). I thought maybe they had decided not to go through security yet and were wandering the airport (or what of it there is). So eventually I just sat down, opened my Self magazine, and started noshing on some grapes.

My phone had been off (which never happens, but I was supposed to leave it in Terry’s car and forgot). Forgetting Terry is in St Louis, an hour behind NY time, I turned on my phone to call him to say hi one more time and during the second ring, my phone beeped, and I saw I had a voicemail. So I left Terry his message, then listened to the voice mail.

It’s Rebecca.

“Jen, it’s 720am. Our flight is leaving NOW. Like, really, right now. Like, over an hour early. They’re pushing me through the door.”

At this moment, it’s about 755am.

My heart stops. I feel it stop beating. I swallow a grape hole, nearly choking on it.

Our flight left an HOUR early?? Can they DO that?

I run up to the ticket counter and go OMG!

But I’m told not to worry, that they had a fairly empty plane, so they had offered anyone who had checked in early who wanted to go over early could get on the earlier flight, so there’s less of a rush getting around in the Canadian airport. But am then warned that this plane may be a bit late, they aren’t sure yet, but not to worry, I’ll still make it for my connecting flight.

She said my friends had tried, that they waited until the last second, until they were forced onto the plane. But again, not to worry, I’ll still make it.

Around 820am, “the” announcement is made.

“Flight 705 to Toronto has been cancelled due to maintenance issues. The plane has been deemed unsafe to fly. All passengers from flight 705 are being rerouted to flight 707, which will depart at 1030am and arrive in Toronto at 12noon. Please come to the ticketing booth to exchange your tickets.”

And there’s a mad rush to run up to the agents. Then one of the agents says that any passengers not making a connection should follow him, so about half of the people in front of me get out of line, not bad.

By this point, I’ve made friends with the agents, so when I get up there, we chat like old friends. The agent calls down to baggage and says that there is a passenger with two suitcases transferring to Shanghai in Toronto.

Apparently the baggage guy says that he had transferred all of those because the agent responds, “No, this is the one who hadn’t checked in yet. These are the luggage numbers.” A few moments pass, and the agent calls again- my luggage can’t be found. Oh no, wait, ok, found and transferred.

But then-

Agent makes another phone call. “Hi, I’m calling from LGA, I have a passenger who was on the 705 that was rescheduled to the 707 but I am having a situation and need to figure out ‘what they did to her‘. The entire passenger list was transferred over, but I can’t access her record, she was not transferred over.” He was on hold for a while, gave some basic information about me, was on hold some more… repeated the information, then was lead through a process on the system to find me…

Finally, operator does something, because suddenly agent says, “Oh, there she is, thank you!”

Agent finds me and says that I should have no problems, but that it’ll feel like a bit of a rush, even though I’ll have an hour. I told him I was more concerned about my luggage- how many flights can there be from Toronto to Shanghai, then from Shanghai to Harbin? If it doesn’t make it on that flight… He said not to worry, it’s automated. Uhuh. I don’t care about me, I can find where I need to go, I care about my luggage, without it… at least I fit in Chinese size clothes!

It’s now 9am, and I’m sitting here, beginning to type this blog post, when nice agent comes over again and says that he needs my boarding pass- he’s exchanging me to a FIRST CLASS seat in the front so I can get out quicker!

So now it’s 920am, and I realize I’m starving and my stomach can’t handle any more grapes (I’ve probably eaten about a pound of them so far) so I am going to go find some food, but there’s only an Auntie Annes and an Au Bonne Pain, so I guess this could be interesting!

But I take all of this as a sign… maybe I’m not meant to go back.

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CHAPTER 2: Toronto

So I had no idea that that previous ending would NOT be the end of my ordeal trying to get to Harbin.

I boarded the new flight, which was to take off at 1030am and arrive at noon. The plane left the building and headed for the tarmac. Our plane got in line to take off, we were 5th. So we are waiting, and then we start moving, which I assume to mean we are moving again to take off. Oh no, was I wrong.

The captain gets on the intercom and states that due to the additional 40 passengers, there was some problem with getting all of the paperwork together, so we had to pull out of line off to the side while all paperwork was completed and put together. Then we had to get back in flight line.

Essentially, we took off a half an hour late.

Aboard the plane, I ask the very nice flight attendants when we are expected to land. They thought we would make it, but had to wait for official word from the captain.

So I am sitting in my very first seat on the plane, and am offered beverages and snacks with real glasses on nice plates with real silverware, oh it was so nice.

Eventually, the nice flight attendant came by me and had a tiny piece of paper in airline code, but he showed me where it clearly stated that 4 passengers were disconnected- meaning that we were going to miss our flight to Shanghai.

The next flight to Shanghai was the NEXT DAY.

Needless to say, I start panicking and yet kind of throw my arms up in the air, it’s just been that kind of day.

I am told we would land at 1232pm and would then have to go through customs and such, and the connecting flight was about a mile walk away from our unloading gate. I was told there was no way. So I was sitting next to a flight attendant who was supposed to be on the 845am (she lives in Toronto, so she got a free ride back home) who suggested I ask at the ticket gate for an international calling card.

I was just imagining the call to Nicole, our new company manager, whom I have not met, and imagined calling the Troika office in MD as well as my mom in MD, to let them all know that for all I knew, I wouldn’t be likely to end up in Harbin until Tuesday or Wednesday.

We landed and I was off the plane at 1235pm, and I was first off the plane. At the end of the gate were 3 airline employees, so I asked where I could find a ticketing agent, and the gentleman asked which seat I was just sitting in. I told him, and he said, “Oh, they’re holding the Shanghai plane for you! Gate 175”

I screamed “ARE YOU SERIOUS??????”

And he was like, RUN!

So I took off like a bat out of hell! Up the escalators and began running the near mile treck to the boarding gate.

About halfway there, a lady stops me, and I’m wheezing as I am so out of breath at this point (you try running with a 25lb backpack and your carry-ons, geez) and I ask how to get to gate 175. She says “Oh! Did you just come in from NY?“ She tells me, but says I have to go through customs.

So she takes me the back way and I get to the customs desk and the man is just so nice, but he asks me about what I am doing in Canada (“running through the airport to catch a connecting flight to china that leaves in 4 minutes!” I can be such a smart ass sometimes). He asks what we are doing in China, and I explain I am on the SOMA tour, so he starts getting nostalgic, and I’m like uh, dude, they are holding a plane for me, I have to go! Hehe

So I’m in and out of that real quick and start running. Here’s where is gets fun.

I go through his special door to go back to finding the boarding gate, when I hear someone on a radio saying “She just got out of customs, she’s heading to the escalator.”

I get to the escalator, and I hear someone else say over the radio- “She’s going down the escalator.”

As I reach the bottom of the escalator, I hear- “She’s at the bottom of the escalator! I’ll show her the way!”

I am pointed to gate 175 and start running to hear someone else on a radio say “She’s running, almost there!”

And as I am passing gate 175 (it was hiding) I hear “Miss Kersey! Miss Kersey! Here!”

I turn to see the gate attendant waiting for me with a new ticket, he takes the old, issues a new ticket, and tells me to go ahead.

So I am now wet with sweat (and a bit stinky, I might add, forgot I packed my deodorant this morning) and walking down the boarding walkway, where, at the end, the pilots, a security agent, and several flight attendants are waiting for me. One attendant said, “Welcome Jennifer, we were waiting for you!”

I boarded the plane, which btw was completely full (it had been oversold no less), and start hearing cheering and clapping, as I see my castmates and take my seat next to them. “I made it guys!”

I felt like a rockstar.

They were WERE holding the plane for me! And I was all over the radios, everywhere I went in the airport people knew who I was. The airport was deserted, so its not like I was hard to point out.

So I made my flight. Phew.

I am hoping my luggage made it, but you know what? Doesn’t matter. We are next to a Carrefour and a Walmart, so if I had to, I can buy a tshirt or two and some underwear until I get my luggage.

I do wonder if the other 3 passengers made it.

So we are about 5 hours from landing in Shanghai. And then we have a 3 hr layover before we catch out connecting flight to Harbin.

I am trying to be optimistic, but I do wonder what else I’ll have to face.

The food so far on the flights has been pretty good. Air Canada is nice. The first class looks more like a night club than plane seating. Maybe I”ll be able to snap a picture as we unload.

ON the flight so far, I tried to sleep a lot, but I was so tired, my eyes kept watering and I kept waking up. But I must have done some sleeping. So I’ve watched a few movies. I am starting “The Other Boylen Sister” movie now, and just watched “Miss Pettigrew”.

It’s 842am China time.

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CHAPTER 3: Shanghai

It is NOW 1020pm China time. I really thought my blog for the day would be over at the above sentence.

After what’s happened so far, I really think I assumed too much.

We land and go to baggage claim. Surprise, my luggage was not there. It was traced as still being in Toronto. Great. Clay’s luggage was said to have arrived on the Shanghai flight, but had not, and just about 2 hours ago called the customer service and learned that his luggage had met the same fate mine had, they were still in Toronto. However, he was on that 720am flight, so his luggage had plenty of opportunity to arrive here, and it hadn’t.

So we both filled out lost luggage claims, and we are told our luggage would be on the flight the next day (the flight I would have been on had they not held the plane for me). We expect to receive our luggage in Harbin probablt Monday or Tuesday, so I’ll have to make a Carrefour run to pick up some underwear and an extra tshirt. I do, fortunately, have some toiletries, but I don’t know what exactly I have there in that small suitcase I left behind. I don’t have my pills, so two days without those could be interesting for my system.

So by this point, it was around 430pm, and I was the last to get through customs, and then joined the rest of the group at ticketing/baggage check-in. There, we learned our flight had been delayed from 655pm to 1030pm.

So Amy (brass player), Elita, her mom, and I all went to find food. We found a dumpling place and got steamed veggie dumplings and some kind of “green vegetable.” It was really good!

So we headed off to our waiting area, and hung out for a bit. I know I zonked out on the chairs for about a half an hour.

Around 830pm, an announcement was made that our boarding gate had changed, so we made the treck to the complete opposite side of the airport, where now a group of about 20 of us wait.

And oh yes, can I add that it is now 1034pm, our flight was supposed to leave at 1030pm and there’s no plane here? And it’s a 3hr flight, and our hotel is 40 minutes from the airport? And oh yea, we have rehearsal tomorrow morning!

I’m using internet here in the airport, so I’m going to post this, and I’ll update when I can.

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CHAPTER 4: Harbin

We boarded our flight around 1050pm. The airline felt bad for the delay, so they gave every passenger 100Y cash (about $13US- my, aren't we rich now).

The flight FINALLY took off around 1130pm, so we arrived in Harbin around 230am sunday.

As I had no luggage to wait for, I went and boarded the bus.

After everyone got loaded in, we took off on a 40 minute busride to the hotel through the deserted streets of Harbin.

I finally got to the hotel around 345am.

I remember taking my shoes off, my stinky shirt off, and laid in bed with my socks, pants, and zip up sweatshirt. Sarah was awake, so we talked for a while, but finally I had to sleep, and I got in about 3 hrs of sleep.

And thank g-d, they delayed rehearsals, so instead of starting at 12noon, we start at 2pm. Unfortunately, I am the sole unlucky bastard who gets to rehearse for all 8 hours of rehearsal. Sa-weet.

We got up for breakfast this morning, and after, Sarah and I walked to Carrefour. I bought some clean underwear (though last night I washed my tshirt and underwear, just in case). So at least i'm wearing clean underwear and a sink washed tshirt.

We bought what we think is a wireless router, but we can't get it to work yet (instructions are in chinese), so we'll ask one of our translators, or maybe Kit in a few days when she has time.

So I'm off to rehearsal in an hour.

My suitcases have not yet arrived, but I'm hoping Kit will have information for me (she took Clay's and my lost luggage reports, so i'm assuming she made some phone calls to locate them, they should be in CHina right now, just where?).

But yes, I made it to Harbin in one piece.