So I've walked through the big silver doors & the first thing to do is go through customs then get the GST back on the laptop, followed by screening. Of course I get pulled aside to do one of those random checks - it's not the first time that has happened to me, do I look dodgy????? And for the boys at work that is a rhetorical question.
Then buy some water, text all the people who came to see me off, sit around a bit & then onto the plane which left around midnight Sunday.
I ended up in an aisle seat which meant I didn't sleep that well. I much prefer a window so you can lean against it but it was my own stupid fault for not asking at check in. The thing was the guy had printed off the boarding pass before I even realised.
Then of course they bring you a meal at some ungodly hour like 2am & then later on you get breakfast. (After 3 flights & lots of sitting I feel like I have put on 5 kilos!)
Once I got to Hong Kong I had to wait a few hours for Air China to open before I could get my next 2 boarding passes. By this time I had a headache from not enough sleep (& the little I did have was very averge) & probably not enough water. So I spent my time on my lovely mini laptop checking out all the free wireless connections at the airport & watching Bones (of course). In getting my next 2 boarding passes they told me my luggage would go through to my final destination which was great as I did not have to worry about it in Bejing.
By now my head was ready to explode but I eventully found somewhere to buy more water & some Panadol. I had to pay for it on my credit card as I had no Hong Kong dollars as I was only passing through. Anyway it was 31.90 dollars which seemed astronomical (I don't actually know what it was in Aussie dollars) but as my brain felt like it was exploding I didn't really care.
So I get on my flight to Beijing (more food) and thanks to Doug I watched Twilight on my Ipod. Getting to Beijing kind of freaked me out slightly (thank God that the Panadol Strong & the water had done the trick) as it was different to last time I was there, I guess because of all the changes with the Olympics. Also because I had to transfer to a domestic flight. So I just followed the masses onto a bus that takes you to the terminal, looked for any signs in English or just asked someone to point me in the right direction & finally managed to find my way to Customs (nobody looks through anything), onto a train to transfer to the domestic section & finally found where I was supposed to be. Where I got onto another bus that takes you out to the plane. Then more food. This time I nodded off a bit (still no window seat though) & listened to my Ipod to try & drown out the noise of the guy behind coughing every 10 seconds (I know I am prone to exageration but I'm not this time) & the man next to me (the seat between us was actually empty) who kept clearing his sinuses regularly & spitting it into a sick bag. It's actually quite common in China for people to do that. Anyway all I could think of was Paul & Nicola. Paul because it would have made him gag & Nic because she would probably have been in fits of laughter. At the man & at Paul.
Anyway I was sooooo over planes by this stage & I just wanted to get where I was going.
Not to mention have a shower.
No comments:
Post a Comment