Saying goodbye is the worst part. It was finally time for me to go back to China to continue my training.
I spent 6 months back home in the USA going to school, work, being with friends and family. But finally it was the day of my flight back to China and I found that it was very hard to hug my loved ones goodbye and leave my home once again. The flight didn’t make it any easier. My connecting flight to Yantai was canceled so I had to stay overnight in Shanghai. Mom told me that the airlines would provide a free hotel room for me that night. So when I flew into Canada after flight #1, I checked on this free hotel room but my airlines told me they have no record of my hotel voucher. That kind of made things a bit irritating but worse case would be to sleep in the airport from 4pm-10am and that did not sound too bad. I got on flight #2, the 12 hour plane ride from Vancouver, Canada to Shanghai. Worst ride ever. I boarded the plane and was assigned to sit next to an older Chinese lady who hogged the middle arm rest and even leaned towards my side.
After 20 minutes the stewardess went on the speaker phone explaining how the plane is being refueled. After another 40 minutes pass and the plane started to make a beeping noise. The stewardess went back on the speaker and said, “Sorry, the plane had a mechanical failure and is being fixed.” I have never heard that before on a plane ride, didn’t help the trip much either. An hour and a half passes and the plane started to move to take off. I couldn’t get much sleep due to the fact I thought the plane would crash and the whole time frame threw me off as well. After about 9 hours of flight, the beeping resumed…I thought to myself, “Was that mechanical failure beeping?” It finally stopped beeping after 20 minutes and I tried not to think about it. I watched a few Disney movies and tried to sleep to make time faster but the chair and lady did not allow me to find a position of comfort. The food they handed out was not good either which only made my stomach hurt. I finally got to doze off to sleep when I was woken up by the plane shaking and breaking from the landing. I woke thinking we crashed!
When we got off the plane, I went to claim my luggage and talk to the airlines. I got my stuff and tried to find my airline. I did not see it anywhere so I thought it would be smart to find an information desk and ask them. Well after walking back and forth about 4 times I couldn’t find the info desk and decided to go to the second floor. I saw the ticket sign and headed over. During this whole search for the airlines, the smell of the airport, the noise, and the pushing and shoving of rushed Chinese people did not help my state of mind. I slowly began to turn into my sister…who cussed out the Chinese people who pissed her off, but I calmed myself down and went to speak to my airline. I went to the first desk who said to speak to the desk a few feet down, the second desk said to speak to another desk a few feet down as well, and before I would allow history to repeat itself, I went to the airline supervisor.
After about 10 minutes of him making calls, checking papers, and checking my passport, he got me someone who would take me to my hotel. While I waited for the hotel shuttle with a few other passengers, a Canadian guy named Karma complimented me on my tattoo. He mentioned how he saw my tat and remembered me from the plane ride from Canada. This guy was a true Canadian, meaning he ended about every sentence with “Eh”, super cheerful and polite...even to the rude Chinese people, and we chatted about his travel plans and my academy plans. We chatted on the bus ride to the hotel and I helped him order some food from the counter. I said goodbye and went to my room. A nice shower, pillows, and a bed was perfect/needed after traveling since 5am that morning. Tomorrow I head to the school. Not quite sure how I feel. Excited, happy, nervous, and sad but I’m half way done and aiming to finish this adventure.
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