Charles Town Chatter: Shanghai Shenanigans

As you know, we are rather experienced travelers, but nothing could have prepared us for today. All went well, if you consider getting up at 0600 hours a good thing. We got to the airport in Tokyo and had our bags checked through to Auckland. We had a lovely flight to Seoul, a not too bad layover before an equally nice flight to Shanghai, which is where everything fell into the toilet!

I should have known that something was amiss when they couldn't give me the boarding passes to Auckland. Not to worry, I says, I'll just go to the transfer desk in Shanghai and get our boarding pass and then repair to the lovely first class lounge and wait out our six hour layover. The only part of that that worked was the fact that we did land in Shanghai.

There was no International Transfer Desk, despite all the signs that indicated there was one. Instead, after wandering around and asking questions of at least 4 official looking people, they made us clear customs and immigration on a 24-hour visa, which is not what we wanted to do. Neither of us wanted a Chinese Visa in our passports since we are afraid that they won't let us apply for another one for a while. But stamped Visas we got and we soon found ourselves in Shanghai, not in the international departure lounge but in the cavernous ticketing hall where, after fifteen minutes of queries, we found out that we couldn't check in and get a boarding pass until 1810; it was now 1630. So we walked, we sat, we had coffee, and we scared little people with our tired faces.

Finally we were in line for our boarding passes and got to the lovely lady who asked us where our checked luggage was. We told her it was checked though to NZ. Oh no, she said, everyone has to claim their luggage and then recheck it. So off we went to find our luggage somewhere in the bowels of the terminal. I got through and found the luggage and then had to walk a million miles out of baggage to find Cindy where I'd left her. Then we schlepped our luggage back to the check-in counter and rechecked it for the flight. They gave us our boarding pass and then a lounge pass and we were off to another security, immigration, screening ordeal.

We couldn't wait to get to the first class lounge and dive into the Champagne and get Cindy a much needed Toonie and me a cold Chivas. Once settled at a table I went to the bar only to discover that there was no ice anywhere in the terminal! How much can one bear bear?! Hunter was so distressed that he decided to stand on his head until our flight is called!

Soon we shall be on board where I'm sure they will have cold wine and good food so Hunter can recover. More from New Zealand coming soon. Cindy and Wm