My morning...
Woke up at 5am and got ready to go to the airport. My coworker and I got a taxi to the airport. Usually it takes about 45 minutes to get to the airport from our location in Shanghai but it only took 15 minutes...so I asked my coworker "You are flying out of Pudong airport right?" and his response "Uh, no." Apparently there is another airport! Our flight times were exactly the same so it was confusing. So he spoke to the taxi driver and got him to take me to the correct airport (now 75 minutes away). He proceeded to smoke in the taxi for the entire drive, and it was quite miserable. I got to the airport with only 40 minutes to spare and stood in the check-in for 15 minutes only to find out that they could not find my name on the flight. So I went to the ticketing counter to understand why I wasn't on the flight and they told me that my ticket was cancelled. The next flight out wasn't until 5pm (it was only 7:30am) and would cost $1100. I had to get to Guangzhou by 4pm. I was panicking so much by this point that I completely forgot about my checked bag and left it somewhere. The internet did not work (note: never go to China again without international plan) but I was somehow able to text so I got in touch with my boss to get the number for the travel agency. I called them and the guy said he has no idea why my ticket was cancelled. He proceeded to tell me that the $1100 was in Chinese dollars (Ohhhh so only ~$200) and there was another flight that left at 12pm. He was able to reserve the seat but not able to issue a ticket because the airline wasn't in his system. So I took the bus to the other terminal and to the ticket desk. Finally got someone that could speak a little English and they said the travel agent had reserved the last seat and the airline was not able to issue me the ticket because it needed to be through the agent. So I needed to call the travel agent for him to cancel my reservation and they could book the ticket for me. Well, I was put on hold for 15 minutes and then my phone kept dropping the call and I couldn't get through. I literally begged the ladies to let me on the flight and after about 20 minutes they finally figured out a way to do it. So I got on a flight! Then I had to take the bus back to the other terminal and see if I could find my bag. I was running around frantically for 30 minutes and finally saw a lost and found...low and beyond someone turned it in! Whew. What a totally disaster of a morning! I finally made it on the plane and managed enough communication to get a taxi to the hotel.
All that to say that I needed at least a short run today. 5K on the treadmill at 9:30 pace.
Getting really homesick...only one more day!
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