Not a Second Time

Today was a day of delays from start to finish. We left our hotel in Xi’an at 8AM for the hour-long drive to the airport, needing to arrive by 9AM for our 11AM flight to Shanghai. We arrived at the airport right on time, found the needed ATMs to replenish our dwindling resources, checked our baggage in, and headed to the Security Checkpoint. For the second time on this trip, I was pulled out of line to stand on a box and be “wanded.” The female agent did not miss an inch of my body as she checked me for contraband. I am not sure what caused me to be chosen, but it was over pretty quickly and we were on our way.

Arriving at our gate, we received the first of many messages concerning our flight. Our plane was delayed due to the weather somewhere else. Later it was delayed due to aircraft maintenance. Then it was delayed due to heavy air traffic. Finally, at 2:30PM, our 11AM flight began to board. We had passed the time reading, napping, and looking at the pictures we had taken while here.

It was a relief to finally be in our seats on the “China Eastern” flight. Everyone was seated with their “carry-on luggage stowed away under the seat in front of them or in the overhead compartments, their seatbelts fastened, and their seats in the upright position.” The passengers on the flight were ready to go. The Flight Attendants had found their seats. We heard the voice of the Captain. However, rather than the “Welcome Aboard” speech we anticipated, he shared with us that we would be sitting on the plane for some 50 minutes before taking off.

I do not know what this delay was caused by. However, when it comes to flying, safety is paramount, so I didn’t complain. In fact, no one in our group had complained all day about the delays that kept mounting. One secret to successful travel must be an attitude of patience.

After waiting the 50 minutes, our plane finally climbed skyward. Ahead was a 2 hour flight to Shanghai, our final destination for this trip. The flight experienced some turbulence due to weather, but was otherwise unremarkable. Our pilot proved my previous assetion wrong when he gently touched the airplane down in Shanghai. We exited the plane and found our baggage.

Our awesome Tour Guide, John, led us to our bus and we began the drive into the city proper. He spent the hour it took teaching us about the city. It is the largest city in China based on population with almost 23 million residents, but occupies only 1/3^rd the land that Beijing does. The lack of land has forced the city ever upward. John said that New York city has over 4,000 buildings with 20 or more floors, while Shanghai has over 14,000, including the world’s third tallest building, The World Financial Center, at 100 floors tall. We are planning to visit it tomorrow.

We arrived at our hotel at about 7PM. We quickly received our room keys and headed for the elevators. Here we found our final delay of the day. The Hotel is extremely nice and was hosting an important banquet. They had closed some elevators to only be used by the banquet attendees, leaving only two to take care of the 34 of us and our luggage. Being the Southern Gentleman my mother had instructed me to be from an early age, I deferred to all of our female companions and then to all of the older gentlemen. After almost 30 minutes, my roommate and I were finally on our way up. The room is the nicest we have had.

We visited no sites today and saw little of China outside of the Xi’an airport, but perhaps we needed a slower day to catch our breath and prepare for the whirlwind our final days in this country will be. Regardless of the Beatle’s song title at the top of this blog, asking that we have a flight delay, “Not a Second Time,” we did. However, as before, it all worked out and our journey continues.