Flying in China

My husband and I feel we have a reasonable amount of experience with domestics flights in China as we will have been on 5 flights in the last 3 months and our doodle has been on 1. The majority of our experiences have been with China Eastern and we have learnt a lot.

Technically our first "Chinese" flight was from Hong Kong, but I feel it still counts. The flight was delayed and kept getting delayed. The time of departure just kept getting later every time we looked at the screen. Eventually when we got on the plane we were then delayed further as we were waiting for a late passenger. I'm not being funny but the plane is already delayed, surely this idiot has had time to make the flight? So, sitting waiting for take off and I notice a really strong smell of petrol. Is this normal? Should we really be on this flight? Do I need to call a Priest? In the air and we hit the worst turbulence I have ever experienced. The person across the aisle is throwing up. This is just delightful and it gets even better when they bring my Vegetarian meal. Aeroplane food is bad at the best of times, but this took it to a whole new level. Lesson learnt.

A couple of weeks later, school hadn't started yet, the temporary accommodation is in the middle of nowhere, we have found our apartment. Perfect time to go to Xi'an and see the Terracotta Warriors. I went on CTrip and booked some flights and accommodation. Only problem turned out to be not hearing my alarm and missing my car to the airport. This has never happened to me in my life. Completely embarrassed and I don't think I will ever get over it. Amazingly if you call Ctrip or the airline 2 hours either side of your flight time to cancel you get something like 80% of your ticket price refunded. If you call more than 2 hours in advance you get 90% refunded. So, not everything was lost. I got a different flight, raced to the airport, the flight was delayed and we made it to Xi'an following yet more turbulence and inedible food.

On return from Xi'an things got rather interesting.  I was expecting a delay. Experience told me to be prepared. I had my Kindle fully charged, comfy clothes, plenty of snacks and water. I kept the screen with the gates on within my line of sight and was ready for whatever would happen. Unsurprisingly time approached to boarding and there was no plane insight. I asked the person behind the desk and was told to go and wait for an announcement. Wait, wait, wait, wait… The flight was moved to another gate right on the other side of the terminal. A mass exodus from our gate ensued as we all dragged ourselves and our belongings to the new gate. Surprise, surprise we are still delayed, even at the new gate. Once again there are turbulence and once again the food is inedible.

About a week after we returned from Xi'an our Labradoodle was arriving. We couldn't wait. We organised transport, new toys, new food, new treats, new bed, new bowls. We were ready. It came to the evening and we checked her flight. She was due to land at 11.30pm. Only problem was that her flight was so delayed she did not take off until 11.45pm. Great. We were majorly concerned as we had no clue what conditions she had been in since being checked into the flight and not everyone in China is a dog person. Eventually after much waiting. stress and more waiting we were told we could collect her. There she was in her crate on a pallet. She was lying down not paying much attention but didn't look in too much distress. We said her name and Bella jumped up started wagging her tail furiously against the side of the crate so it was making quite a noise and whimpering furiously as we struggled to untangle the picture wire that had been wrapped around her crate.

Currently I am sat in Pu'Dong Airport as I write this. We are waiting by Gate 7 hoping to board a flight that leaves in an hours time for Guilin. We are near the display board in case they change the gate. There is a bag of nuts and seeds in my purse for emergencies and we are near a Family Mart so we can stock up on other snacks, just in case. However, there is a plane that appears to be in the right place...