Travel Troubles

I travel a lot.  That’s what happens when you work in the entertainment industry.  Finding work isn’t a problem.  It’s usually the getting there that is, particularly when you need to travel through China.  The travel system in China has gotten a lot better over the years and  I usually  get to where I need to go without a hitch (顺利).  However, there are those times when nothing goes right and you end up shaking your fist in the air yelling “Why me? Why me?”

About a year ago I was asked to host the First Annual Snow Mountain Music Festival. Something like a Billed as China’s  “Woodstock”, it was held in city of Lijiang in southwestern China.  I flew into Kunming without any problems but found out that the connecting flight from Kunming to Lijiang was cancelled so we had to take a 6 hour bus ride, which is  (what they told us.).   In reality, it took us over 11 hours to arrive there!  We finally arrived at 4:30 in the morning.  I climbed into bed an hour later and had one of the most eerie experiences in my life.  I actually felt like there was this certain “someone” watching over me the entire night.  Needless to say, it was a terrible night’s rest.  Some of the production crew that I was traveling with actually had the same feeling.  That first experience set the tone for the rest of the miserable trip that was to follow. 

The next day was the Snow Mountain Music Festival which had horrible weather.  I admire the folks that came out as it was an entire day of rain and mud.  I was stupid enough to just bring a suit and dress shoes – totally inappropriate clothing attire to host this show.  After the show, all I was just looking forward to was heading back to Shanghai for some serious rest and relaxation (彻底放松)

The next day I arrived at Lijiang airport around noon and discovered all the direct flights to Shanghai were delayed (误点) indefinitely because of … something.bad weather.  All other flights were booked so my only option was to first fly into Kunming and then take a connecting flight to Shanghai.  This was doable as the last flight out from Kunming to Shanghai was at 7:00p.m.  It was already 3:00p.m. in Lijiang so quickly purchased my Lijiang->Kunming->Shanghai ticket.  I was all psyched to take off when the plane was delayed (误点) for 20 minutes because one of the passengers got lost in airport.  At last, we finally took off and I kept on praying that I’d make my connecting flight to Shanghai.

As the plane neared Kunming, I kept checking my watch.  6:45. 6:50.  I got off the plane at 6:55p.m. and sprinted to the connecting gate.  Out of breath, I happily turned over my boarding pass to the gate attendant.  She responded by saying, “Um… I’m sorry but your flight just took off 2 minutes ago.”  I looked at my watch and saw 7:02p.m.  Very rarely do I lose it (发疯) and unfortunately for this poor gate attendant, I lost it (发疯) in front of her.  Needless to say, she is no longer a big fan of mine.  I had no other choice but to stay in a hotel for the night and try to catch the earliest flight out the next day.

The next day I arrived at the airport early in the morning.  Not surprisingly, I found out that the connecting flight was delayed (误点) yet again - this time for 5 hours!  When I finally made it on the flight the loudspeaker blared, “Dear passengers, our flight is overloaded, please be patient while we unload fuel.”  - another 2 hour delay (误点).  After 7 hours, the plane took off and  I finally made it to Shanghai. I was looking forward to a nice hot shower and some serious rest.  At the hotel check-in counter when the receptionist asked for my credit card for deposit, I reached in my back pocket and found nothing.  This is when I realized that I had left my wallet at the layover hotel in Kunming.  Living without a wallet for the next 3 months served as a painful reminder of my nightmare trip.

About 2 days later I remember telling my mother about this story.  Her only response was, “look at the bright side, 花钱消灾”. Yeah, that’s one way of looking at it. I mean, at least I arrived safely, right?

Vocabulary

人倒楣的时候，喝凉水也塞牙 - When it rains, it pours! (when you’re out of luck, even when you drink cold water, it gets stuck between your teeth )
花钱消灾 - Spend money avoid catastrophe (Better to spend the extra money to avoid bad things happening)
顺利 – smoothly, without a hitch
误点  - delayed
发疯 – go crazy, “lose it”
彻底放松 - rest and relaxation