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tanithryudo9:00 PM local time, Shanghai, CN
Life hates me with the burning passion of a thousand suns.
First, it lulls me into a sense of false security on the flight from Chicago to Shanghai. Because the flight wasn't booked full, there were lots of empty seats to the back where you could take up the full aisle for sleeping. Watched "Enchanted", "Waterhorse", "National Treasure" and the sequel in between naps. Pretty good ride overall.
Then, after we got to Shanghai at about 2:30 PM local time, everything that could go wrong, did.
First, the only piece of luggage we checked in didn't appear. This is most likely due to the last minute transfer we had on our first flight to LA. Who knows where it is right now. Sadly, we'd thrown away the booklet thing that the checkin lady gave our boarding passes with, the same one that included the tag numbers for the luggage check in. The only bright side was that AA was able to locate the check-in numbers in their database. But we still have to drop by tomorrow for the next AA flight to Shanghai to see if the luggage will arrive by then. This whole ordeal with the baggage claim people took about 30 mins to settle.
(This was also the beginning of a domino effect. If it weren't for needing to pick up luggage the next day, and due to the fact that it was raining too hard to motivate any shopping the same day in Shanghai, we would have taken the bus directly to the train station and gone to Nanjing.)
Then, we took the 5th line public bus from the airport to where our booked hotel was. When we got off, due to the fact it was raining and because the bus lady wasn't too sure of the hotel's exact location, she advised we take a cab the rest of the way. As it turned out, the hotel was actually within walking distance of the bus stop; but that is hindsight speaking. The bus trip itself was a hellish (read boring) ride of over an hour from Pudong Airport to (downtown?) Shanghai.
When we got to the hotel, that was when my mom discovered that our passports were missing. Most likely not theft, since her wallet and other misc junk in her other pockets were still there. The passports most likely fell out of her pocket in between the time we were on the bus (when she remembered checking for them), and the hotel.
(Minor note - Mom also apparently booked the rooms for the 7th and the 8th. Unfortunately, she miscalculated the time difference including the international date line. It's right now the 8th. =_=)
As for why the hell she had just the two passports in her pocket... I really rue not pushing harder when coming out of the airport, I was already prepared to put away my passport into my backpack. But Mom asked for it since she said we'll need them soon again when we got to the hotel. Well she was right about that... but she also didn't have them anymore. So we also don't have anywhere to stay for the night anymore.
In the end, after some frantic calls back home to my dad in the US, and to relatives in Nanjing, we found a friend of my mom's in Shanghai who was able to book another hotel for us under her name. The place is kinda... seedy... and is farther away from where all the places we'll need to go to are... but beggars and choosers and all that.
We tried everything so far...
* Called the cab company. But we didn't know to get a receipt of the ride, so who knows if they've been able to get in touch with the right cab driver. Our best hope is that the passports fell out in the cab ride, in which case, they can discover it when the cabbies turn in for the night. But, this is looking more unlikely by the minute... *cry*
* Called the bus company. Also didn't keep the receipt for the bus ride, so only could give them an estimated boarding time of around 3 PM. They said they'll call us back.
* Contacted the local police station. But they can't really do anything other than call the above places and also give us the address/number of the lost & found department, and the embassy.
So tomorrow we'll need to contact the lost & found police division, the US embassy in Shanghai, and also find the time to pick up the remaining luggage piece if it comes it. And also buy a cellphone... since it looks like we're gonna be needing it.
You know, it's crap like this that makes me never want to travel more than car/BART distance from home (and that's home as in Fremont).
Lessons learned:
* Always get a receipt and don't let Mom throw everything away when she feels like it.
* Paranoia over convenience.
Life hates me with the burning passion of a thousand suns.
First, it lulls me into a sense of false security on the flight from Chicago to Shanghai. Because the flight wasn't booked full, there were lots of empty seats to the back where you could take up the full aisle for sleeping. Watched "Enchanted", "Waterhorse", "National Treasure" and the sequel in between naps. Pretty good ride overall.
Then, after we got to Shanghai at about 2:30 PM local time, everything that could go wrong, did.
First, the only piece of luggage we checked in didn't appear. This is most likely due to the last minute transfer we had on our first flight to LA. Who knows where it is right now. Sadly, we'd thrown away the booklet thing that the checkin lady gave our boarding passes with, the same one that included the tag numbers for the luggage check in. The only bright side was that AA was able to locate the check-in numbers in their database. But we still have to drop by tomorrow for the next AA flight to Shanghai to see if the luggage will arrive by then. This whole ordeal with the baggage claim people took about 30 mins to settle.
(This was also the beginning of a domino effect. If it weren't for needing to pick up luggage the next day, and due to the fact that it was raining too hard to motivate any shopping the same day in Shanghai, we would have taken the bus directly to the train station and gone to Nanjing.)
Then, we took the 5th line public bus from the airport to where our booked hotel was. When we got off, due to the fact it was raining and because the bus lady wasn't too sure of the hotel's exact location, she advised we take a cab the rest of the way. As it turned out, the hotel was actually within walking distance of the bus stop; but that is hindsight speaking. The bus trip itself was a hellish (read boring) ride of over an hour from Pudong Airport to (downtown?) Shanghai.
When we got to the hotel, that was when my mom discovered that our passports were missing. Most likely not theft, since her wallet and other misc junk in her other pockets were still there. The passports most likely fell out of her pocket in between the time we were on the bus (when she remembered checking for them), and the hotel.
(Minor note - Mom also apparently booked the rooms for the 7th and the 8th. Unfortunately, she miscalculated the time difference including the international date line. It's right now the 8th. =_=)
As for why the hell she had just the two passports in her pocket... I really rue not pushing harder when coming out of the airport, I was already prepared to put away my passport into my backpack. But Mom asked for it since she said we'll need them soon again when we got to the hotel. Well she was right about that... but she also didn't have them anymore. So we also don't have anywhere to stay for the night anymore.
In the end, after some frantic calls back home to my dad in the US, and to relatives in Nanjing, we found a friend of my mom's in Shanghai who was able to book another hotel for us under her name. The place is kinda... seedy... and is farther away from where all the places we'll need to go to are... but beggars and choosers and all that.
We tried everything so far...
* Called the cab company. But we didn't know to get a receipt of the ride, so who knows if they've been able to get in touch with the right cab driver. Our best hope is that the passports fell out in the cab ride, in which case, they can discover it when the cabbies turn in for the night. But, this is looking more unlikely by the minute... *cry*
* Called the bus company. Also didn't keep the receipt for the bus ride, so only could give them an estimated boarding time of around 3 PM. They said they'll call us back.
* Contacted the local police station. But they can't really do anything other than call the above places and also give us the address/number of the lost & found department, and the embassy.
So tomorrow we'll need to contact the lost & found police division, the US embassy in Shanghai, and also find the time to pick up the remaining luggage piece if it comes it. And also buy a cellphone... since it looks like we're gonna be needing it.
You know, it's crap like this that makes me never want to travel more than car/BART distance from home (and that's home as in Fremont).
Lessons learned:
* Always get a receipt and don't let Mom throw everything away when she feels like it.
* Paranoia over convenience.
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-14 03:10 am (UTC)1. Never travel by public transport if you can help it. Cab at all times.
2. Yeah, receipt definitely. Although in my case it's because my dad can reimburse them all. XD
3. Keep all important documents in a special baggie and keep said baggie in your underwear. I don't know how many horror stories I've heard about losing passports. It's not just you either. Half of my Chinese acquaintances have lost passports.
4. NEVER check-in a bag. Travel light and buy everything you need back in China. Check-ins are the bane of my existence and I will avoid it like the fucking plague.
Anyway, off to read the next entry. XD