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China Trip Epilogue
Apr. 17th, 2024 08:53 pmA little belated post, but I am back home in the USA. Still the 17th though, due to time zone shenanigans, despite it being over 24 hours since I got up "yesterday".
Got up "yesterday" 4/17 in Chengdu a little before 6 AM. Had breakfast at the hotel. Then checked out a little after 7 AM. (BTW, looking over the receipt they gave me now, I am not sure they charged me for the last morning's breakfast. The charges stop at 4/16 and doesn't contain an entry for 4/17 breakfast. Actually, I am not sure they charged me for any of the breakfasts... the numbers don't look too different between each day. o_O)
The hotel called a taxi for me to get to Shuangliu Airport. Due to the early morning, there was no traffic, and the drive was quick. Also, this was the first time I saw rain/drizzle since coming to Chengdu. I guess the rain usually happens in the night/early morning, and is gone by the time the typical Chengdu morning (~8-10 AM) rolls around.
Check-in for Air China was pretty smooth. I did end up checking in my suitcase. The flight actually included a meal despite how short it was! That was a surprise. Departure and arrival at Shanghai were both on time. At Shanghai, I checked all the way out and got my baggage, then checked back at the departures section, which was thankfully just a floor up from were our arrivals ended up.
Since I was able to do online check-in for UA this time, I didn't need to manually check in at the counter (the counter wasn't even open yet when I got there). Directly went through security, and waited the next few hours at the gate. Since I ate on the previous flight, and I knew UA tends to serve a meal shortly after takeoff, I didn't feel like going to buy something else. BTW, Shanghai was the coldest place of the 3 airports I visited today. Not sure if they have the AC turned too high, or if it's the weather itself; it was raining quite a bit there.
The UA flight actually boarded and took off earlier than schedule. I guess because they're underbooked and everyone got there on time, they could leave early? The flight back was shorter, just 10 hours, but I wasn't able to get much sleep on it. Partly because my seat was a little too close to the bathroom section, so there was a lingering smell...
Arrived at SFO in the early afternoon. Customs took an hour to get through. I actually think the non-citizens line got done faster, because there were less people who went to that line, and about the same number of officials servicing it.
Anyway, took the BART back to Fremont, which was surprisingly warm and...soothing?. Or maybe it was just my tiredness catching up, because I did nap a little bit on the train. Once back to Fremont, I took an Uber back to the house (and paid about the same amount, converted, as the taxi in Chengdu, for covering just a small fraction of the distance...the difference is a little jarring).
Got up "yesterday" 4/17 in Chengdu a little before 6 AM. Had breakfast at the hotel. Then checked out a little after 7 AM. (BTW, looking over the receipt they gave me now, I am not sure they charged me for the last morning's breakfast. The charges stop at 4/16 and doesn't contain an entry for 4/17 breakfast. Actually, I am not sure they charged me for any of the breakfasts... the numbers don't look too different between each day. o_O)
The hotel called a taxi for me to get to Shuangliu Airport. Due to the early morning, there was no traffic, and the drive was quick. Also, this was the first time I saw rain/drizzle since coming to Chengdu. I guess the rain usually happens in the night/early morning, and is gone by the time the typical Chengdu morning (~8-10 AM) rolls around.
Check-in for Air China was pretty smooth. I did end up checking in my suitcase. The flight actually included a meal despite how short it was! That was a surprise. Departure and arrival at Shanghai were both on time. At Shanghai, I checked all the way out and got my baggage, then checked back at the departures section, which was thankfully just a floor up from were our arrivals ended up.
Since I was able to do online check-in for UA this time, I didn't need to manually check in at the counter (the counter wasn't even open yet when I got there). Directly went through security, and waited the next few hours at the gate. Since I ate on the previous flight, and I knew UA tends to serve a meal shortly after takeoff, I didn't feel like going to buy something else. BTW, Shanghai was the coldest place of the 3 airports I visited today. Not sure if they have the AC turned too high, or if it's the weather itself; it was raining quite a bit there.
The UA flight actually boarded and took off earlier than schedule. I guess because they're underbooked and everyone got there on time, they could leave early? The flight back was shorter, just 10 hours, but I wasn't able to get much sleep on it. Partly because my seat was a little too close to the bathroom section, so there was a lingering smell...
Arrived at SFO in the early afternoon. Customs took an hour to get through. I actually think the non-citizens line got done faster, because there were less people who went to that line, and about the same number of officials servicing it.
Anyway, took the BART back to Fremont, which was surprisingly warm and...soothing?. Or maybe it was just my tiredness catching up, because I did nap a little bit on the train. Once back to Fremont, I took an Uber back to the house (and paid about the same amount, converted, as the taxi in Chengdu, for covering just a small fraction of the distance...the difference is a little jarring).
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