This was supposed to be our last day in China. We were scheduled on a 4pm flight out of Shanghai and, after a final visit to the hotel's breakfast buffet, headed to the airport around noon or so. Our flight was already going to be delayed a couple hours because the plane was going to be late arriving from its previous flight, but the lounge was nice (with free Jim Beam - hooray!) We boarded a little after 5pm and that's when everything took a turn for the crazy.
The skies had already started to darken when we were boarding, but by the time we were supposed to pull out of the gate, it was a real downpour. So we sat there for awhile. Eventually we we able to pull away and taxi for a bit before we had to stop and wait. And wait. And wait. By around 10:30pm it looked like we were finally about to go and the captain told us we just had to wait "1 minute" for clearance. Then he changed it to "5 minutes." Then he explained that things were certainly "dynamic" and at this point, due to the delays & length of the flight, the crew was no longer cleared to work so we were going to head back to the gate. Then we didn't go back to the gate. We went to a field and had to walk off the plane in the rain & get on a bus for a 20-25 minute ride back to the airport (see photo.) Then we had to figure out what to do because no one really explained anything. We ultimately had to go back through customs to have our exit visas cancelled and were put up for the night in a really, really gross hotel near the airport. It was a long day.
Other highlights from the day
- Did you read the above? Other than the free Jim Beam - none
(See my favorite shots from the entire trip here!)
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