Please come visit... just not through Beijing!

I arrived in Shanghai last night... overall, the trip was easy (eating, sleeping, and watching movies in biz class isnt so bad!). However, I would recommend to anyone coming to visit (yes! please come visit!), that you do not connect through Beijing.

Beijing is in China. Obviously. So when an international flight lands there, you have to go through Customs and Immigration. OK, I've done that in Houston and Newark, you just pick up your bags and then drop them off at the drop spot 50 yards away, not so bad. Oh, also, the airline said that I needed at least 2 hours to make my connection and that I only had 1:30 so it was going to be tight... (they told me this the day before I left, not when I was booking the ticket.)

So, I land in Beijing. No problem. I walk about 15 minutes (I believe this was at least a mile, if not something close to that) to get to immigration. The airport is like 110 degrees. I wait in line, passport clears, now, (I'm slightly jogging at this point worried about the connection), I make my way to pick up my suitcases. The Beijing airport has a great service, these nice little Chinese men who help you with your luggage. So, I get one of these little guys to help me and we wait and wait and wait for my luggage ... finally it comes out. 2 huge and heavy suitcases. He quickly grabs the bags and we run, literally run, for about 500 years to get to the shuttle bus that I need to take to my other terminal. Imagine me, coming off of a 14 hour flight, chasing this little Chinese guy who is pushing my bags in a cart, through the Beijing airport and down this road to catch a bus! I'm sure it was a site. I get on the bus, huge bags in tote. Bus was crowded. And there I am, this American girl with my huge suitcases, which, at every turn of the bus, keep falling over into people.

We ride a good 15 minutes to the Domestic Terminal. At this point I have 45 minutes to make my flight.

I get to terminal. Go to check in for my flight. Long line. I wait. I wait. I wait. Oh, miss, your bags are too heavy for China Air. Please take them over to this other counter miles away and pay $50 to be able to check them. So, I go, I wait, I wait, I wait ... OK, paid. Now, I go all the way back over to the original counter, show the receipt, check in, get ticket. Whew, I think, I'm on my way.

Not so fast..... Gate. Far away. Security line. Long. And slow. I think the people who work security are the same talent pool they hire CVS Pharmacy workers. Finally, I ask to cut the line. They let me. 25 minutes left. But I'm not home free yet.

I get to the gate. But, you have to take a bus (10 minute ride) from the gate to the actual airplane. At least at this point I'm rid of my heavy bags! Someone screams out in Chinese ... I can only imagine they are saying, "Sweaty American girl needs a ride to the airplane... bring back the bus!"

And they do.
Ah. Bus. Plane. Relax..... I made it.

(Landed in Shanghai 2 hours later ... took over 2 hours to get from airport to apartment. Shanghai traffic.)

What a journey.
But I made it.