When I left Denver on Wednesday, I was still in the frame of mind that people often get before a big trip, when you know that you're going somewhere but it doesn't really seem real. Once I was in my seat for the flight from Denver to Tokyo, it became so real and I got SO excited! The Denver to Tokyo flight was pretty fabulous.
I was so excited to be on the 787 Dreamliner, Boeing's newest airplane. My mom had been on one and said it was amazing. Thanks to her large amount of miles with United, I ended up in first class! Now, let me say this first: I never mind flying economy (can't miss what you don't know, right? the only time I've ever flown first class is by a random upgrade), but now that I have flown first class on the Dreamliner I am absolutely ruined for life. RUINED! My seat was its own little pod that relcined completely flat. I had a big pillow and soft down comforter. I ate some delicious sushi and steak, drank some lovely wine, and watched two movies. Then the flight attendant's brought around the cheese tray - oh my gosh! Goat cheese and brie and grapes oh my.... I seriously considered refusing to get off the place once we landed in Tokyo. :) Unfortunately I didn't sleep on that 12 hour flight - it left Denver at 12:30 pm and even though I took 5 mg of Ambien after dinner (probably 5:30 my body time) sleep did not visit me. When we landed in Tokyo I thought I was really fine without having slept and was grateful to be feeling so relaxed and spoiled! Ruined, I tell you.
Once I got to Narita, the airport I went through in Tokyo, I had to change planes to get my flight to Chengdu, China. I dreamily floated away from my king size airplane bed (or so it felt) and headed into the airport. Farewell, Dreamliner! I love you.
I found my gate in Tokyo and got my boarding pass for Chengdu. Now, when I got to Chengdu I was going to have some serious maneuvering to do and I was nervous about it. I had a 10 hour layover there, and after doing some research I learned that select airports in China have a 72 hour visa free transit time. This lets you enter the country for 72 hours without a visa, as long as you arrive into China from a foreign country and depart to a different country. So I had booked a hotel right outside the airport for the night. When I checked in in Denver, I asked the United counter to help me verify that I could in fact use this transit pass and go to the hotel. They looked it up and said that I should be good to go in Chengdu. So when I got my boarding pass in Tokyo I asked the ladies at the ANA check in counter what I needed to do once I arrived in Chengdu. They looked up some things and told me that I couldn't use this transit pass, but to hold on and they would double check. Off I went to the bathroom and to sit down. After about 30 minutes one of the ladies came up to me and said that she was sorry, but that I was not able to use the pass and would have to stay in the airport. I was disappointed, but understood and figured that it could be worse! So after she went back to the counter I got online and cancelled my booking.
Of course, about 5 minutes after I cancelled she called me to the counter and said that not only would I need to do the transit pass, I would have to as the Chengdu airport was not open 24 hours a day. I told her that I had just cancelled the reservation and asked her to help me contact the hotel. She called the hotel for me, explained the situation, and they re-booked my reservation. Whew! At this point I realized how exhausted I was! I think it was probably about 3:00 am Thursday my body time, and about 5:00 pm Thursday afternoon in Tokyo.
Once I got on that plane to Chengdu (back in good old economy class) I pulled on my eye mask and slept for almost the entire 6 hour flight. When we landed in Chengdu I was feeling pretty well, although completely confused about what time it was! Better not to know, in this instance. :) I got off the plane and followed the signs towards immigration.
After waiting in line at passport control, I got up to the counter. After looking at my passport, the man said "No China visa!" I told him that I had the 72 hour pass and presented him with my air ticket to Rangoon and my hotel confirmation. Thus ensued about 25 minutes of total confusion. First he didn't know anything about the transit pass, then he called his supervisor and neither did she. Not only did she not know anything about the 72 hour pass, she said that there were no flights from Chengdu to Rangoon ever. I'm a pretty calm person and don't usually panic, but when she said that I ALMOST freaked out!!!! Fortunately a lady from ANA, the airline I took from Tokyo to Chengdu, saw this going on and ran over to us. She explained to the immigration official what was going on and then reassured me - she said that ANA in Toyko had called her and explained about me. She also verified that I was, in fact, booked on the flight from Chengdu to Rangoon on Friday morning. Wow, amazing customer service! So about 10 more minutes passed while the immigration official tried to find this special pass stamp for my passport. She came back and gave me my passport and my documents, and I went off to claim my bag.
Right as I arrived at the baggage claim all the people from my flight were leaving with their luggage - there were no more bags on the carousel and it was not moving any longer. I thought to myself "ok, seeing as how things have gone so far I'm just going to wait a few minutes to see if comes out before asking anyone!" 5 minutes later, the carousel started turning and out came my bag. RELIEF! I went to Customs and presented my newly stamped passport and documents - the customs man told me that the hotel I was booked in was RIGHT outside the airport, that I would be able to see it once I walked outside. He told me where the shuttle was and out I went. Hello China! It was humid and rainy and I was thrilled to be there and ready for bed! All of the signs in the airport were in Chinese and English. I followed the sign to the shuttle area and proceeded to wait. And wait. While waiting, I read my confirmation info. It said that it was a 5 minute walk to the hotel. I decided to wait and see if the shuttle showed up and decided that if it didn't I would try to figure out the walking route. After waiting and waiting and waiting I decided to go for it and walk. I'm so glad I did! It only took about 5 minutes and it felt great to move after all of the sitting. I checked in with no problems and got into my room. I was so happy to be there! The room was amazing - I was sad that I only had 6 hours in it! I skyped with my parents and took a shower, then it was straight into bed for me. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to sleep, but I slept for about 4 1/2 hours and felt pretty rested.
My flight to Rangoon was scheduled to depart at 8:15 am. I decided to get to the airport at 6:00 am - in light of the confusion from the day before I figured I would need all the time I could get. When I checked out I asked the receptionist which terminal I needed to go to for my Air China flight - she said Terminal 2. Once the shuttle got to the airport we pulled into Terminal 1 first. I saw several signs that said "Air China International" and asked the driver if I should get off there. He said no and drove on down to Terminal 2. Once I got inside I found a directory and made my way down a really long walkway to the Air China check in. After waiting in line for about 5 minutes, it was my turn. I handed my passport and ticket information to the attendant and was dismayed when they didn't know where Rangoon was or that Air China flew there. Hoping for the best but fearing the worst I used both names for both Burma and Myanmar as well as Rangoon (Yangon) and pointed out the flight number. Still nothing... after 10 more minutes of conferring with colleauges I was told to go to a different counter. I trooped over there and tried again. This time was marginally more successful, as the manager knew where Rangoon was and that Air China flew there, but they said that they were unable to find my reservation. Oh man!! Finally after what seemed like forever but was probably not actually very long they told me that I needed to go to Terminal 1. Yikes!!!
I grabbed my bag and began to hustle down to Terminal 1 - it was about 6:45 by now and I was getting nervous!! It took me about 10 minutes to walk back to Terminal 1. Once I got there I found the correct check in counter pretty easily and waited in a long line. I got to the counter and handed over my passport and ticket info once again. Once again.... unable to find my reservation. I was asked to wait to the side while another person went into another office and made another phone call. To my great relief they quickly found my reservation and I was given my boarding pass. I was all ready to head to Security and Immigration when the attendant decided to bless me with one last bombshell. "Your plane makes a stop in Kunming, where you will get off the plane and go through Immigration, then get back on the same plane." This made me really nervous, as I was uncertain of the procedures, but oh well - I had to go with it! I made it to my gate without any further issues and got there right before they started boarding, at about 8:00 am. WHEW! For a little while I didn't think I was going to make it!
We flew approximately 2 hours to Kunming, and off the plane we all went. I was a little nervous, having no idea what I really had to do or where I had to go. I was crossing my fingers that it would be fairly straight forward! Fortunately, it was. It was a little confusing as there were hardly any signs, but I did finally find a sign that said "Transit to International Flights" and followed it. I was given a new boarding pass at the transit counter and sent off to Immigration. I made it through and hurried back down to the same gate. WHEW! Saying that I was relieved when that plane took off and I knew that I was finally going to be in Rangoon soon is an understatement!
On another note, Air China was quite nice and friendly. I noticed that they fly at a lower altitude for longer before landing, which was excellent as I could really see some of the landscape below. It is quite thrilling to look out the window and see pagodas dotting the landscape. The countryside was so diverse - in Chengdu it was so green and hilly, and then in Kunming it turned mountainous with lots of red earth. Beautiful! I hope to come back to China for a trip someday. Chengdu is where the panda sanctuary is, and I would love to visit it!
Here is the view out of the Dreamliner window - the windows don't have the shades that you pull down, they have buttons that you push that darken the window but still let you see outside. Pretty amazing!
Here is my room in Chengdu - it was listed and priced as a budget hotel and turned out to be really fancy! The bottom photo is the view from the room.
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