China – Page 12

Eurasia: Leaving America

This is the first installment of a story chronicling my travels in 1994 as a college student. The six-month journey took me to 20 countries in Europe and Asia.

Those who travel overseas know how challenging it can be. Not only do you have to do a gazillion things to get ready for your trip, but you also have to prepare yourself psychologically for the paradigm shift that happens whenever you immerse yourself in a new and different culture. It can be emotionally draining to move overseas and be away from home. This is particularly true when you travel abroad for the first time. Sometimes it’s downright frightening to leave behind familiar surroundings, family, and friends for a strange new place where you know hardly anyone.

I faced these challenges and more when I moved overseas for the first time in 1994. I lived in Graz, Austria as an exchange student from February to June; toured Western Europe in March and April; and visited Eastern Europe, the Russian Federation, and the People’s Republic of China in July and August. An International Studies (IS) major, I enjoyed traveling and learning about foreign cultures, although my international experience outside the United States at that time was limited to brief trips to Canada and Mexico. I assumed that as a fourth-year IS student I was prepared to live abroad; however, I soon realized that academic exercises were no substitute for firsthand experience.

My journey from the United States to Graz was filled with fun, excitement, pain, and frustration. As a proverbially starving college student, I decided that the most economical way to get to Austria’s second largest city was to fly to Frankfurt, Germany, and then take the train to Graz. A rail pass cost at that time cost much less than paying for a connecting flight to Graz, so it seemed logical in theory. In reality, it would have been much less of a headache to fly.

I kicked off my trip from my then-home in Idaho. Driving home from college in February 1994, I stashed most of my belongings at my parents’ house and stuffed the rest of my life into one suitcase and two large duffle bags. These were my constant and burdensome companions all the way to Graz.

My parents drove me to the airport early on a Sunday morning. After a fond farewell and a cheerful reminder that I would finish school when I returned home, I hugged them goodbye and boarded a small puddle-jumper-of-a-plane bound for Seattle. I waited four long hours in Sea-Tac International Airport for my connecting flight. In the days before electronic gadgets like media players and ultra-portable laptops, I had few options to entertain myself and spent the first of many monotonous hours sitting idle in transit.

The flight from Seattle to Vancouver, B.C. was on an even smaller commuter jet. I chanted prayers for a safe journey. The propeller-driven plane had only three seats per aisle, but the 45-minute flight was so short that I did not have time to fear for my life. It’s still the smallest aircraft I have ever flown overseas, even though I’ve logged hundreds of thousands of miles since then. There’s a small comfort in flying in a large commercial airplane, in spite of the fact that large planes can crash as fatally as small ones. Perhaps it’s the added turbulence you feel when you’re flying in a prop plane.

Digging Up the Past

While setting up shop in Bangkok, I unearthed some travel stories and photos from a six-month tour I took through Europe and parts of Asia in 1994. I found over 60 pages of never-before published material that I had written to document the journey. I also found a box of still photos taken before the digital age with great shots of my trip. For a writer, this is akin to an archaeologist finding a misplaced artifact or detective uncovering vital evidence in a cold case. I was excited to bring these media together for the first time since I took that tour, which was my first in Europe and Asia. A trip like that for someone who enjoys traveling as much as I do is like falling in love.

The stories detail at length the adventures of a poor college student who wended his way through 19 countries in Europe, Russia, and the People’s Republic of China. From touching down in Europe for the first time in Frankfurt, Germany, to meeting my then-fiancée and her parents in Shanghai, China, to traveling thousands of miles to city after city, these stories chronicle an unforgettable journey. Anyone who’s spent weeks or months traveling by rail through Europe can relate to their vignettes.

Over the next few months, I plan to publish these stories on this blog and highlight them with photos. I will not revise facts overcome by events (such as pre-euro currencies or prices) because they reflect the situation as it was in 1994. I will intersperse the stories with new ones about our travels in Southeast Asia, and previous entries about Africa, South America, Korea, and China updated with photos.

So stay tuned, or the stories will go write past you.

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A Rant Against China Eastern Airlines

…and a Rave for Shanghai Airlines

On Friday, April 21 my family and I left Shanghai for Xi’an. We went by bus from central Shanghai to Pudong International Airport and arrived at 6:30 p.m. in time for our 8 p.m. China Eastern Airlines flight. At 7:30 p.m. we arrived at the gate and waited for the boarding call. The flight was delayed due to a freakish thunder storm. We waited almost one hour to board, standing in line with hundreds of other passengers. The flight was full. At about 9 p.m. we were ushered into the plane. The weak announcement overhead periodically announced that we had to wait for other airplanes to depart. At midnight, our flight finally departed.

Waiting three hours for a flight is bearable, but China Eastern Airlines mismanaged the flight. As China’s second largest airline, I expected better service. The boarding was chaotic, and once we were seated, we were subjected to poor circulation and high temperatures induced by warm bodies cramped in a parked airplane. The air hostesses brought drinks and peanuts but were at a loss to provide any other comfort. The flight was miserable. Our Airbus A300 did not handle the turbulence of the thunder storm and China’s central plateau well. Airbus builds its jets so that flight stress is borne by the fuselage, not the wings. You could feel every dip and crack during the flight. It did not help that we flew on an older Airbus. My son slept during the entire flight, but my poor wife paled and gripped my hand with each turbulent shock. I’ve flown on China Eastern a few times and was satisfied with the flights. This one failed miserably. Because the flight was a domestic route serving Shanghai and Xi’an, it’s likely that the level of customer service was a notch below that of international routes. While a regional carrier, China Eastern still serves several international locations, including London and Los Angeles.

I might let my experience with China Eastern slide, but I was surprised by the difference between their service to Xi’an and Shanghai Airlines’ return service to Shanghai. When we flew back to Shanghai on April 23, we flew on a brand new Boeing 737-800. The air hostesses reminded me of international hostesses. They served real food, and the flight was smooth as glass and on time. Our experience on China Eastern Airlines and Shanghai Airlines could not have been more different. I was more concerned about flying Shanghai Airlines than China Eastern Airlines, but it seems that my concern was misplaced. If you have plans to fly in China, give Shanghai Airlines a try.

On Thursday we will fly Delta Airlines back to the states. I hope that our next experience with Delta will be better than our previous one. One thing is for sure–we will not wait to be the last passengers on the plane.