One true thing

One of the best parts about travel is that it's a learning experience. You learn about yourself; what you are capable of and what the limits of your comfort zone are. Confronting the ugly Westerner can that lives within can be hard, but it's good to do, and usually I think we are surprised to find that we are capable of much more tolerance, generosity, resourcefulness and adventure than we would give ourselves credit for.

We also learn about the world around us. Being in a totally new environment forces us to interact with that world, and whether we really look for it or not, we still learn about the culture, history, food, art, almost by osmosis. Along these lines, we also learn practicalities that we may not have been aware of. Exchange rates, airlines that we might never have heard of. Our world grows and our knowledge increases, hopefully making us permanently better for the experience.

I don't know if that has, or will happen to me. I do know, though, that of all the things that I have learned on this trip, one will never leave me. It is important, and I would like to share it with anyone who comes across this blog....


Never ever. Ever. EVER ever. Ever. Fly Air China!

Seriously. Flying out of Shenyang, they delayed my plane for something like 4 hours due to a few centimetres of snow. Other airlines seemed to function despite the 'critical condition[s]'. I ended up in Beijing for 2 days. I was delayed an hour flying out of there to Kuala Lumpur.

On the way home, I was to catch a 1:30 am flight to Beijing; it didn't leave until 3:30 am. This time, however, I did not miss my connection as, conveniently it is also on Air China and is delayed 5 hours.

And, this is not an experience unique only to me. I've bumped into a few people and had emails from others. It seems that Air China just can't get the whole 'leaving on time' thing down.

So, if my experiences over the last month or so can serve any sort of purpose beyond my own self-growth, I hope it is this... Avoid Air China or bring a few good books.

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Postscript : Since I was had a flight booked to Shenyang and then was planning to take the train to Dalian, and I had the time, I managed to get my flight switched (for a small cost) so that I flew straight into Dalian. It was scheduled to leave at 8pm. Any guesses on when it took off? Oh, I'll tell you. 9:30pm

Actually, pretty good by their standards.