Friday at 5am I headed out the door, not to return home for several months. Nervous thoughts filled my head during the car ride but quickly transitioned to excitement. Four years ago was the last time I stepped foot on a plane and I’d been waiting for this moment since then. I arrived to the airport, kissed my mother one last goodbye, and headed off to the departure area.
After a two and a half hour wait the plane was ready for boarding. As I walked down the rows toward my seat I was happy to know that I had a window seat, any other and I would not be getting any sleep, thanks to my very specific manner of sleeping. I got to my seat put my stuff in the overhead and then looked at which seat was mine and to my horror I realized for the next sixteen hours I would be sitting in the middle of three seats. Why the hell do planes not put their seats in alphabetical order? They decided to skip a letter and so instead of 59j being the window seat it was in the middle.
Your impression of what a 16 hour flight feels like is most likely spot on. If you’re still guessing at what it feels like, it sucks. They offer a wide selection of movies, TV shows, music, and video games to play as well as a power outlet for your own devices. I’m not sure what it is about an airplane but the wide selection meant nothing. I started about six movies and four different TV shows and only finished three of the movies and didn’t make it through a single TV show. Luckily I did manage to take several short naps which helped to pass the time. The food was decent enough and helped fill up some time.
Thankfully, before I knew it the plane was touching down in Hong Kong. I was still four hours away from my destination but grateful to get an hour to not be sitting in the middle seat. The plane ride from Hong Kong to Shanghai was rather uneventful and I scored an aisle seat. Leaving the airport went smooth as well. Right outside my friend greeted me and we headed off to his apartment so I could drop off my stuff and get a quick shower before heading off for my first adventurous night in Shanghai.
