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We're on our Way - but very Slowly
(August 25, 2008) (return to Homepage)
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     I guess if you can't be flying over the ocean to Shanghai, eating a double chocolate chip cookie is a reasonable trade-off. Besides, I'd rather they replace the main engine on the plane before we take off. The good news is that several decades ago it would take five weeks to get to China by ship, and I bet they didn't have double chocoloate chip cookies.
     Technology is amazing as I sit and write this among a couple dozen people working on their computers at kiosks with electric outlets designed for nerds like me. Since the airlines has been teasing us with statements like "As soon as we find and resolve the problem...", "They think they may have to fix the engine, but here's a voucher...", and "They're replacing the engine ane we're scheduled to leave at 8:00PM...", we have been Skyping and emailing our contacts in China and our liason in America.
     Our brief nine hour delay seems exaggerated when I say that we started at 2:00AM Monday morning and will arrive in Nanchang at about 10:00AM Wednesday morning. I think I will go for a walk and buy another Sudoku book.

A note about Shanghai airports : There are two of them, Pudong and Hongxiao, about thrity miles apart. With reasonable traffic, a taxi should take about two hours to get from one airport to the other. One is considered old and the other opened only a couple years ago. One handles international flights (Pudong) and the other focuses on domestic flights. There is this new "bullet train" (according to the news media) that travels at speeds up to 400 miles per hour and makes the 45 minute trip from downtown to the airport a dazzling 8 minutes. It must be all acceleration and deceleration time.

     The flight should be interesting. There are several dozen young children running around the airport waiting for this flight. Maybe they will sleep.