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And so the long awaited journey begins! I was up early this morning, having had very little sleep due to excitement, nerves, and the hot weather. The hot weather is something I'm going to have to get used to though, on last inspection, the weather in Shanghai was 36 degrees celsius.
After a goodbye to my mum and brother, both of which I managed to stay smiling throughout, I set off with my dad for Ashford Station to catch the 11.03am train to Charing Cross. Up until this point, all goodbyes had been happy ones. No tears or regrets, just happy farewells, smiles and hugs.
However, my trip to the station involved a detour to Letraset to collect some Mandarin translations from Chris, which Corrinne had very kindly copied for me? Big mistake! Seeing Chris opened the flood gates and that was that! Despite my desperate efforts to keep smiling, I was soon a blubbering mess and saying goodbye to him and then to my dad was very hard.
Without being too depressing, the only thing I can compare it to is how I feel at funerals. I always cry at funerals! I don't mean to, and I try hard not to, but I always do and I can't control it. Not because I am crying particularly hard for that one person, but because it reminds you of everyone you have lost.
So... Despite my excitement at the prospect of my imminent departure, saying goodbye to Chris and then my dad reminded me of just how many really wonderful friends and family members I would be leaving behind for the foreseeable future. It was harder than I'd imagined.
But onwards and upwards (literally)...
I arrived at Heathrow with loads of time to spare, in fact, far too much time to spare. Having always been a 'budget traveler' I've always arrived at the airport and have had to walk three quarters of the way to my final destination just to check-in. But not on this occasion! No siree! Up the escalator and 'Lufthansa welcomes you!'
Arriving about two hours too early for check-in allowed me to lounge in the sun and reflect on my decisions. 'Why China?' entered my thoughts more than once? And 'Why not somewhere much easier, like Australia'!??
A few beers, some mega expensive sushi and some chocolate from Harrods later, we boarded on time. Both flights would have been perfect had it not been for three small but fundamental points:
1) I nearly missed the second flight between Munich and Shanghai due to the fact that I stupidly forgot the whole time difference issue. So, my hour and a half between flights was actually half an hour? Oops. So much for my leisurely stroll!
2) My travelling companion between Munich and Shanghai was a Chinese girl with the pointiest elbows in the world? And they were elbows that she liked to jab into me with great force at regular intervals. Especially when I was trying to sleep! I was beginning to take offence when I read a passage in my book (When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro) that said,
"Shanghai... It appears to be quite permissable here to employ surprisingly rough shoves... I have already witnessed on a number of occasions refined ladies at society gatherings giving the most peremptory pushes without provoking as much as a murmour".
So it seems that this is a custom I must grow to live with!... Oh dear!
3) Why, oh why would Lufthansa feel that it was a good idea to, not only make us sit through the whole of England's defeat to Portugal in the World Cup in full, but to also make us watch the 'match highlights' as well?!? So painful and so very, very wrong!
As I had expected, as the time grew closer to landing time, reality hit home, and with just an hour until landing I was willing the plane to be delayed in some way? The countdown on the screen didn't help matters! Then... Before I knew it, I had arrived. China here I come!
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