At 9:10 am May 8th, the high-speed train from Nanjing to Shanghai departed, with a speed of 345 km/h, it took one hour to arrive Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station. However, it took about another two hours to get to Pudong Airport by Metro Line 2. After arriving at Pudong Airport, I got off the subway and had a meal first. It was the last meal before going abroad. I had to eat well, since I didn’t know where the next real Chinese meal getting my stomach full would be…
It was my first time going abroad. After lunch at 12:45, I went to the terminal. It took me until 14:25 to check in my luggage. Then I went to the Chinese border inspection. There was a Pudong Out 05.08 stamp on my passport. There were few people at the security check and I didn’t have to queue much. After passing the security check, I found that the waiting hall was also very empty. I boarded the plane at 15:50 and was ready to go!
But several things went wrong. As a result, I didn’t leave until 19:40. First, our plane waited too long on the runway and had to go back to refuel. Then they said that after refueling, the engine couldn’t start with the ground power system. After a long time, we finally left!
Shanghai under the night
I asked for a glass of red wine (to help me sleep) and a glass of orange juice for the plane meal. I ate a meal and finally didn’t feel hungry anymore. There was a big round moon outside the window to accompany me. Dear Celine, when the moon rises over the sea, we share this moment together. (In Chinese poetry, moon is always means the misses) When the lights in the cabin go out later, I will take a picture of the moon in the sky for you! 😁
Look, the moon in the sky! 🌙
Because of the Russo-Ukrainian war, American planes seem to be unable to fly through Russian airspace. Look at this flight route map:
I went to sleep at 10:30 pm and slept for two hours. I woke up several times in between to adjust my posture. I was just awakened by turbulence and found that it was just dawn outside. The plane caught up with daylight 😂. I thought that when I got off the plane it would be night time, so in order to sleep when I got to the hotel at night, I couldn’t sleep too much now, so I just stayed awake.
Here is the record of the chat with my seatmate: She is a mother who is going to the US to attend her daughter’s college graduation ceremony. Her daughter studies chemistry at College of Liberal Arts & Sciences | UNC Charlotte. She came from Nanjing like me. I thought about it and asked her when and how she decided to send her daughter abroad for school. She said it was because her daughter went to Nanwai (Nanjing Foreign Language School) when she was young (she was admitted by both Nanjing Normal University Affiliated High School and Nanwai), and then she went abroad after graduating from Nanwai High School. As for why she chose her current school, it seemed that she thought that foreign countries don’t care about schools but more about abilities on one hand (not sure if this is true), and on the other hand she chose schools at an early stage. Although I had some doubts, I didn’t ask in detail. The mother said that studying abroad is very expensive, it cost 3 million China RMB yuan for four years, many people say it may not be worth it, coming back to find a job doesn’t pay much per month either, and it may not be easy to stay in the US for work now. Her daughter still wants to go to graduate school seeking master degree in the US, which is similar to China, where you can reapply for schools. She seems to be a manager in an insurance company. Her English is also good, she thinks it is dumb English, I think it is because she doesn’t have a speaking environment.
She is still very capable to earn this amount of money! When will I be able to earn 3 million to send Yunduo and Erdan (2 fake name) to school…
Flighting!
Current status of the plane: So it’s still flying in the direction of the North Pole, but not through Russian airspace
I fell asleep again for a while, and at 2:30 pm, they sent out the second meal, which was heated bread and butter. It was a bit salty, but I heard it had a lot of calories. After eating, it was 3 o’clock. From the perspective of jet lag, I couldn’t sleep anymore. I had to stay awake, so I asked for a cup of coffee ☕️ 😂. I watched Friends for a while and then got sleepy again and slept for a while.
I woke up and it was 6 o’clock. I didn’t sleep anymore. I installed the new American phone card, so I could use it right away when I got off the plane. The plane was expected to land at 9 am, which was 9 pm local time on May 8th…
The third meal on the plane:
It’s now 7:53 am Beijing time, Detroit time 19:53, and there’s an hour left before landing. The plane is above the clouds and it looks pretty good
Local time 21:00, the plane landed, the sky was not completely dark yet
Hope I'll have a pleasant time in US.
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