Always An Adventure

Let me assure you, it is ALWAYS an adventure to travel with me. We left San Francisco on Sunday morning and arrived in Korea on Monday afternoon. We had been assured when we were issued our tickets that I did not need a visa for China since I wasn’t leaving the airport. We were also assured at the check-in counter that I was good to go. As we tried to board our plane for Chengdu on Monday evening, there was quite a fair amount of confusion as to whether I would be allowed on the plane (Tom has a multiple entry visa to China). They eventually relented and allowed me on board.
When we arrived in Chengdu just after 11pm, we saw a deserted airport and no signage that would allow us to get to a Transfer Desk and on to the airport lounge. Instead, we found ourselves standing in line at the sterile area filling out arrival cards for China.
As I handed over my passport, they asked for my transit visa.
“Um, no, I am not leaving the airport.”
“You are going to Lhasa?”
“No, I am going to Kathmandu.”
“You are going to Lhasa? Tibet?”
“No, I am going to Kathmandu.”
“Please stand over there.”
There are only a few things more gut wrenching that seeing your passport taken away in a country where you do not have a valid visa and a country that is still rather militant.
Tom was also asked to stand with me, and then we were moved to chairs. Nine customs officers surrounded our passports and there was much talking and waving and examination of stamps.
We feared they thought I was a Tibetan dissident.
Eventually, they handed over our passports and told us to pick up our luggage. And thus as new adventure.
We explained our luggage had been checked through to Kathmandu since we were going to sit in the airport lounge and not leave the airport. They explained that at Chengdu, the airport closes and there is no facility for transit luggage or transit passengers. Bonus!
We were escorted to the departure hall with all of our luggage (6 large pieces plus carry-on) and told that we would probably have to wait outside on the sidewalk when the airport finally closes. Airport security came by an hour later and escorted us down to the arrival hall where we set up camp under a set of escalators for 6 hours.
I checked our passports and it had stamps in them issuing us a one day visa to China. Our next concern was all of our luggage, since we were flying the rest of the way on Air China who have very different luggage allowances to United. When the counter finally opened at 6:10am on Tuesday, we were the first in line. After much negotiation, our luggage was allowed on at no charge.
When I first booked our ticket, I was told our flight from Chengdu to Kathmandu had a 1 hour stop in Dhaka to pick up passengers. As the flight took off and we saw the flight map, we realized we were on board a plane to Lhasa. When we arrived in Lhasa, we all had to deplane and go through immigration. So it turned out that it was an absolute blessing to be stopped at Chengdu and issued a 1 day visa because dealing with Lhasa customs and immigration would’ve been impossible.
We were thrilled to finally land in Kathmandu. We were met at the airport by a driver from the hotel and after check-in we drove to Dhapasi to pick up the girls.
More this afternoon …
Love,
Fi & Tom