I mentioned in my update post I had a very long flight. I actually wrote this post early last week but the internet has been particularly bad for a few days so I haven’t had any luck posting this.
So my 26 hour trip from Georgia to Zhuhai. Originally I had wanted to fly to Seoul and then to HK but unfortunately that flight sold very quickly. So around a month out from my intended departure date my mom and I sat down and searched for the cheapest flight to HK. I had two possible ways of reaching China.
The first was Vancouver, B.C Canada. The second was San Francisco. I chose San Fran because Air Canada flew out of Vancouver and their reviews weren’t so stellar for trips to China.
Because I flew from San Francisco I had the pleasure of flying Singapore Air and it was amazing. I plan on flying them every time I can in the future because it was just a new level of flying. The give you hot towels like 4x during the flight. HOT TOWELS.
Anyways, Singapore actually doesn’t fly domestically so to get from Georgia to California I needed to fly Delta. I booked the flight through the online Singapore Air system and my cost included the first flight in the price.
I will admit that the Delta flight was ok for a domestic flight. But really it was only ok because I didn’t have a neighbor in the middle seat. I always try to get window seats whenever possible and both flights I was not only lucky enough to get one but both flights no one sat between the aisle seat and me.
This was a miracle and I still am so grateful for it because it made a long flight bearable. The flights themselves were good, calm with no issues. The food on Singapore air was delicious and I got two meals for the one flight so that was nice.
The negative part about flying to China is that the 12 hour time differences kicks in when you land and you find that you’ve lost one day.
So I left on Wednesday at 7:30 and landed in Hong Kong on Friday at 6:00am. It was an odd feeling losing a day mid flight but I slept most of the 14-hour flight so it felt like I just went to bed on Wednesday and woke up on Friday.
Once I landed in China it was a bit odd. There are several ways to get from Hong Kong to Zhuhai on the mainland. There are two ferries that can take you and originally I had planned to take the more convient one straight from the airport.
However my flight landed at 6:00am and the first ferry out was at 12:15. I wasn’t willing to wait in the airport with my bags for 6 hours so I took a taxi to another ferry terminal about 45 minutes away from the airport. It departed at 9:30 and I got there around 7:50. The taxi there was a bit hectic because the driver didn’t speak any English or Mandarin but thankfully I had the name of the port in Chinese so that he could read it and get there.
The taxi cost around $45 or 300 HKD but it was better than waiting for the ferry. Once I got to the port I found out that I needed to check my baggage. No where on the website for the ferry did it mention that was necessary but I did it nonetheless.
I then found the closest Starbucks and promptly called my parents. I also discovered that the drinks in Hong Kong’s Starbucks are odd and not as good as America. They probably have less sugar.
After waiting for an hour or so I boarded the ferry and discovered the difference between First Class and Economy. When purchasing my ticket I chose First Class on a whim because I thought it would be less crowded and was only $5 more. I was so right. It was almost completely empty and they served me water, croissants and a banana when I entered.
After being pushed by all the people in the ferry terminal and crowded in an airplane I was immensely grateful for the privacy it awarded. I am never riding a ferry economy it was too packed and it is worth the extra money.
When I got to the port I encountered a small problem with finding my bag. When I asked how to get to the baggage I was told “Keep Going” but that was wrong. I ended up going through customs only to find my bag was on the dock.
Thankfully my roommate Mary was waiting outside for me and she quickly found out where the bag was and helped me retrieve it. Once we had the bag she called a private taxi that the school hired to pick me up and we went to a supermarket called Carrefore to pick up some of the necessities. I will talk about that in another post.
Overall my trip wasn’t too difficult and I now have a better understanding on how to travel internationally. I think it will be really beneficial for me in the future since I want to travel around the world.
Next week I will be writing about my first full week in Zhuhai. Expect several posts as it was jammed packed with things to do. Till then have a wonderful day!
