52 hours from A to B!

In June I started having more problems with my back. After the moto accident last time I limped on too long, and by the time I was able to get to see the chiropractor things were a long way down a line I didn't want to be. So, with new things on the horizon in other areas of my life, and the sensation that whilst I was healing, something was still out of place,   I decided it was the right time to head back to the UK and see my chiropractor who know my body in order to get sorted before things got worse.

I made the decision on a Thursday and was due to fly on Monday. Luckily I had a friend moving into the flat for a few days in any case and another friend who was able to look after the cats - thankfully! 

I got to the airport at 9pm on Monday, and just after everyone had left me and I joined the queue the flight was cancelled. I headed home, and tried again the following morning. We finally set off for Shanghai, but again due to bad weather could not land. We flew on to Hangzhou and landed there around 3pm. The airport, though international, clearly didn't take many flights and definitely was not expecting us. I arrived at the immigration desk and declared I had no visa - luckily I was not on my own. The immigration man was rather shocked and called in his colleagues, the pilot was in the airport by then and explained and 3 hours later we had temporary visas and a mediocre hotel organised. The poor people in the hotel weren't expecting us either and there was a lot of confusion over rooms, food, wifi, what we were entitled to or not, and what on earth would happen tomorrow.

"Sometimes it's the journey that teaches you a lot about your destination." - Drake

There were 11 of us in total, an older Khmer Canadian lady and her son, who were sat next to me on the way and had limited travel experience, so adopted me to make sure they would get where they needed to be too. At one point, I managed to say I was tired in Khmer and instantly got a slab of dry mango (more delicious than it sounds) thrust in my hand, which kept me going for the next few hours. There was also a lovely Mexican couple on honeymoon (the guy helped me a lot with my bags as he overheard about my back, which was massively appreciated). Three early twenties backpackers. A guy who had been living up in Poipet on building projects. A Russian lady and her son, leaving SR for the last time after a divorce (they could have lived without the stress of the journey), and me (with a bad back and who could also have lived without the flight issues!).

Once we had finally got into our rooms I managed to get through to my travel agent in the UK and he reassured me that I would not have to pay for flights again, he also booked me onto the flight the following day and told me just to head to the desk of the airline to pick up the information the next day, which was a huge reassurance. I can thoroughly recommend the service at STA Travel, Manchester.

I finally got to bed around midnight and was up again around 4am. We headed to the airport and got to the desk and started to try and explain we were on a flight the day before that had landed unexpectedly and needed to get back on it to get to Shanghai. The people on the desks had no idea what was going on, and the 11 of us started to get a bit worried about what was going to happen next. Eventually we got boarding passes and made it through to the plane and landed in Shanghai an hour later.

Once we landed everyone was rushing to various flight operators to sort out their ongoing flights and we all went our separate ways - a part of me is still concerned though that someone is stuck in China!!

I got to the desk for my airline and after much confusion and insistence I was on that days flights I was finally given a piece of paper with some flight number on it. It too 2 hours to check in and I got to the gate as the flight was boarding, only to sit on the tarmac for an hour and a half. Eventually we set off and may hours later, and work from various planes and airports, I was in Manchester, truly thankful to have landed.

"Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home." - Matsuo Basho

So, early July saw me back in blighty for a few weeks. A couple of days after landing I was in with the chiropractor and neurosurgeon and things with my back started moving forward and the news was pretty positive.

The next few weeks were spent with finishing up my old job and starting my new venture. Some family time, and friend time, which was a lovely added bonus. 

[ps: airports are boring places, and this was pretty stressful, hence no photos!]