I forgot to share here in the blog some pictures I took on January 8th, when it snowed in Madrid. I was lucky enough to take a flight that night which was able to land in Madrid airport. It took quite a long time till we got into the terminal, but it was really worth waiting for this view of my aircraft and some others in front of T-4.
Hace unos meses me compré unos billetes de avión para este fin de semana. Y ahora estoy medio arrepentido. Es el problema de tener que comprar los billetes con tanta antelación. En aquel momento, el avión parecía una opción como otra cualquiera, con sus riesgos, pero una opción.
Espero no arrepentirme demasiado de no irme en tren...
Hoy las cosas han cambiado bastante. Después de mi última experiencia en Barajas y de las noticias de huelgas encubiertas, ahora mismo voy camino del aeropuerto con el ánimo hecho a que mi vuelo se retrase, se cancele y me estén mareando toda la tarde por la T-4 con sucesivos cambios de puerta.
Bueno, me llevo algo para leer y una buena dosis de paciencia, y los ojos bien abiertos para “disfrutar” con las distintas personalidades que afloran en estos casos…
I will start the trip from the beginning, so I also refresh my mind and do not miss anything… I will try not to to bore you… 😉
I already wrote part of my first impressions of China in this post. I flew to Hong Kong and crossed the border to Shenzen to benefit from the cheap internal flights in China. Hong Kong area is full of islands, and the ferries are a common transport there. So, I found the fastest way for my purposes to reach an airport in Mainland China using the Turbo Jet Sea Express ferry linking Hong Kong International Airport and Shenzen Airport. Really easy way to go to Mainland. Just remember that you have to pick up your luggage before the customs, and that there is a free bus from the pier to the airport (just 2 km).
The first image I got when I jumped off from the boat was this one:
Nice sunset, isn’t it? It is a pity that it was cloudy… Cloudy? No. China is the most polluted country I have ever been (ok, I have only been within Europe, Canada and Japan, but anyway…) and that could be seen at simple sight. The “cloud” is always present: in Shenzen, in Beijing, in Xi’an and even in Shanghai. But, of course, this was just the beginning, in one of the most industrialized areas of China, also called Special Economic Zones, where more factories are placed, and where tougher controls are carried out to avoid an overpopulation around it.
So, after this shock and the issue with the taxis, I took one of the last flights to Beijing, where it was snowing during the night… Nice image, but bad omen for the rest of the days there regarding the climate… Thanks to God, I was prepared. 🙂
Yes, I finally got to Hong Kong. This has been the worst day of the trip. First of all, I realized that my flight to Guangzhou was leaving from the wrong airport: the small old airport of Honqiao instead of the new one in Pudong with the fastest train in the world connecting the city and the airport. So, no fast train this time. When I got to the airport, I checked in, and 1 hour before the flight I went to the gate to see this regarding my flight.
Fortunately, it was not this, which I still do not know what they are referring to…
Yes, that was my flight. So, I came back to my airline’s desk to try to get some solution. I got it in another company, and almost at the same time, but of course, the flight was closed when I got to the Check-in Counter. Too bad. Back to the information desk and I got a new flight, one hour later to Guangzhou. So, it was ok, although I realized I would get quite late to HK, but I could not do anything to solve that.
Anyway, a bit late, but I managed to arrive to my friend’s place in HK, and tonight I have rested quite a lot. Now I am going to explore the city a little bit and tonight I will hang out with my friend an others.