When I travel, I believe in logistics and operations days. These are days where I really don’t do much but travel and check e-mail. Some people might say — like they said to me so often in Vietnam — “Oh, you so lazy.” But seriously, I am not lazy. I AM BEAT. Traveling is hard. You need downtime. You need to get organized. You need to do laundry. I try to explain this to some people and they just roll their eyes and tell me that surely, I can do better than whatever it is that I am doing. But these people maybe haven’t lived out of a carry-on for two weeks and they probably weren’t up at 5:45 am this morning, either!
When I’m busy, I’m very very busy. When I’m not, I’m NOT.
So let me tell you about my today so far and then you tell me…
5:45 am: Alarm clock rings at Sofitel Metropole in Hanoi. Hop in shower.
6 am: Get dressed, dry hair, etc etc.
6:20 am: Order room service service breakfast, which was included in my room rate. Technically, I should have done this when I hopped into the shower, but my brain wasn’t really functioning at 5:45 am. Sue me.
6:40 am: Room service arrives. Stir-fried noodles with seafood. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE VIETNAM. Seriously…this place is awesome.
6:50 am: Finish breakfast and leave room to check out of hotel, get money from bank machine next to hotel, and pick up a bottle of water from the Club Lounge. (I like to splurge on club floors. A vice of mine. But it saves on breakfast and snacks and etc. so for me, it’s worth it. Especially when traveling alone.) By the time I get back to my room, it’s 7:15 am.
7:20 am: Grab taxi to airport. I have a feeling I will get ripped off. Note to everyone: don’t ever rely on people who never travel to tell you how long it will take to get to the airport. It takes exactly an hour, but they made it seem like it would take 30 minutes. This stresses me out. Also, taxi driver communicates via giggles. Keep reading.
8:20 am: Arrive at airport. Get ripped off by taxi driver, who claims he can’t make change and has seemingly no understanding of my suggestion he get change, and my attempt to get him change. (I swear, all the drivers are in on this “we have no change” thing together.) I make him promise me that he will use the extra money to educate his daughter. More giggles. I get into HUGE CHECK-IN QUEUE. The hugest of hugest check-in queues. Check in around 9:15 am. By the time I’ve gone through immigration and security, it’s 9:35 am.
10:20 am: Flight boards. I’ve been doing laps around the airport for ages. On the plane, I watch an old No Reservations episode about Shanghai and then I start “The Heat” with Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy. It’s funny…sometimes.
2:15 pm: Plane lands in Shanghai.
2:15 pm to 2:55 pm: Wander around Shanghai airport, trying to change Vietnamese Dong into Chinese Yuan. NO LUCK. No one wants my Vietnamese money!!! Jesus, Mary and Joseph. I am worried this is going to be like all the Tunisian Dinars I’ve had at the bottom of my drawer since like 2008. If you’re ever going to Tunisia, let me know. And do go, their white wine is lovely.
2:55 pm: Get into taxi at Pudong Airport and head into downtown. I feel confident that I will not be ripped off. Taxi driver speaks English! BONUS.
4 pm: Arrive at hotel. Taxi driver does not rip me off. Check in and go upstairs. Room key doesn’t work. Go back downstairs. Rather than getting new room keys, they give me a new room. (???) Go to new room. Unpack the important stuff, put the other important stuff in the safe, and get laundry bag ready. (Seriously, $6.50 USD to wash my drawers. I should have done more laundry in Vietnam, where they were only $2.50 a pair.) Set up all my devices for charging.
4:45 pm: Check out hotel public areas. There’s a nice food and wine shop, which is a surprise. I also pick up the spa menu and talk to the concierge. He walks me through the map and I pick up tons of brochures. He also tells me where to get a FOOT MASSAGE. I want to live in China just so I can get foot massages forever.
5:15 pm: Install myself at hotel bar with laptop for official “logistics and operations” time. I confirm my tour for tomorrow morning, (Thank you again, Viator!) I book another tour for Tuesday, and I write down all the details of where I need to be when for tomorrow and Sunday. I also make dinner plans with a friend from business school who lives here and then I try to gchat with a London friend but the connection in the bar is wonky, which is drastically cutting into logisitcs and operations time.
6:15 pm: Give up on wifi in bar. Attempt to take a walk around the block to get some air. Walk outside in my summer dress, bare legs and sandals. HOLY SHIT IT’S COLD. Go back to my room. There’s a message waiting for me from my tour guide about tomorrow. Also, I need a corkscrew to drink the 2008 Chinese Chardonnay I’ve picked up from the gift shop on my way back to the room.
6:25 pm: I’ve ended up purchasing an in-room broadband connection because the wifi is so wonky. I finally get back online, Also, corkscrew arrives. The Chinese Chardonnay is OPEN.
So see…it’s 6:30 pm until I’m really settled in a place and I’ve been up for 12+ hours already. I know there’s a lot to see and do in Shanghai, but I’m beat. Room service and Internet it is. Sorry darlings.
7:15 pm: Publish blog post. 😉
