Friday. June 22nd. That's the date that was set for my trip to the US.
There was a flurry of packing on Thursday night. I'm always up for some last minute stuff! ;p
Anyways, I left it for last since I was waiting for absolutely everything to be confirmed (plane tickets, itinerary, hotel reservations, pocket money and etc.) before even daring to stuff anything into my suitcase! In the end, I ended up with my Country Road overnight bag for my carry on and dad's compact Samsonite for checked in baggage.

We (read: my parents and me) left for the airport just after Subuh prayers i.e 6am. I would be taking the Shanghai-Chicago-Charleston route. The plane for Shanghai was at 9 am. Hence, the early departure from home. Mood for that morning: excited and happy that the trip's happening at last!

Arrived just in time at KLIA. Instead of checking in my bags, I went with bringing both of them on board. The check in lady told us that I had a much too narrow time frame between my connecting flight from Shanghai to Chicago. It was less than 2 hours. ( Arriving in Shanghai at 220 pm and flying out to Chicago at 355pm) That caused some minor concerns. Dad thought the same thing too when he saw the proposed itinerary but we just hoped for the best. MAS told me I didn't have to go through immigration and minus the baggage pick up, I thought I'd be fine. Boy was I wrong.

The down points of traveling on your own: no one to take your pictures! I had to do it myself! haha.
Pictured below: waiting at the C26 gate for my flight to Shanghai. Totally unconcerned by the way. 


The flight out was smooth. No hitches. Alhamdulillah. I found the MAS seats to be kind of uncomfortable though, the head rest pushed my neck forward slightly, so I got a crick after trying to sleep the entire 5 hours to Shanghai. The food, on the other hand, was fantastic. No complaints there. I sat beside a Chinese businessman from Labu, Negeri Sembilan. He was quite the friendly dude. He looked so young but had 3 kids already! He said I looked 'mature' because of my hijab. (I'm like, yeah whatever)


Touched down on the Shanghai runway at exactly 2.20 pm! Talk about sharp and on the dot! Still, finding my way to immigrations was really tough. Nobody could speak English! This was when I felt the panic starting to sink in. Made my way finally. The line was super long by that point. I was still flailing around, trying to make out the international departure hall and any sign of United airlines check in counter. 2.55 pm and I was still in line. I cleared immigration at approximately 3.05 pm. Rushed outside, asked information where departures was. Took the elevator to the 3rd floor.

I hurried to United's check in counter. Sighed with relief. And then I realized. It was like a graveyard. No one was manning the counters! I saw two guys in business suits anxiously waiting for something so I asked them if the counters were really closed. They said 'yes'. A stewardess came and ushered them off somewhere, I was pretty sure they made the Chicago flight. I called her for some help but she told me to wait. Saw another businessman who missed his flight head off to United help desk so I trailed off after him. Mood by that time: decidedly forlorn.

It was 10 minutes till 3.55 pm and it was finally my turn. Talked to the lady in charge. She told me I'd missed the flight. Counters actually closed at 2.55 pm!!! I was dejected. Asked her if I could still make it and take another flight since I had a connecting flight to Charleston after landing in Chicago. She arranged both my flights for tomorrow instead. Same time. I was really grateful I didn't have to pay any additional charges. So. Almost 24 hours in the airport. I went off exploring of course!

First thing I did was head to the Business Center to make some international calls. I had to change USD to RGB (yuan) first. Exchanged 50 dollars to 260 yuan. Called Cummins to tell them of my mishap and that everything had been solved already. I was told to re-arrange my check in date at Holiday Inn. I did that and then called my dad. But since everything was under control, there wasn't any real cause for concern. The calls cost me 91.6 yuan.


All that drama really made me hungry. I eyed some restaurants on the upper floor's balcony but the both of them served pork and were really dodgy. So I checked out their convenience stores instead. After seeing their range of goods i.e. a pig and a cow on the snack cover, no sandwiches and  a lot of mooncakes, I started to give up on finding any food at all. Looked like I had to go hungry when suddenly I saw



I hit the jackpot! Ordered some fish burgers and settled down. This Chinese girl was asking for the wi-fi password when I was ordering the food. I spied in in front of the cash register and discreetly entered it on my i-Pod.
So it was that my time was mostly spent at Burger King, updating the family back home. Even had time to Skype with my mom!



Solat time and I walked the entire stretch from one end of the airport to the other to find a suitable place to pray. Finally settled for the diaper changing room. I got suspicious stares from a cleaner guy.
Whiled away some time people watching and playing Crisis Core on PSP. Didn't relish the thought of spending the night sprawled on a 2 seater chair or maybe cramped would be a better word. Also, I didn't look forward to stares from the suspicious cleaner guy so I went to the hotel counter and asked for shuttle service to any hotel under a hundred bucks. Got one JuXiang Hotel for 80 bucks a night. It was fine by me.


Finally a place to rest and some much needed privacy. And to tell you the truth, the place wasn't half bad.  The taxi driver agreed to pick me up at 9 am tomorrow but when I reached my room, he called to say it would be at 8 am instead and I'd get a wake up call at 7. I gave him the OK. As long as I didn't miss this flight!


It was a rainy morning that greeted me when I woke up. I did get a weird wake up call at 7 though, an automated response telling me to wake up in Mandarin. (lol). Hotel pick up was right on the dot. Say one thing for these Chinese, they don't speak English that well, but say they're punctual.

Back at the airport, Terminal 2. Got news that the Chicago flight will be delayed by 3 hours. Apparently, God decided that I haven't had enough drama the day before and plopped me straight into another one the next day. But alhamdulillah, after waiting in line 20 minutes before the counter opened (at 12.25 pm), I sorted out my flights with the officer at the check in counter and all was well that ended well. For my unexpected stay in Shanghai at least.
Next post: Chicago at last!