Flightmare II: The Return

I'm back in Guangzhou now after a few fun-filled days of non-stop transit.

I had another transcendantly flight-marish experience on my return. This time: $800 overweight baggage charge (11 kilos!), middle seat (11 hours!) and the friendly customer service for which Eastern Europe is famous (smoke-breath harpies with purple hair!)

I arrived in Hong Kong on Monday morning and had to go immediately to a company conference in Zhuhai, a seaside city just across the border from Asia's version of Las Vegas, Macau. Getting there required taking the air-train into Hong Kong, switching to a 70-minute ferry and then a bus. Then it was a full day of conference meetings and a company dinner with 300 of my drunken Chinese co-workers singing dance re-mixes of Carpenter's hits.

I did all of this, of course, with no sleep the night before in my middle-seat veal pen.

Yesterday, I took the bus back to Guangzhou. This evening I'm back to Shanghai. Finally.