Shanghai to Tokyo

It is probably time I wrote a continuation to my story. I am waiting for the flight to take off as half an hour delay has been announced, so no time can be better. I haven’t been too frequent in my posts recently, well not my fault. Chinese government banned 25% of the foreign websites and Blogspot (along with Facebook) are in the list. It did not occur to me earlier just to put it down in writing or type it in Word document so I can catch minor detail of what’s happening outside and inside me. So here it is in short, as it was and is:

I am on a flight from Shanghai to Tokyo, flying business class (second time in my life). Did not really plan it (either time), as I am rather short on cash and don’t know what my paycheck will be like and if there will be any at all, so I am up for saving…. In fact, pursuing this idea of saving in mind I happen to be here. It’s a funny story, but I wander if I should share actually. It kind of describes me wrong. I am not like that, at least most of the time. Hopefully I secured my future enjoyability by stating that, so, here is the story.

My adventure was rushed. I was told that I can leave about 4 weeks before I left Iceland. My passport was still on the way and I could not apply for visas yet. And I had to get 3 of them. Being Russian, it is not as easy as one (Icelandic human) might think. Takes time, lots of paper (coming from various places with various things written on it about me) and proper pictures. They like to keep your passport for a few days as well. It is not really needed, I’d think, as it takes seconds (from experience in Mexican embassy) to place the visa stamp in your passport. Well, they want people to contribute to economy I guess, so they keep them nervous and worried about the 50% chance of not getting visa and walk to the drugstore to get something calming. Well, I don’t know what calms people and I contribute to economy the least in that way. Anyway, before I loose myself in the forest of unconnected thoughts, back to the story.

As I was 50% sure that I will get all the visas needed, I was booking my flights only for 50%. In a way I was not really booking them, but just looking them up and keeping in mind the dates, the prices and the airlines. After I’d get a visa, I’d go to the airlines website and locate the flight I was intended to buy and would book it. With a 30% change in price. At least. At some point I realized that I am overdoing my budget, but 30% at least and kind of stopped caring. I stopped booking my flights. I thought I could be flexible now, as money was not a question (I did not have 30% more anyway). I’d arrive to a country, I thought, and would get a flight to go to the next destination. That should work and sometimes some people get last minutes deals. I could be that ‘some people’, could I? Ever? Well, that’s what I thought when I found a flight for 80 dollars. A flight leaving from Shanghai going to Tokyo. A flight that I had to book anyway. And here it was, colored in pink, screaming of a good deal, saving my budget and more or less fitting the dates. One thing, my stay in Japan according to the ticket was supposed to last 16 days (they had some special deal on certain dates). Which is fine. But I have 15 days visa. Hm? Could one day be a problem, I thought. For 80 dollars? Of course not. I tried booking it. Somehow I could not finish the booking process though using my card, as Iceland was not included in the country menu when you proceed to payment. Minor detail - the payer had to be the traveler - that was clearly stated. Some rules are less important and this one was really unnecessary from my perspective... To make the story short I booked the ticket with a credit card belonging to my brother in law, only to discover the next day that I mixed up the currencies and Japanese yen that I was so excited the previous day about turned out to be Chinese yuan :( (the difference of about 10 times). All the hustle for nothing, as moderately priced ticket would cost even slightly less than mine. Besides I had that one extra day to worry about...

Well, that's how I ended up sitting in the business class next to people that probably had more cash in their pockets than I have on my bank account. Too bad the flight lasted only 2 hours... the service was great for everyone, regardless of the chance that brought you there.