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So this is a brief update of my first business trip to Shanghai and Spain so far.
Shanghai is a huge city, filled with bright lights, tall high scrapers, people, and cars, and people and cars some more. We didn’t have that much time to explore around Shanghai because most of our daytime we spend it on traveling to other surrounding cities for company visits. Our transportation for China was via bus, with an average traveling time: 3.5hrs, one way. It wasn’t till later that we were informed it was much easier to take the train, needing only half the time compared to bus. Regardless of the semi-poor logistics, I spent some good time on the bus discussing about PV with other people and, every now and then, looking out of the window for its scenery. Wait. There wasn’t any. So I slept for a huge amount of time on the bus.
More on Shanghai and the rest of China trip later, because I want to dedicate this entry to my process of getting to Spain first. After weeks of “working remotely” in Taiwan, getting myself familiar with my new company and industry, and actually, bumming at home, I’m finally called to pay my first visit to Spain, to the HQ, first for a company party that’s happening this weekend, then for a proper corporate training, later work in Spain until end of January. That means 2 months of staying abroad, AKA, a lot of packing. Things would have been easier if the Shanghai trip wasn’t stuck in between, but since there wasn’t other way to arrange the itinerary around, I packed my belongings and hauled it to Shanghai first.
And thanks to the terrorists’ attacks and all the TSA regulations, below are the costs of this trip (on top of plane tickets):
TPE-SHA excess luggage cost: NT$6000 (bleh)
SHA-CDG excess luggage cost: RMB58xx (about to take the razor and slit my wrists)
CDG-Orly bus trip: EU$18 (sigh, euros)
Orly-ALC excess luggage cost: EU$130? (ouch)
Hold a sec… Charles de Gaulle AND Orly? 2 airports in France?
Apparently, my dear colleagues didn’t explain it to me quite well when they booked my Shanghai-Spain tickets. They were so excited to have found a good connecting flight that only needed 1 connection but forgot to mention that I had to do it through separate airports in France. WTH.
And that’s where I am at the time of writing this entry, at Paris-Orly airport, smelling like everything but meadows and prairies, and still 5hrs away from boarding.
Fortunately, my 12hr Shanghai-Paris trip wasn’t too bad. Was able to watch 2 movies that I missed this Summer: The Dark Knight and Wanted, both really good movies, but I think the in-flight version chops parts of the movie, so I might need to watch Dark Knight again on DVD. And because I flew out at night, sleeping on the plane wasn’t that hard, I wasn’t sure for the big guy that was sitting in the middle though… that poor French, almost double my size and was assigned to a middle seat. But I guess the bottles of wine and whiskies helped him out a bit.
Upon landing at CDG, I did a quick WC stop before picking up my suitcases, and got locked in the cube for good 5 minutes because the door knob was stuck and it was impossible to open. And no lady seemed to need the toilet at that moment, what a coincidence. I really started to panic and was about to yell for help when I remember that I had the solar flashlight in my bag (souvenir from the last company visit), and hit the knob open. Piuff… thank god I didn’t have to go thru the embarrassing moment of screaming from a toilet cube (that reminds me of an episode of Friends, when Chandler was left naked in a public restroom wearing a women’s thong).
I wonder if, unconsciously, I knew things wouldn’t be this smooth and somehow saw shitty things coming, because when other people were enthusiastic about my going to Spain, I couldn’t share the same excitement (or maybe my brain is still not registering that I’m going to Spain). I mean, I’m going to Spain for 2 months for crying out loud!
Looking from the bright side, this adventure got me to see a bit more of France and Paris, although only the night glimpse from Charles de Gaulle to Orly, with no sheer sights of the Eiffel Tower. See? I knew I would come back to France again! HA.
I was also able to brush up my broken French again, now being very thankful that those years of French is finally paying off.
My goodness, I’m being more bitter and synical by the minute.
Anyway, it’s time to let my brain know that I’m in Paris and will be in Europe for the following weeks. Maybe should start with a short visit to PAUL’s for some espresso and croissant (since they charge ridiculous prices in Taiwan).
I’m in EUROPE BABY~!
Shanghai is a huge city, filled with bright lights, tall high scrapers, people, and cars, and people and cars some more. We didn’t have that much time to explore around Shanghai because most of our daytime we spend it on traveling to other surrounding cities for company visits. Our transportation for China was via bus, with an average traveling time: 3.5hrs, one way. It wasn’t till later that we were informed it was much easier to take the train, needing only half the time compared to bus. Regardless of the semi-poor logistics, I spent some good time on the bus discussing about PV with other people and, every now and then, looking out of the window for its scenery. Wait. There wasn’t any. So I slept for a huge amount of time on the bus.
More on Shanghai and the rest of China trip later, because I want to dedicate this entry to my process of getting to Spain first. After weeks of “working remotely” in Taiwan, getting myself familiar with my new company and industry, and actually, bumming at home, I’m finally called to pay my first visit to Spain, to the HQ, first for a company party that’s happening this weekend, then for a proper corporate training, later work in Spain until end of January. That means 2 months of staying abroad, AKA, a lot of packing. Things would have been easier if the Shanghai trip wasn’t stuck in between, but since there wasn’t other way to arrange the itinerary around, I packed my belongings and hauled it to Shanghai first.
And thanks to the terrorists’ attacks and all the TSA regulations, below are the costs of this trip (on top of plane tickets):
TPE-SHA excess luggage cost: NT$6000 (bleh)
SHA-CDG excess luggage cost: RMB58xx (about to take the razor and slit my wrists)
CDG-Orly bus trip: EU$18 (sigh, euros)
Orly-ALC excess luggage cost: EU$130? (ouch)
Hold a sec… Charles de Gaulle AND Orly? 2 airports in France?
Apparently, my dear colleagues didn’t explain it to me quite well when they booked my Shanghai-Spain tickets. They were so excited to have found a good connecting flight that only needed 1 connection but forgot to mention that I had to do it through separate airports in France. WTH.
And that’s where I am at the time of writing this entry, at Paris-Orly airport, smelling like everything but meadows and prairies, and still 5hrs away from boarding.
Fortunately, my 12hr Shanghai-Paris trip wasn’t too bad. Was able to watch 2 movies that I missed this Summer: The Dark Knight and Wanted, both really good movies, but I think the in-flight version chops parts of the movie, so I might need to watch Dark Knight again on DVD. And because I flew out at night, sleeping on the plane wasn’t that hard, I wasn’t sure for the big guy that was sitting in the middle though… that poor French, almost double my size and was assigned to a middle seat. But I guess the bottles of wine and whiskies helped him out a bit.
Upon landing at CDG, I did a quick WC stop before picking up my suitcases, and got locked in the cube for good 5 minutes because the door knob was stuck and it was impossible to open. And no lady seemed to need the toilet at that moment, what a coincidence. I really started to panic and was about to yell for help when I remember that I had the solar flashlight in my bag (souvenir from the last company visit), and hit the knob open. Piuff… thank god I didn’t have to go thru the embarrassing moment of screaming from a toilet cube (that reminds me of an episode of Friends, when Chandler was left naked in a public restroom wearing a women’s thong).
I wonder if, unconsciously, I knew things wouldn’t be this smooth and somehow saw shitty things coming, because when other people were enthusiastic about my going to Spain, I couldn’t share the same excitement (or maybe my brain is still not registering that I’m going to Spain). I mean, I’m going to Spain for 2 months for crying out loud!
Looking from the bright side, this adventure got me to see a bit more of France and Paris, although only the night glimpse from Charles de Gaulle to Orly, with no sheer sights of the Eiffel Tower. See? I knew I would come back to France again! HA.
I was also able to brush up my broken French again, now being very thankful that those years of French is finally paying off.
My goodness, I’m being more bitter and synical by the minute.
Anyway, it’s time to let my brain know that I’m in Paris and will be in Europe for the following weeks. Maybe should start with a short visit to PAUL’s for some espresso and croissant (since they charge ridiculous prices in Taiwan).
I’m in EUROPE BABY~!
posted by nongi at 12:20 AM
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