flyingNow that it's the weekend-- a week after my arrival-- i finally have a bit of extra time to post a new entry on my trip to the States which was... eventful.
I woke up early on Friday 18th at about 05:30 BJT (Beijing Time)-- 13:30 Thursday afternoon PST (Pacific Standard Time). I shaved, showered and packed the last few things but didn't have time to eat breakfast, did however say some journey prayers and a Remover of Difficulties prayer with James' friend before leaving James' apartment. Leo helped me get my baggage on to a bus (no taxis right at the Uni.) which soon got sardine-can-packed full of people. Praise God it got slightly more empty by the time we got to Xiao Zhai where we got off. It was too long until the next airport shuttle (unless i had known what was going to happen with my flight!) So i took a taxi, although they wouldn't be haggled down from RMB200 even with Leo's help (i had been told it should be possible to get there for only RMB100). I thanked Leo for all his help and he then went to the train ticket office because he'd been trying for days to get a train ticket to his home town. In a few more days they would be cutting off the power and heat to his small campus apartment/room for the duration of the Chinese New Year holiday, so i pray that he got his train ticket before that!
The Taxi drive was slower than usual since the roads were slick with fresh snow (but up to and including that day there hadn't been more than 2 inches max in the past week). I still got there in time. I had to pay overweight (200-300 RMB) because my check-in luggage was around 9kg over weight for domestic flights (Xi'an to Beijing). It took a while to get through security throughout the whole trip because of my big coat, my heavy backpack, a waist pack, a sleeping bag, my "man-bag" and the heavy four-volume Dream of Red Mansions novel that i carried in my hand. It was a great blessing that no one ever said i had too many carry-on items!
Right as the airplane got ready for take off, the pilots thankfully noticed that there was something wrong with the left (from the passenger's perspective) engine before we took off! I figured something was wrong when i saw the flaps on the wing being brought back in, and soon i noticed a car was leading the airplane to a spot next to the runway.
A mechanic(s) pulled up, opened the side of the engine and started trying to fix it. At this point i said the Tablet of Ahmad 9 times (for removing difficulties) and visualized my getting to Beijing in time for the San Francisco flight-- while that didn't happen i nevertheless feel that the rest of my trip was unusually smooth and blessed!
Not long after i'd finished praying they served us lunch. So it was about an hour, at least, that we sat there. It looked like they might have fixed it. But then after testing the engine we were told to disembark and were told to wait for further instructions at Gate 19 (! Which is a special number for Baha'is-- and it might be considered coincidental but then the gate that we got a new flight to Beijing from was gate 9 (the other special number for Baha'is) and then in Beijing the gate i took my next flight from was also gate 19--or 9 but definitely one of the two! What are the chances of that!).
To me it was a confirmation that although it took them so many hours to get us on a different flight to Beijing, my prayers we nevertheless having a positive effect on my reality. Because, for example, i was blessed to be able to use the cell phone of a passenger from Tennessee to call my friend in Olympia and let her know i would be delayed. If i hadn't called her then-- i didn't have another chance to communicate with her in any way until arriving in the States on Friday just before 17:00 PST-- then she would have gone to meet me at Sea-Tac airport at 18:03 and i wouldn't have been there! So praised be God-- and that man from Tennessee for enabling me to call her-- although i woke her up-- and so she knew not to go to the airport. Praise God!
Also although i did miss the San Francisco flight, even though i originally had a 4 hour lay-over in Beijing, i was able to just make it on to a flight to L.A. with 0 minutes to spare (and my luggage made it too!). I ran from the check in counter (stopping at customs and security) to gate 19 (or 9), getting there just as everyone was boarding!
On the flight i was blessed to "happen" to get up and look out the back left window just as we passed over San Francisco and i got a great view of the Golden Gate bridge and the city! We touched down at 16:40 PST in L.A. and as soon as i could i called Nancy to let her know i was in America and wouldn't be arriving as late as i feared the first time i called her from Xi'an! (It was a nice Persian lady that works at the airport giving passengers info who let me use her cell phone. I don't know if she was a Baha'i but she probably saw the Baha'i pendent around my neck :^). There was no one at the Air China desk and wouldn't be for more than an hour so i went on to the United Airlines counter since my next flight was supposed to have been with them (but from San Fran.). It took a while of waiting in line and then another long wait while i explained my situation and the representative tried to change my flight to L.A. to Seattle, eventually a supervisor was able to get it done. I got to the gate just before boarding time and used a kind passenger's cell phone to call and leave another message for my friend letting her know of my arrival time.
After i arrived in Seattle when my bag came out on the belt it was wrapped in a big plastic bag because it had burst open somewhere between LAX and Sea-Tac! It had a luggage belt around it, though, so they seem to have found everything that fell out and put it back in. I was able to fix the zipper and the bag is ok again. I'd better get a new one though, before my next international trip!
I woke up early on Friday 18th at about 05:30 BJT (Beijing Time)-- 13:30 Thursday afternoon PST (Pacific Standard Time). I shaved, showered and packed the last few things but didn't have time to eat breakfast, did however say some journey prayers and a Remover of Difficulties prayer with James' friend before leaving James' apartment. Leo helped me get my baggage on to a bus (no taxis right at the Uni.) which soon got sardine-can-packed full of people. Praise God it got slightly more empty by the time we got to Xiao Zhai where we got off. It was too long until the next airport shuttle (unless i had known what was going to happen with my flight!) So i took a taxi, although they wouldn't be haggled down from RMB200 even with Leo's help (i had been told it should be possible to get there for only RMB100). I thanked Leo for all his help and he then went to the train ticket office because he'd been trying for days to get a train ticket to his home town. In a few more days they would be cutting off the power and heat to his small campus apartment/room for the duration of the Chinese New Year holiday, so i pray that he got his train ticket before that!
The Taxi drive was slower than usual since the roads were slick with fresh snow (but up to and including that day there hadn't been more than 2 inches max in the past week). I still got there in time. I had to pay overweight (200-300 RMB) because my check-in luggage was around 9kg over weight for domestic flights (Xi'an to Beijing). It took a while to get through security throughout the whole trip because of my big coat, my heavy backpack, a waist pack, a sleeping bag, my "man-bag" and the heavy four-volume Dream of Red Mansions novel that i carried in my hand. It was a great blessing that no one ever said i had too many carry-on items!
Right as the airplane got ready for take off, the pilots thankfully noticed that there was something wrong with the left (from the passenger's perspective) engine before we took off! I figured something was wrong when i saw the flaps on the wing being brought back in, and soon i noticed a car was leading the airplane to a spot next to the runway.
A mechanic(s) pulled up, opened the side of the engine and started trying to fix it. At this point i said the Tablet of Ahmad 9 times (for removing difficulties) and visualized my getting to Beijing in time for the San Francisco flight-- while that didn't happen i nevertheless feel that the rest of my trip was unusually smooth and blessed!
Not long after i'd finished praying they served us lunch. So it was about an hour, at least, that we sat there. It looked like they might have fixed it. But then after testing the engine we were told to disembark and were told to wait for further instructions at Gate 19 (! Which is a special number for Baha'is-- and it might be considered coincidental but then the gate that we got a new flight to Beijing from was gate 9 (the other special number for Baha'is) and then in Beijing the gate i took my next flight from was also gate 19--or 9 but definitely one of the two! What are the chances of that!).
To me it was a confirmation that although it took them so many hours to get us on a different flight to Beijing, my prayers we nevertheless having a positive effect on my reality. Because, for example, i was blessed to be able to use the cell phone of a passenger from Tennessee to call my friend in Olympia and let her know i would be delayed. If i hadn't called her then-- i didn't have another chance to communicate with her in any way until arriving in the States on Friday just before 17:00 PST-- then she would have gone to meet me at Sea-Tac airport at 18:03 and i wouldn't have been there! So praised be God-- and that man from Tennessee for enabling me to call her-- although i woke her up-- and so she knew not to go to the airport. Praise God!
Also although i did miss the San Francisco flight, even though i originally had a 4 hour lay-over in Beijing, i was able to just make it on to a flight to L.A. with 0 minutes to spare (and my luggage made it too!). I ran from the check in counter (stopping at customs and security) to gate 19 (or 9), getting there just as everyone was boarding!
On the flight i was blessed to "happen" to get up and look out the back left window just as we passed over San Francisco and i got a great view of the Golden Gate bridge and the city! We touched down at 16:40 PST in L.A. and as soon as i could i called Nancy to let her know i was in America and wouldn't be arriving as late as i feared the first time i called her from Xi'an! (It was a nice Persian lady that works at the airport giving passengers info who let me use her cell phone. I don't know if she was a Baha'i but she probably saw the Baha'i pendent around my neck :^). There was no one at the Air China desk and wouldn't be for more than an hour so i went on to the United Airlines counter since my next flight was supposed to have been with them (but from San Fran.). It took a while of waiting in line and then another long wait while i explained my situation and the representative tried to change my flight to L.A. to Seattle, eventually a supervisor was able to get it done. I got to the gate just before boarding time and used a kind passenger's cell phone to call and leave another message for my friend letting her know of my arrival time.
After i arrived in Seattle when my bag came out on the belt it was wrapped in a big plastic bag because it had burst open somewhere between LAX and Sea-Tac! It had a luggage belt around it, though, so they seem to have found everything that fell out and put it back in. I was able to fix the zipper and the bag is ok again. I'd better get a new one though, before my next international trip!
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