A Beijinger's travel Chronicles. Story time

Day 1

30 minutes after trying to record a youtube video about my travel experiences, I am afraid I have to admit that youtube is not for me. I prefer to write.

I will try to be as brief as possible, but you know how detailed I like to be when I tell a story.

 So seeing the way covid cases in Beijing kept going up and down like a stock market chart, I thought I should take the train to Shanghai, but basically my original flight from Beijing to Shanghai was cancelled, so the train seemed like the ideal and safest option (highly recommended). As I lugged my huge suitcases to Beijing South Station with not a trolley in sight, I was lucky enough to find a man who helped me carry my stuff onto the train (priority boarding) - the first class spirit in me came out that day! Anyway, I paid him 100 RMB and he contacted another person in Shanghai to help me with my bags when I arrived.

So I board the almost empty train to Hongqaio station, with a big grin on my face, because  a cancelled flight can not STOP me!!! 

 

I arrived in Shanghai 6 hours later and as promised, the man was at the door of my carriage to help me with my luggage. I went to "immigration" (not sure what to call them) where they checked my Beijing health kit and allowed me to enter the city. I should add that before boarding my train, I took a Covid test at the Beijing United Family Hospital. (Highly recommended for a bilingual travel test result). From the station I took a didi (now you have to scan the shanghai health code with your Alipay).

 

Day 2

 

Checking my email and finding that the hospital had already sent my Covid result, I dragged  myself out of bed and looked for a place to print the document. Basically, I had two travel documents: my Covid result and my vaccination result (I recommend you print both). My flight to Frankfurt was scheduled for 11pm, so I packed my bags again at 4pm and headed to Pudong International Airport. At the airport entrance, you have to show the shanghai health code showing when you took the Covid test, then you are let into the airport. (The Covid test result is valid for 48 hours).

As I had already checked in online, I thought the process would not take too much time, but I was wrong!!!! It took another eternity at the counter (they are very strict with checking Covid entry requirements for your final destination). They asked for my bilingual test result and my vaccination certificate (so much happened at this point, but I'll skip it).

It took forever to get everyone checked in, which delayed the flight, but eventually we boarded.

• The shops in the airport are open but extremely expensive (a bottle of water costs about 35rmb).
• Get to the airport 5 hours before your flight.
•  Fill out the online custom declaration before you get to the airport and take a screenshot of your code.
•  Oh, and mask is mandatory on the plane.

 Xoxo

The scientist trying to adjust to a different time zone.