THE worst nightmare travel...

Boy oh boy... do I have a great story to tell. Well, I had to fly to Beijing for work and of course, whenever I travel, it never fails to be a great story. On Sunday, I left Shanghai for Beijing so I can be there for a meeting on Monday. I arrive about 2 hours late, which is so not a big deal considering that flights here are always delayed. I am LUCKY that my flight was ONLY 2 hours late. Upon arriving at the airport, it was a complete mob scene outside for taxis. I thought to myself, I have to stand in line so just put on your ipod and be patient. Well, that lasted all of five minutes when I was shoved from behind by this damn guy with a pushcart full of suitcases. The line was so crowded that it spilled outside of the roped area. So after a few more shoves, I turned to the guy and said "if you touch me one more time with that thing, I am going to hurt you, as*hole." He didn't understand English of course, so I had to improvise my Chinese and attempt to say a*shole in many different ways. I think he got the hint. BUT, when I get to the front of the taxi line, this dude decides to cut in front of me. I lost it then and went off on him. It was not pretty and I'm sure a few Americans who were in line were offended too. HA! It's just so hard to accept this type of behavior, especially when they all LOOK LIKE ME!
After arriving at the hotel, I had a freaking conference call at around midnight so of course I didn't get to bed until around 1am. I had to wake up at 6:45 the next morning for another meeting and if you know me well, I am SO not the morning person. So the day goes with meetings and then a late dinner with clients. I knew that Tuesday was not going to be any better, so I thought I'd get to bed early. I was COMPLETELY right on the money when I said Tuesday was not going to be any better. I get to the office to prepare for our presentation at 2:00pm. We go through the presentation and finish about 3:45pm and I had my bags all packed and ready to go because I was catching the 4:50pm flight back to Shanghai. Unbeknownst to me, THERE WAS A TYPHOON in Shanghai!!! I was rushing my butt to the airport and to tell you the truth, it was because I had amazing seats to the US Women's World Cup soccer match, so I had to make the flight. Well, I get to the airport and miss my flight. Luckily, there is a flight to Shanghai every hour so I get the LAST seat on the next flight, which would put me in around 7:30ish and I can still get to the stadium on time. I was so excited but of course, I spoke too soon. I am sitting at the gate and wondering why the hell were we not boarding the flight. There were not flight attendants around to answer any questions and of course, this is when I start getting angry (as usual). I went to the information counter (which of course really isn't an information counter cuz these people are clueless) to ask for some help and all they said was "we have no information right now." I said, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN!??! Again, they ignored me so I finally slapped the desk very hard with my hand and said, ANSWER ME. So they did. How is it that I have to act completely insane to get an answer you ask? I don't have a freaking clue...So after an hour of waiting, they start boarding for my flight. The plane was parked like ten miles away so we had to take this stupid shuttle to the plane. I was so happy to sit down that I didn't even care that I was stuck in literally the middle seat. I forgot to say that the waiting area in the airport had NO seats! That's what made me even more angry than anything. How can you have an airport with not enough seats to accommodate people? I wish the Chinese government can answer some of these easy questions. Anyhow, the flight attendants start the emergency exit stuff demonstration and we're all set to go. We wait for about 35 minutes and no movement. After an hour, the other Chinese people on the plane start complaining. The only thing I was complaining about was the smell of the guy's FEET behind me. I rang my call button and told the flight attendant to tell the guy behind me to put on his shoes. Needless to say, that was awkward! HA! After an hour, the PA systems reports that the flight is canceled. I was going to cry by then. So we had to get off the plane, get on the damn bus again, and be shuttled back to the airport terminal. In the bus, this dirty German dude starts chatting it up with me cuz he overheard me calling my travel agent to tell her to get me on the next plane out. He asks me what we should do (and the first thing I said to myself was "WE?") and I said I will help him if he needs it. So we walk together to the ticket counter when we got back to the terminal and he said "want to get a drink?" I was about to tell him he's on crack, but thought I'd try to be nice. I said, I need to get out of here and get to a hotel room and sleep. He kept trying to convince me but I politely declined. As politely as I can possibly be at that time...Now, here is the biggest issue. So I go to get my ticket changed for tomorrow but the guy in front of me was offered the LAST seat on a flight going to HongQiao airport, which is about an hour from the Pudong Airport where I'm supposed to land. HOW the hell was that going to work considering that the airport was closed? It's like Dulles airport and National airport distance. I was FURIOUS and again started yelling at the desk clerks. I said, how is it that their flight can take off AFTER mine is canceled due to weather. They of course could not respond. I asked for compensation, but they declined due to bad weather. I said forget it, I'm not going to waste my time on these fools so I walked outside to find a taxi. I then realized that I didn't book a hotel room and don't know my way around Beijing! I called my hotel from the night before and just my luck ALL rooms were sold out. Yippie! I had to call my colleague who was able to call around and set me up in this local hotel but was given the suite. SO... basically, I am stuck in a hotel in Beijing until the damn storm passes. I know I should not complain considering that people are stuck OUTSIDE of their homes and in the water but man, I just want to go home!!! I know you all know that feeling...a hotel just isn't your own home. So freaking tired...
Today, I FINALLY received my personal items from NYC. Funny thing is that I'm not even there to get it. My parents had to go to my place to collect my goods from the shipping company. AND NOW, I can't even go home to enjoy my stuff because I'm stuck here in this damn hotel because of this damn storm. What is wrong with the world these days? Better question, what is wrong with a country that is sooo developed and yet soooo underdeveloped?
Let's all pray for me tonight and think happy thoughts about me getting home to Shanghai tomorrow in one piece. I can tell you that the next time someone asks me to go on a business trip, I will strongly oppose. It's just not right to subject me to this kind of crap! :)
Until then...