My Travel to Shanghai

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First: a quick back-story of my travel to this wonderful country. My flights were the same as Kevin and Raf's, except two days later. Unfortunately, I could not fly out until then because of a final I had Friday morning. Ironically, the professor of the class was from China (even more ironically, teaching an international trade class), and yet he still wouldn't let me take the final early so that I could have more time exploring his country. I had a very interesting taxi ride to the Townsville Airport with a driver who might as well have been a case study for the classes I took this semester. He used to own a fish company that exported live cod to the states with 6 branches along the Queensland coast. He complained about the ridiculous import tariffs and quotas that he lobbied to get rid of. Unfortunately, the US wanted to protect its domestic fishing industry and he didn't have any luck. Then, he explained how he was put out of business because of environmental restrictions by the Australian government who thought that the fisheries were being overharvested. So, the end result was that a former CEO was now a lowly taxi driver who had a knack for using very colorful language when discussing the international trade and environmental economic forces which had put him out of business.

My flight to Sydney went very well and my evening exploring every corner of the airport was quite entertaining, until a security guard marched me down to the train station entrance where overnighters crash when the airport closes at midnight. The hodgepodge of characters decorating this impromptu hostel made for an interesting night of angry families fuming over a missed flight, twenty-somethings able to sleep in the most uncomfortable of situations, newly weds unaware of their surroundings, and some teenagers who I thought were far too young for doing this.

Long distance Qantas flights are amazing. You are so pampered with food, drink, and entertainment that you are almost unhappy when the 10 hour flight is over. Oh, and their airplanes must certainly have a flux capacitor because the hours fly by in a matter of minutes. My only complaint was the vile smell wafting over my way from the Chinese man sitting to my left - this was explained to me by Tyler who says that the Chinese do not believe in deodorant... apparently, if this guy was any example, they don't believe in showers or basic hygiene either. Before I knew it I was thrust into a country that continues to blow my mind around every corner.

- Dan

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