January 17, 2020
Day P1: Leaving Shanghai
It was one of those perfect travel days, and if a trip started out this great then it would be one for the books indeed. Right at the crack of dawn I did a 6am group fitness class and ran a mile benchmark run. This was accomplished in 6 minutes and 24 seconds which was a very positive achievement and a personal best. Not long after that I headed to work and finished off some key semester-end tasks at school before bouncing.
It was quite a scramble to get to the train station on time in China, as it usually is. I had a short train from Shanghai to Wuxi, a nearby city. After that, in theory, I'd get a taxi to the Wuxi airport and be on my way. However, things had changed. There were so few cabs available at the train station because everyone was booking them on the mobile phone apps. The security guard manning the taxi booth was pretty useless. He just said, "Use your phone to book a taxi". I figured out how to do this and that cost precious time which made me panic that I'd miss my flight. Fortunately it all worked out and I was able to chill out for a bit and pay a few last minute bills at my house with my girlfriend's help.
Then it was a nice business class flight to Guangzhou that was truly enjoyable for the 2 hours or so. When you bust your butt as much as I do, you deserve that business class.
Once in Guangzhou, the weather warmed up considerably and it was easy to find my hotel where I caught a nice nap before hitting a social event. That in itself was awesome, it was arranged by Internations which is famous for building community for expats around the world.
This even was different from the ones I would attend in Suzhou and Shanghai that required you to go up and get your wine. Here, they come to you. I got so drunk by the end of it I couldn't remember a thing except that I somehow got a cab back to the hotel.
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