More Flight Drama

“I’m sorry, but you can’t fly through Tianjin without a visa.”

“What?”

“You need to call your travel agent and get another ticket home.”

“But…what?”

We stood at the checkin desk, bags packed, ready to go home. The lady at the desk looked sympathetic, but she really couldn’t do anything. Our ticket was from Chiang Mai, to Tianjin China, to Shanghai China, to Vancouver BC. Apparently there are only certain Chinese cities you can fly through without a visa, and Tianjin is not one of them.

No kidding. I guess that’s what we get for booking through a website called “Cheapo Air.”

We called Amy through Facebook using the airport wifi. She came and picked us up, and we went back to her place and played phase ten.

Merry Christmas Eve, I guess.

It was 3 am in Oregon, but I sent mom a message telling her what was up, thinking she’d get it in the morning. The “ping!” woke her up, and she woke Dad up to get him to call Cheapo Air. As he was the one who had booked the tickets, he was the one best suited to try to sort out the mess.

Furthermore, he has “Dad voice.” You know the voice, when your dad has had ENOUGH, and you are to apologize to your mother and go to bed without any supper and all nonsense is from henceforth forbidden.

The people at Cheapo Air not only got Dad voice, they got 3 am Dad voice, and presently, for a small fee, we were scheduled on another flight.

Thanks Dad!

So Lord willing, we’ll fly from Chiang Mai to Shanghai to Vancouver tomorrow, all nonstop flights with only one short layover.

We’ll see how that goes.