I read the news and I’m envious. Everyone else gets adventures; I get obligations.
As though I’m trying very hard not to bother anyone.
Took the train to Chengdu. Nothing happened. Suspicious, frankly.
Then the metro to the airport. For a city of twenty million, the airport turned out to be remarkably compact.
Presumably the other nineteen million aren’t flying anywhere. Or they’ve already flown off and never come back, I thought.
At check-in they explained, very politely, that I should drink less and think more. The holidays were over; time to stop overstaying my welcome.
That was CTU airport. I, as it turned out, needed TFU.
A philosophical-logistical error, and a fixable one.
There’s a metro line between the airports. Forty minutes, which by local standards means “instantly”.
Flew Sichuan Airlines. Not in any alliance. Possibly on principle. Or perhaps nobody asked them.
The girl at check-in recognised me. Gave me the emergency exit row.
TFU has two lounges: one closed for maintenance, the other open for money.
No DragonPass, no LoungeKey — a form of resistance against the scourge of free bank-card lounge passes.
They wanted $81 in cash.
Airside there’s a 7-Eleven with beer and triangle sandwiches. Now that’s proper hospitality. Practically a meal deal.
In SGN, SAS Gold got me into the domestic lounge. The SAS number printed on the boarding pass. In reality, the miles went to Vietnam Airlines.
With SkyTeam, surprises are not supposed to happen. Supposed to.
From TBB to the hotel: eight kilometres. Grab, four dollars.
Arrived quickly, cheaply and without the slightest reason to tell anybody about it 🥱
