Most European flights leave PVG around midday, so with a 2 _ hour train ride plus another hour from Shanghai railway station to the airport I always travel to shanghai the day before and stay in a hotel. That way I also get a night out in Shanghai with Miss PVG.
Trains in China are being rapidly updated and are really starting to put even our shiny new virgin trains to shame. Nanjing Railway station is brand new and looks more like an airport, and being a rich westerner I always travel soft seat which is the Chinese equivalent of first class, and gets its own much less crowded waiting area. Now, let me qualify Rich Westerner The single ticket for this luxury one stop express to Shanghai was six quid. No Brainer really which class Im going to travel.
Once you have worked out the vagaries of the Chinese railway system, and so long as you do travel Soft Seat or Soft Sleeper it really is a very pleasant way to travel, despite the hoards of people around the stations. The express trains between Nanjing and Shanghai are brand new Diesel hauled 100mph expresses of one class in an extremely airy carriage with loads of luggage space and frequent visits by a variety of food trolleys. Again the Chinese level of service is way above what we can hope for in England. Each carriage gets its own attendant and there seems to be one food trolley per three carriages, so you are never wanting for service. And since all trains must be prebooked, there are never more people than seats.
The 2hr20 minute journey started and arrived bang on time, during which I noticed that the upgrade work seems to be well underway for the construction of a fast TGV type line, which is planned to eventually run from Shanghai to Beijing, and should cut the Nanjing-Shanghai time to somewhere just over the hour mark Bring it on!!!
Laden with my maxed out 30Kg suitcase, my carry on computer bag and suit bag we decided to take a taxi from the station to our hotel. This isnt normally necessary as the metro system is good, but to get to this hotel requires a change and then a walk or taxi longer than I am willing to make with luggage. We arrived at the hotel which is a travel lodge type affair for about 20 for the night with unlimited internet access, so I checked on line for my KLM flight and changed my allocated seat to an upperdeck front row window seat.
The trouble with KLM is that whilst you are given a preferred choice of seat when booking, this invariably changes and you can not change it to something else until OLCI opens 30hours prior to departure. Still, at this time I was able to choose what turned out to be two good seats on both the legs.
Departure morning arrived and we were our usual gloomy selves Long distance relationships are a lot easier these days thanks to the internet and video calls but are painful when it comes time to say goodbye, but on the bright side this should be the last time for a while as Miss PVG will become Mrs PVG and also be joining me on assignment to Seoul if all goes to plan!
Taxi, Metro and Maglev got us out to Pudong Airport in just under and hour. A lot quicker than direct bus or taxi at that time of day, and its always a good excuse to ride the super sexy 450kmh Maglev train. Remember to keep the faint hearted looking out of the window at the opposite track about 4 minutes into the journey, since it is great fun to watch them jump out of their skin as the other train passes at @900kmh just a meter from their nose! I get Miss PVG every time [;-)].
There is no dedicated bag drop desk for KLM at shanghai, and currently all OLCI-ers can use the Business class check in to drop their bags, but still there was no queue for the desk and I had dropped my bags and got my two boarding cards through to LHR with no delay. And then. BIG delay to get out of the check in area:
Im not sure if this is a European or Chinese check, but Ive noticed on my last few flights home that as you exit the check in area there is a mobile computer rack which is used to scan a copy of your passport and boarding card. Usually pretty swift, but I think it was misbehaving on this occasion and the queue was backing up. With no fast track line for business class, and only limited time left with Miss PVG I was getting a little frustrated at this!
With around 30minutes left to wait until I really should be in the always lengthy passport exit check queue, we found a quiet seat and enjoyed a last breakfast together. Much as I wanted to go and check out the quality of the free beer in the business lounge, I felt it would be better to spend those extra minutes NOT checking out the lounge in Shanghai Safe in the knowledge that I had at least two hours to kill drinking the Crown Lounge in AMS dry later in the day!
**** Just found this TR languishing in my computer three months later! Ill try to finish it from distant faded memories****
After a tearful farewell with Miss (now MrsPVG) I was off to the usual lengthy queues for passport exit checks. Fortunately they werent too bad for once, and I passed the minutes reading the electronic information system. The fines for overstaying tourist visas dont start to get too high until you are more than a month overdue then again renewing them in country is a pretty painless affair.
After Passport and security I had only a few minutes before boarding time, so I went to the gate and down the fast track stairs to wait at the end of the Jetway. Then only a few minutes until I was onboard the 744combi that often flies this route. Just for variety on the way home Id chosen an upstairs seat in the front row. Again the KLM WBC seat is old style and not fully flat, but as amply comfortable for a day flight.
The configuration is about 8 rows of 2+2 with those useful side bins. However, neither these or the overheads were big enough to take my computer back, so I stowed this in the wardrobe near the stairs. The toilets are up front near the piloting office ( or what ever those chaps in hats do), and with the old fashioned TV sticking down from the ceiling I had to do a limbo to get under it and go to the loo.
I definitely prefer the downstairs WBC cabin, it is all together more intimate but at the same time more spacious than upstairs. Still, the service was as good. A cheery welcome Mr Batchelor from the FSM and pre-flight nibbles and champers plus preselection of your later meals from the good choice of offerings.
The IFE was still dire, but the Amenity bag was the same as the outbound flight with lots of useful things in a good quality washbag type thing.
Wanting to stay awake, but with limited IFE to choose from I elected to kick bag and watch China, Mongolia, and Russia slip quietly by below me. No matter how many times Ive flown the route I still love romanticising about the wilderness that makes up the eastern half of our big island. It was interesting to see winter turning to spring over Siberia, and for the first time I saw the Urals bright and covered in snow.
Surprisingly before I knew it we were descending into AMS, where I had a three hour layover for my connection onto LHR. So I settled in for the beer in one of the Crowne Lounges. We boarded the aircraft bang on time, but were than held at the gate pending ATC clearance from LHR. 30 minutes later we pushed back and were promised no more delay. But alas, we did circuits of Essex for another 45 minutes!
After landing the queue at T4 immigration was the worst Id ever seen it, I guess a load of people travelling back from European destinations after the Easter weekend. It was definitely a day not to be an EU passport holder!
I finally got out over an hour later than expected and met my driver.
Job done scant details in the final part Im afraid, but the memory is fading fast!
