Wife and I are in the middle of a final intense 5-day 'in China' travel spree.
On Saturday and Sunday, we took an unexpected quick rail trip to an area called Liyang which is just outside the Greater Nanjing area. Then, this morning we were up bright and early and caught a plane to Xi'an. Best known for the Terra Cotta Army for the first unifying Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, But it was also the capital of the dynasties Han, Sui, and Tang (de-I's all time favorite Chinese dynasty), a period covering a millennium.
Much photography has been done and is going to be done. Unfortunately, I left a critical connector for moving my pictures off the camera to my computer back in Shanghai so I will be delayed getting the mass of photos from Xi'an up. And I'm not sure how good the hotel internet will be for uploading those pictures I do have from the Liyang side trip.
Liyang was a whirlwind seeing museums, bamboo forest parks (think nature Disney land), some banquet type meals, and one of the cooler accommodations we've experienced. All this will be coming soon (I hope).
But I want to spend a bit of time to do a mea culpa on an airline, China Eastern. As you know de-I has spent more than a little time flitting around on Asian discount airlines with a wide range of experiences, many unpleasant. Go back to 2016, and Wife and my first Asia Mega Tour. We were with Pooh Lee Shah travel and they had booked us on China Eastern from Shanghai to Beijing. Let's just say the flight experience was such that I said I would never fly the airline again.
Fast forward to 2024, we're booked on China Eastern this morning to get to Xi'an. We're prepared for a cattle car experience. China Eastern is a partner airline with Delta, where I have status. But 2B and #2 say that means nothing in China. Except it does! We get priority check-in and boarding. We have reasonably nice seats though we are in coach. A reasonably nice meal is served on this two and a half hour flight. The cabin staff are pleasant and upbeat. Then comes the totally unexpected. Two flight attendants come with a small tray
It has a nice glass of juice and a handwritten birthday card for Wife for indeed today the 22nd of April is her birthday.
How cool is this! I've never, NEVER had anything happen like this in my close to 50 years of flying for business and pleasure. We made no mention of this. So the airline must do some kind of check of passport information for their priority customers? I don't know. I just know it was pretty special for Wife and I was appreciative.
So hats off to China Eastern. You are on de-I's good list.
