What was supposed to be a fairly routine two-hour trip from Shanghai to Beijing turned out to be an 8-hour nightmare. First, the flight got delayed by one hour from noon to 1 PM. Then, the flight was delayed again after everyone had boarded the plane. Apparently, for various weather and security reasons, Beijing International Airport was not allowing any new flights to land. Another hour later, and we were finally in the air. However, when we were about 30 minutes away from Beijing, we received word that due to inclement weather, we would not be allowed to land in Beijing, and were landing in the nearby city of Shi Jia Zhuang instead. This threw many of the passengers into a panicked frenzy, and things only got worse after we landed in Shi Jia Zhuang and discovered that the situation in Beijing was still “unclear.” No one seemed to know how long it would be until we would be in the air again, and the flight attendants were scrambling to satisfy passengers’ needs for food and water. Finally, after what seemed like hours, we received the clearance to depart and landed in Beijing about 45 minutes later…and approximately 6 hours behind schedule. Needless to say, this was the single worst travel experience that I have ever had, but on the bright side, I guess I have a good story to tell in the future. (However, I am seriously considering taking the train next time. I hear the new high-speed train makes the trip in about 5 hours.)