Not an auspicious start, Mount Rinjani belching and spewing on the island of Lombok, one of thousands of islands that make up Indonesia's archipelago. The wind blowing ash across Denpasar International Airport and, for a while, closing it. On tenterhooks wondering if the flight I'd booked was on or off, but China Eastern Airlines assured me that "everything fine, all flights to Shanghai okay." Yes, but what about onward to Bali? "All okay," the sweet sing-song voice soothed.
All not okay.
I just had a hunch I'd get stuck in China - again. Last time was 2013 on my way to India. Thirty hours' wait for a pilot and crew who failed to show, and a woman hurling abuse at a spokesperson attempting explanation before the "crisis," according to the abusive passenger, could be resolved.
This time things were more organized. Yes, we sat around for hours. Yes, the announcements were on-again, off-again to make our way to this or that departure gate. Lucky me got pushed in a wheelchair, necessitated by knee surgery 4 weeks earlier. My obstinacy to travel to Bali even if the sky fell in, was now causing me a lot of pain.
Ultimately Chinese Eastern put us up in a hotel where we made friends with fellow passengers while we ate and drank, and afterward slept in comfortable beds. Can't say hotel staff were entirely welcoming. One hippy-looking guy left his book on a table, thoroughly annoying a server who threw it at him. Literally.
Next morning, back at the airport, no one could find a wheelchair in the general confusion of people stranded for this or that reason, until I further held things up by sitting on a conveyor belt. A chair was found on the double. I don't condone my behaviour, but in extremis it got results.
All not okay.
I just had a hunch I'd get stuck in China - again. Last time was 2013 on my way to India. Thirty hours' wait for a pilot and crew who failed to show, and a woman hurling abuse at a spokesperson attempting explanation before the "crisis," according to the abusive passenger, could be resolved.
This time things were more organized. Yes, we sat around for hours. Yes, the announcements were on-again, off-again to make our way to this or that departure gate. Lucky me got pushed in a wheelchair, necessitated by knee surgery 4 weeks earlier. My obstinacy to travel to Bali even if the sky fell in, was now causing me a lot of pain.
Ultimately Chinese Eastern put us up in a hotel where we made friends with fellow passengers while we ate and drank, and afterward slept in comfortable beds. Can't say hotel staff were entirely welcoming. One hippy-looking guy left his book on a table, thoroughly annoying a server who threw it at him. Literally.
Next morning, back at the airport, no one could find a wheelchair in the general confusion of people stranded for this or that reason, until I further held things up by sitting on a conveyor belt. A chair was found on the double. I don't condone my behaviour, but in extremis it got results.
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