Trusting the Family Trip Planner
Traveling with siblings means there is always an unspoken hierarchy. When it comes to our family dynamic, there are three of us, myself (the eldest), my sister (the middle child), and my brother (the youngest). In our family, my sister is the planner. She speaks Mandarin, had minored in Chinese in college, and even contacted the Chinese Embassy office in Los Angeles before our trip to Mainland China. So when she told my brother and I that we could probably enter Mainland China on a 240-hour transit visa for our 1-week stay, we trusted her.
The Chinese Embassy’s response was written in Chinese, along with several links to government websites. Somewhere in that email exchange, my sister sensed that something could go wrong. She just didn’t want us to worry. That choice she made came back to haunt us at the China Eastern Airline check-in counter at Hong Kong International Airport.
“Where is Your Visa?”
Where is your visa for Mainland China?
My sister slid our printed flight itinerary along the counter with the email exchange from the Chinese Embassy, as if those printed papers could substitute proper visa documents. My brother and I stood there silently, hoping that the issue would resolve itself without me needing to meddle.
The airline employee barely looked at the papers before telling us that if we wanted to board our flight to Shanghai, we needed proof that we were leaving Mainland China for a different country within the transit period. We could not return to Hong Kong, as we had planned. We needed to travel to another country. Our carefully planned itinerary, that we had all agreed on, had unraveled in a few minutes.
Purchasing New Flights on a Whim
The issue we had was that we had already prepaid our hotel in Shanghai, and our return flight to Hong Kong was now useless. My initial panic turned into something unexpected. It was thrill. We had the unique opportunity to have a caveat in our travel plans. The airline representative mentioned our options: South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, or Macau. We slowly stepped away from the check-in counter, as if we were contestants on a TV gaming show playing for a cash prize to be donated to a charity we supported.
South Korea sounded thrilling to me. I was already imagining skincare hauls, getting one of those color analysis I kept seeing on my For Your Page on social media, and walking around Seoul while BTS’ ARIRANG played in my headphones.
My sister campaigned hard for Taiwan becuase she desperately wants to visit MINIMAL in Taichung, the world’s only and first Michelin starred ice cream shop. She truly is an ice cream connoisseur. She has and continues to fly to Las Vegas for dinner simply becuase a restaurant opened or looked interesting to her.
Despite it being my favorite country, Japan was quickly eliminated since we had already traveled there together a few years ago, and none of us felt that we had enough time to properly explore new cities.
Macau. This was the practical option. We had just been there days earlier. However, it offered us the easiest route back to Hong Kong for our flight back to the States. After checking last-minute one-way tickets in the Hong Kong International Airport, we made our choice. We were going back to Macau.
We Looked Like Amateur Travelers
We looked like inexperienced travelers making expensive decisions, under pressure and time constraints. My sister rushed booking the flights before boarding for our flight to Shanghai closed. She was typing so quickly that she accidentally left out parts of our full legal names on our reservations. This mistake would become important later on.
The flight on China Eastern Airlines was surprisingly luxurious for less than three hours. I remember being genuinely impressed by the amount and quality of food they served and the size of the aircraft. Between stress and exhaustion, I briefly forgot we were improvising a transit visa strategy on an international border in real time.
Separated at Immigration
On the plane, my sister filled out the immigration forms “for the family”, because that is the role she naturally assumes. When we landed in Shanghai, the immigration officer immediately informed us that each traveler needed their own form upon entry. At that moment, our group split apart.
My sister was allowed through to baggage claim while my brother and I were sent back toward a row of sleek self-service immigration kiosks. My sister stood behind the yellow line trying to advocate for us.
“My siblings are lost without me. Please help them.”
To be fair, she wasn’t wrong.
My brother and I stood at separate kiosks while he repeatedly glanced over my shoulder, at my screen, trying to copy my answers. As if this was a school assignment that we were going to turn in, for a grade. At one point, he asked an airport employee for help because he didn’t know which airport we had landed in. He also did not know his visa number.
“We don’t have one.” I reminded him. “That’s the entire reason we had to buy emergency flights to Macau at Hong Kong International Airport.”
I was scrolling through my sister’s phone trying to locate the hotel name and address, flight numbers, and other information about our trip that she had been managing entirely on our behalf, this entire time. Filling out those immigration forms felt less like paperwork and more like discovering details about the trip, for the first time.
The Moment We Got Flagged
After half an hour, we finally returned to the immigration line only to learn that our names had been flagged because we had two outbound flights from Shanghai scheduled for the same day to two different countries.
Our passports were taken by other officials and they disappeared. A supervisor was called in too. I felt unease. No one explained anything to us. We did as we were told and stood there silently in a country where we didn’t speak the language, waiting to find out whether or not we would be allowed in. Eventually, the customs officer handed our passports back without explanation and waved us through. I was instantly relieved.
The Best Butler, a Luxury Hotel, and Dinner in Shanghai
After collecting our luggage, we ordered a Didi (car service) through Alipay app and booked a premium ride to the hotel. Our driver showed up in the quivalent of Uber Black, dressed in a suit, with waters for each of us. My brother chose the hotel based entirely on location and our loyalty status with the Marriott International hotel chain. The St. Regis Hotels somehow feel very on-brand for him. The hotel caters toward older businessmen on corporate trips, but we didn’t mind. After check-in, we were introduced to our personal butler, a Titanium level membership perk, that suddenly made our chaotic travel day feel glamorous.
I felt exhausted, mentally fried, and running on adrenaline. Somehow, my sister managed to rally us together for dinner. And just like that, our first night in Shanghai begun.
whirlwind of events! a sibling trip classic 😉