Rain = Cancellations

Just a heads up if you're traveling by plane this week, particularly domestic flights with Air China. My husband and I both had separate NIGHTMARE experiences this past weekend.

Very, very long story short (and thousands of arguments in choppy Chinese later), I found out my flight to Shandong was canceled last Friday (Jul 9th) night due to the horrible weather. This was 4hrs after they'd checked in my baggage and 6hrs after I was told they didn't know where my plane was *sigh. My family reunion (grandfather's 90th birthday) never happened and I was stuck in Beijing. The lovely Air China ticket woman told me I should have taken the train.

Meanwhile, my husband's flight from Shandong back to Beijing this past Sunday (Jul 11th) managed to get half way to Beijing before turning around and flying back to Shandong. After a second attempt, the flight made it all the way. At least he made in back for the World Cup with 15mins to spare.

Point of this ramble is: Avoid traveling in this weather (that is forecast to last all week). Avoid domestic flights especially as the domestic staff tend to have no idea what's going on. Catch the train if you can stand it.

Good luck!