Chazy & Ben Shanghai & Tokyo - Travel Days 6th/7th May

[Guest]

Ben's mum and stepdad picked us up around 8am and we did really well for time and arrived at Birmingham airport around half 9 and that was with a quick service station stop. The drop off section was closed so they left us in car park 5.



The Emirates bag drop wasn't yet open so we stopped for a Nero.

Bag drop opened after 10 and on check in we were asked about our visa and we explained we were using the 144 hr transit visa. I had printed all our itinerary along with the Shanghai Immigration page documenting it. She checked it with her manager and we were on our way no issues. I had also queried with Emirates Facebook page. I think my irrationalism had prevented me from planning making me panic that we'd be turned away at the airport hence why my pre trippie never got finished! We sailed through security considering it was a Saturday and I very nearly brought express lane tickets! We wandered through duty free spraying and trying on sunglasses as usual!


I wish I'd brought this bottle - it's so expensive in the UK and Dubai wasn't any cheaper..trust me to listen to Ben!

Saying that though, in 2014 I brought a Ted Baker bag thinking I'd got a bargain at £80 and it's never been used since - just sits in a storage box! We found the coolest Coke bottles & new haribo in WHSmith.



On route I'd had some strawberries and a Cadbury chocolate yoghurt so wasn't really hungry! Ben had a full English from Wetherspoons while we passed the time.
We took off on time, no dramas! Was restless all flight, didn't watch anything just did the final bit of trip planning and listened to music.


The flight was half empty which was nice!


Ben had the chicken and I had beef.




When we got to Dubai it was pretty smooth sailing and Ben headed straight to McDs for a McArabia & I had a bubblegum ice cream.


I saw the perfume I'd seen at Birmingham. It was a prettier bottle but expensive!

The flight to Shanghai was horrible! I had an awful man on my left who was rather large and unfortunately didn't speak English. This brings me to ask who gets custody of the arm rests! I had a dead right arm most of the flight as when I tried to move my arm he elbowed it out the way. I'm surprised I didn't bruise the pressure he applied! It was the same with my left leg - he had his leg in my space and I had to get up so many times just to stop my leg going numb. Ben is 6ft and needs the little space he's got but this guy was just *urgh* one of those people.

[Guest]

Anyway. We landed on time at 3pm but it was a busy time so lots of flights were coming in.
Landing in Shanghai we headed to the 144 hr visa area which is to the very far left - not very clearly signed until you're pretty much there.


Me and Ben went through together, the lady at immigration was very polite. I had Ben's name on all my documentation which helped. Didn't take long, it took longer to collect our bags!

We headed for the metro station and grabbed two day tickets and headed for line 2 to People's Square (14rmb). There's security at all the metro stations.



We probably should have taken a taxi but I don't mind using public transport plus it helps me get my bearings! We had a bit of a niggle as the first metro we got only went so far but we didn't know this, luckily I was sat in front of a live board and squealed when I realised it was going back to the airport! Two girls next to me (possibly locals) also realised the same thing, we looked at each other, then the board then laughed! It was a really long way of doing the journey but at least it kept us awake.

[Guest]

We finally got to Disney Resort metro station!

There are free shuttles to the 2 hotels. We checked in and were back out to Disneytown by around 8pm. The shuttle runs 7am-11pm.













We headed straight for World Of Disney so I could get my much saught after Dooney, Pandora & a magnet (can't remember total conveniently lol).



I wanted some ears but these were out of my budget!

Lego was cool!




We had a look around and decided on Cheesecake Factory for dinner! The service was great, the staff were great and food portions huge! Ben had chicken, brown rice & cashew nuts with 2 beers, I had orange chicken, white rice & 2 raspberry lemonades.



Unfortunately Ben found a hair in his food - we knew it wasn't his as it was under the food - luckily he'd had half but it totally put him off. I couldn't eat all of mine so Ben finished mine. We shared a carrot cake cheesecake as they didn't have much available (their counter is tiny!)- now this shouldn't work but it was just yummy! The manager took Ben's meal off the bill. Just before the food came we were actually saying how much we always enjoy it. Bill came to 400rmb. We headed back to the hotel ready for the day of fun ahead. Lost count of how many hours we'd been travelling!

[kevin_cambs_uk]

Brilliant 👍
Looking forward to the Japan bit!

[Megandllsmum]

Really enjoyed reading this , thanks for posting it.
Glad you got your Disney store goodies 😀

[dozy]

fab fab fab

[lottie89]

Yay! So glad you're doing a trippy

Excited to see what you thought of Disney!

[Guest]

Originally Posted by kevin_cambs_uk

Brilliant 👍
Looking forward to the Japan bit!

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In Japan now so will be posting up to today hopefully soon!

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Megandllsmum

Really enjoyed reading this , thanks for posting it.
Glad you got your Disney store goodies 😀

See more...

No problem! Thank you for commenting, it means a lot!

[Melbatb]

That was a long day! You did well not to lose your rag with the arm rest hogger!

The hotel looks great!