Orbitz

When Dan and Rachel got engaged earlier this year I started looking for plane tickets home right away. This was while we were still in Dalian. I found a decent deal with a decent itinerary (no 12 hour layovers) and booked it. I was definitely not planning on moving to Beijing at that time. Well March rolled around and we moved very suddenly. After we got settled in I decided I better call Orbitz and get things straightened out. My original flight left out of Dalian with layovers in Beijing and Los Angeles. I thought it would be no big deal if I missed the first flight and just got on the plane in Beijing. It would cut my travel time down by quite a bit, and that was ok with me. Oh no...

I was told by the Orbitz woman on the phone that my flight would be cancelled if I didn't get on the plane in Dalian. This doesn't make any sense to me at all. I didn't want my money back, I just wanted to save myself a little bit of time. There was absolutely nothing I could do. If I wanted to rebook the flight through Beijing they would charge a 300 fee and I would have to use the same airline even though there were flights up to 400 dollars cheaper out of Beijing on other airlines. I guess its my fault for booking the flight out of little old Dalian in the first place, but it sure is an inconvenient policy.

I made the best of it though. My flight left Dalian at 5:10pm Monday afternoon, but rather than fly there in the morning and sit in the airport all day only to fly back to Beijing, I flew in Sunday night and stayed with some of our friends there. It was a great plan. I got a good nights sleep and a hot shower and then spent the morning with my wonderful host Jen getting foot massages and lunch. I'm so relaxed now it might have to become my new routine every time I fly over the ocean! The only thing that would make this day better is if I didn't have to worry about my sick puppy. Poor little CoCo.