I got up earlier than the alarm, I laid in the bed for a while and the alarm went off. I got up and got fresh. I made myself a cup of coffee and I was set to go. The taxi was already waiting for me outside the hotel. It was raining heavily on my way back to the station as well. This time round it has rained my entire trip. There were only 2 days without rain this entire trip. The driver dropped my at the station. The train station had not opened, as it opens at 6am. I waited a couple of minutes outside. The railway station was completely renovated and looked fantastic.
I went though security and was ready yo check in but I had about 50 mins left. So I took a seat on the massage chairs. A lot of the people were using them to just sit and wait for the checkin gates to be open. I also did the same, But then I thought, why not? I scanned the code using Alipay and paid 20RMB for a 32min massage. It was good and it helped with the stiffness in my back.
By the time the massage finished the gates had just opened and I went straight to checkin. I went directly to the platform 10 and as I walked to the coach 2, the train rolled into the platform. The timing was perfect. I was on seat 03. I sat down, listened to some music and enjoyed my first class train journey to Shanghai.
It took about 2 hours to reach Shanghai. The journey was very comfortable. I had researched that the best way to travel from Shanhai Hongqiao train station to Pudong airport was by bus. There was a direct shuttle bus from the station which leaves every 30mins.
So I decided to take the bus option. When you get out of the train station, there are bus terminals at both end of the train station. But to get the bus for the Pudong airport, you need to go to the East terminal.
You have to walk a fair bit, but it is an enjoyable walk. You almost have to walk to the Hongqiao airport and the bus shuttle goes from there. May be it is a shuttle between both the airports!
When you reach there, you will have to take the elevator to the 1st floor. I was confused for a while as I was unable to find the bus station at the ground floor.
Then you have to go to Waiting Room 2, this is where the bus departs for Pudong airport.
The bus ticket cost 36 RMB Which was more expensive than the metro ticket, but it was far more relaxing and enjoyable. You get to sit down comfortably and there are plenty of seats and you get to see the city.
There is a bus every 30 minutes. I took the 9:45am bus. I reached Pudong airport in 1 hour. It was much easier and comfortable than I had anticipated. I remember doing the same journey via tube last time and it was very crowded and I had to change a few trains to reach the airport.
there was a queue for check-in. I queued up and completed the checkin process. I had plenty of time in hand, so I waited for the boarding to start. I had got a nice window seat and luckily this time as well there was no one next to me, so I had space to stretch out a bit.
The food was not very nice on the flight so I did not eat much. I rested as much as I could. The flight was on time and I landed at about 6:30PM in London. Deepika and the kids came to pick me up from Heathrow Terminal 4.
I reached home and finally relaxed. It was great to be back home!
