A lengthy and challenging flight itinerary. I felt quite restricted when I removed Nepal from my plans. My alternative flights were contingent on a specific arrival time in China to align with my schedule and because the hotel in Chengdu is holding my Tibet travel visa. Consequently, I depart from Warsaw on a short (2.5-hour) flight to Frankfurt, followed by a 12-hour flight to Shanghai, and then an overnight layover in Chengdu. The next day, I will take a flight to Lhasa, Tibet. The State Department advisories suggest exercising increased caution in China due to arbitrary law enforcement. My contact in Lhasa has provided me with detailed arrival instructions and warned me multiple times not to exit the airport until they arrive to pick me up. It's somewhat intimidating, but it’s all part of the journey. I noticed a look of confusion on the face of the Lufthansa agent in Warsaw as he checked in my luggage. He kept looking at the booking. I asked if my luggage would stop in Chengdu during my overnight there. He said he wasn’t sure but that the tags printed indicated it would go through to Lhasa. He advised checking with Air China in Frankfurt. Upon arriving in Frankfurt, I retrieved my boarding passes from my bag, only to find they were wet. The printing had smudged, but I wasn't too worried since I had electronic copies in my email. It turned out that my sealed packet of wet wipes had burst and leaked. At Frankfurt, the Lufthansa gate agent reprinted my boarding passes, but as she reviewed the screen, a puzzled expression appeared on her face. I explained again that I hoped to collect my bag in Chengdu, but she confirmed that it was scheduled to go through to Lhasa, which was not usual for my flight schedule. She consulted her supervisor, who reviewed the reservation, and they conversed in German. Ultimately, she reiterated the same information: it is booked through, but I would need to speak with an agent in Shanghai for verification. I wasn't particularly concerned since it would simply mean I wouldn't have fresh clothes and toiletries for my overnight stay. The flight to Shanghai was uneventful. There was a fussy infant across the aisle, but the child was so adorable and I was so exhausted that it didn’t matter. We landed on time, and I made my way into the huge Shanghai airport. It took a while to find my bearings, but I managed to navigate out of the secure area to speak with the luggage representatives about my bag. After a long wait, the agent I spoke with was friendly. Then came the puzzled look. She asked me some additional questions and made a phone call. After hanging up, she got up to find her supervisor. He was also quite friendly, and they conversed back and forth in Chinese, occasionally laughing. I began to sense that my situation was due to some kind of computer glitch that they found amusing. After working on it for a bit, the supervisor started to leave and told me to just take my boarding pass to the gate. When I asked about my bag, he had that puzzled expression again, went back around the counter, and they checked the screen, chuckled, and finally the supervisor said to follow him. He worked on the computer for a while, making a few comments, then remarked that he was confused as to why I was set to arrive at one Chengdu airport while departing from another. He concluded that moving my luggage would be impossible and issued me new tickets so I could collect my luggage in Chengdu as I hoped, keeping the rest of my travel plans unchanged. I hadn’t realized it was a different airport, and I felt this was somewhat serendipitous; otherwise, I might have made a mistake in getting to Lhasa from Chengdu. Life is back on course. Security was much easier without a large suitcase, so I unloaded my belongings and walked through, but they pulled aside my carry-on backpack. The security guard inquired if I had a battery pack. I had packed two, uncertain about charging facilities during the hike, and wanted to stay connected. He examined them thoroughly, turning them on and off, detaching the LED, and then went to fetch his supervisor. The supervisor conducted an equally thorough inspection and expressed concern about my older one as it lacked any text indicating its internals. It was my solar pack, and I feared it might get confiscated. He then inspected the new one I bought specifically for the trip, which had plenty of text on it. After a lengthy examination and discussion, he pulled out a sheet of paper and explained that battery packs need a specific symbol, resembling CCC, and neither of mine had it. He said it was fortunate that one was made in China, but without that symbol, he couldn’t allow it. He informed me that they were fine for international flights but not for those within China. Moving on, albeit a bit lighter. The airport features an underground train connecting
A lengthy and demanding flight itinerary.