[AMA] Zarcady - Dude Who Slept at the Airport in Shanghai

Zarcady on 02/09/2015 - 20:54

Hi guys

Its been more than a year since my escapade of sleeping in the airport of a foreign country and I'm still around to lurk for eneloops and the regular ozbargain antics!

I am still grateful for the enormous support the Ozbargain community has shown towards a stranger in times of need and I get a warm fuzzy feeling in my belly button everytime I think about it all.

I've been overseas twice since that time and each time I'm ready to board a plane, I'm reminded of that experience and keep a constant vigilance to not fall asleep so I guess it's a lesson well learnt! If not, I still have you guys right? :D

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Thanks alot guys

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  • SnakeDoctor on 02/09/2015 - 21:14

    What was your lowest point of the whole experience ?

    • pointless martyr on 02/09/2015 - 23:36
      +6

      Probably not answering coz hes asleep

    • Zarcady on 03/09/2015 - 10:44
      +1

      Haha Im sorry, should have wrote down that the ama was scheduled to start at 11am. Umm, Definitely the first night. As soon as I woke up, I knew straight away that I was screwed. I sprinted immediately to the gate counter to ask the attendant, knowing full well that it was already gone. She made a call to a guy, who then led me through the whole immigration process in reverse and had to get someone to cancel my outbound visa so I can come back into the country. Throughout all that, I was just mentally swearing in my head and running through all possible scenarios as to how to get out of this mess. Since it was so late at night, I had to settle in one of the airport seats and wait until the following day to speak to one of the Air Asia staff….catch was, there is only 1 flight daily from Shanghai to Gold Coast and it was at night, meaning the staff didnt come to work until 10pm and I had to wait a whole day, just chewing my nails.

  • [Deactivated] on 02/09/2015 - 21:41

    How long were you at the airport for?

    • Zarcady on 03/09/2015 - 10:49
      +1

      I was at the airport for 2 nights and 3 days. I probably would have found a cheap room to stay somewhere (and I did after the flights were sorted out), but at that time I didn't want to carry all my luggages around the whole city. So I opted to just stay around the airport until I can find a solution. Luckily the airport has all you need like wifi, toilet, food (if you have cash, foreign credit cards are notoriously rejected in many places).

      • [Deactivated] on 03/09/2015 - 15:01

        Oh. I thought it was like weeks or months…

        • Zarcady on 03/09/2015 - 15:05

          I think a couple of days were definitely enough…if I did live there for weeks, you would probably find me in here haha, and would probably be in the news somewhere..something I probably don't want to be famous for.

          Haha if you look down the list at Gary Peter Austin, he's in there for exactly the same reason as me! Maybe I should have stayed abit longer? :D

        • [Deactivated] on 03/09/2015 - 15:43

          @Zarcady:

          It just seemed like a big deal that's all.

          I got caught in the Qantas strike and also the earthquake in Chile where I ended up sleeping outdoors.

  • eatwell365 on 03/09/2015 - 01:58
    +1

    Tonka is still around?! Give that guy a beer.

    • Zarcady on 03/09/2015 - 10:51

      I have been meaning to contact him whenever I am down in Sydney (I think he is in Sydney), but unfortunately I'm situated in the middle of nowhere townsville haha.

  • MagicTsukai on 03/09/2015 - 02:01

    Where would a good place to travel be for a newbie who has never flown out.
    Budget will be low cause im on ozbargain. xD

    • Zarcady on 03/09/2015 - 11:03
      +5

      As a fellow absolute budget traveller, I would recommend Malaysia. Alot of people in Australia tend to go to either Thailand or Indonesia (Singapore is about as expensive as Australia on most things), but Malaysia has awesome food, good friendly locales, and best of all Cheap! You can get cheap flights regularly from ozb here and I would recommend Penang if you just want a short cheap south east asian experience.

  • GnarlyKnuckles on 03/09/2015 - 03:22
    +2

    Yours remains my fave OzB thread of all time! Epic, hombre!

    So you're still a keen traveler aye! Do you have a job these days or at least $1k or $2k in the bank as a back-up (to avoid any repeat of the 'Shanghai shambolics')… or do you always travel on a 'wing and a prayer'?

    Did you ever meet Tonka / thank him in person? I was amazed at how he was able to orchestrated your return remotely.

    Did you ever thank the fast-food joint (was it a 'Burger King' or sommat?) that basically let you not only live in their joint for a few days, but also use their internet, and 'amenities' the whole time? I thought they were remarkably cool about the whole situation (i.e. didn't call the cops on the 3rd day saying they wanted a homeless dude removed from their premises!)…

    • Zarcady on 03/09/2015 - 11:21
      +2

      Ahaha thanks that means alot :) Yeh Tonka is one awesome dude (shoutouts to /u/Tonka).
      I actually have a little bit of savings these days and I don't raid my bank account to go overseas anymore; not because I plan to use it as my backup but because I've since realised that its good to do something when you can really afford to (without coming home to 0 money in the bank haha).

      Actually you would be surprised at how many people sleep at the burger king there at night. Many people might be waiting for an early outbound flight so they just camp out there, and the most hotly contested seats are the ones next to a power outlet lmaoo. I think some of them might have noticed me staying longer than usual, but they rotate shifts throughout the day and it would be a new staff roster every few hours. Still, I will always remember that burger king and whenever I'm in SH, I will probably give them a visit or 2 :)

  • pspman on 03/09/2015 - 12:00

    Please outline a rough day (in timeline format) from when you were stranded in Pudong Airport.

    • Zarcady on 03/09/2015 - 12:21

      The first day (after missing flight) was to just kill time until 10pm when the AirAsia staff would come in for their shift. I was really stressed out during the first day because of the unknown. I just sat down at burger king and was on the internet for most of the day, trying to find every option in case the AirAsia staff wasn't able to help me out; this included things like cheap ticket, travel insurance, embassy, reading about other people who were in a similar situation like me, trying to find ways to pull some money somewhere, trying to think of ways I can survive out here (You start to imagine weird things when you are desperate).

      After I contacted Ozbargain and started to get some hope, thats when I started to relax and it was like I had a really hot shower, all feelings just drained out of me and I felt really really tired.

  • John on 03/09/2015 - 12:30

    Did you change your undies?

    • Zarcady on 03/09/2015 - 12:32

      I'm proud to admit I didnt shower or change clothes for 3 days :(

      • John on 03/09/2015 - 12:35

        Ouch. How uncomfortable does it feel down there? On a scale 0 - 10 (10 being the worst)

        • Zarcady on 03/09/2015 - 12:42

          Haha 0 at the time but I guess in reality more like 8. When everything was sorted and I found myself a motel room, I realised the state of myself (from sitting and lying down whereever I could at the airport). In all fairness, I didn't really move around all that much and it was always air-conditioned inside but at the same time, airports aren't really the cleanest places in the world.

  • [Deactivated] on 03/09/2015 - 14:37

    Do you like noodles or rice better? Recommend me a tasty Chinese dish too.

    • Zarcady on 03/09/2015 - 14:52
      +1

      Noodles definitely.
      I will cheat abit and recommend you an asian dish. My favourite noodle dish would be Char Kway Teow. If you are located in a big city look up a franchise restaurant called PaPaRich and try the Char Kway Teow there, and get some Roti Chanai and Satays while you are there too if you can. Its a universally (almost) tasty flavour whereas I find alot of other noodles like Laksa, Tom Yum, etc are acquired tastes that might not be for everyone.

      In the east side of dishes, I find Udon to be more hearty and safe choice than Ramen and if you find yourself in a Korean restaurant, definitely try the jjajangmyun; the black appearance is surprisingly deceiving for the awesome taste.

  • String name on 03/09/2015 - 15:43

    If you could go back in time and had the means, would you have rather paid for a new flight immediately after waking up after missing your flight, or do you still think the ordeal was worth it to only pay the $110 change fee?

    • Zarcady on 03/09/2015 - 15:59

      Considering a new flight would have cost upwards of $2000, I think the ordeal was worth it for me (because I'm a low net worth individual). It sort of depends on the person too, even if I had 50k in my savings, I would probably sleep it off in a motel somewhere for a week or so and find a reasonable cost ticket out. Just depends on how much free time I have vs sleeping budget in SH vs price of ticket. Calculating the best trade off in between.

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