May 30, 2018
Flight: Lhasa, China (LXA) to Xi'an, China (XIY); China Southern economy
Flight: Xi'an, China (XIY) to Sanya, China (SYX); Hainan economy
Hotel:Royal Begonia; Sanya, China
Today was my last morning in Tibet. I had an early morning flight to Xian, conneecting to Sanya. I still hadn't booked a hotel for this evening and made a last minute booking at the Luxury Collection Royal Begonia. Sanya is China's version of Hawaii and there are now many resort hotels, all quite reasonable priced.
My hotel included breakfast but unfortunately had to leave before they started serving, but they were able to put together a boxed meal. I walked back to the Ganggyan to catch the shuttle to the airport. There were a few groups around and I didn't see my guide anywhere so I wasn't sure if I was getting on the right bus or not! It had snowed in the mountains last night so leaving town I got my final glimpse of the Potala palace surrounded by snowcapped peaks.
I hadn't checked flight status and when I got to the airport I noticed my flight was showing a significant delay. I hoped I still had time to make the connection in Xi'an. But the clock kept ticking and my flight kept getting delayed more and more... they claimed an air traffic delay and there were several military jets taking off. There were other flights to Xi'an but they wouldn't let me switch to another flight. I guess Lhasa airport has probably changed since there is now a Burger King there.
Finally we take off over three hours late. We land 30 minutes after my flight to Sanya was supposed to depart. We taxi to a remote bus gate. As I am deplaning there is someone there asking if I was on the Sanya flight, they say 'oh you will most likely make it'. But then the bus makes a huge detour all around the airport, taking another 20 minutes. Then I find out the Sanya flight actually left 30 minutes early, so it was long gone.
So now not sure what to do. I had originally booked the ticket with FlyingBlue miles, but it was different airlines (China Eastern -> China Southern). So first go to China Eastern service desk, eventually they write up a delayed flight order and tell me to take it to China Southern. They only have one flight a day to Sanya so I'm looking at a 24-hr delay. They offer an overnight hotel but I have to pay extra if I don't want to share a dorm room...
Meanwhile I'm checking flight schedules and see there's a Hainan airlines flight that evening to Sanya. I tried booking online but then just went over to the other terminal and ask at the ticketing desk. They offer a last-minute flight for $55. Sold! So plans aren't totally ruined but I will arrive into Sanya nearly 5 hours late.
I now had a few hours to wait until the Hainan flight. There was a small Priority Pass lounge available. The flight on Hainan was good but it was nearly 1AM when we finally landed in Sanya. Despite it being so late the airport was busy and had to wait in a huge taxi line. Finally I get a taxi. I had GPS to the Begonia hotel but was concerned when the driver started going in the wrong direction. But turned out he just needed to fill up the CNG tanks! The Begonia was about a 45 minute drive from the airport even on the expressway.
Finally get to the hotel and checkin, I get to my room and am blown away to find it has its own private pool! At first I thought it was an upgrade, but I guess in my rush to book this morning I never realized I'd booked a pool room! It didn't matter that it was 1:30 AM, after the long transit day, I went for a swim!
Private pool! Oh yeah..