Air China Canceled My Flight To Afghanistan. Kind Of...
Intro
As many of you know (or probably don't), I attend college somewhere in Southern California. Well, being in person at college means that I don't get to leave that much, and it's pretty much up to my professors to decide if they want to allow me to leave.
I had made a foolproof plan to get into Afghanistan, and let's just say: it is taking a turn for the worse...
What A Kerfuffle...
The plan in the beginning was simple, I would finish class at 8:30 am on Friday, and head over on United Polaris to Hong Kong landing at 6:05 pm. Following that, I would connect onward to Beijing, visit the Great Wall of China for the day, onward to Islamabad on the Air China A330-300 in Business, and then cross the Torkham border into Afghanistan...
Well, let's just say that things have taken a huge turn in two major avenues.
Air China has canceled my flight from Hong Kong to Beijing and re-booked me on the earlier flight at 5:55 pm. The only problem is that my flight on United was scheduled to land at 6:05 pm. I don't think that is going to work...
The Torkham border has been closed for the past 13 days due to "construction". At the moment, there have been no signs of the border re-opening, and peace talks have been shut down. This begs the question, how am I going to get into Afghanistan if the border doesn't open next week?
The New Plan
As someone who has practically lived psychology their whole life, taking tests without learning the material is my forte. In order to catch the new flight to Beijing on Air China, I will have to fly in the day prior, meaning I am going to have to miss yet another class. Somehow, I am going to have to take the test, pass it, and then get on the plane to make it to Afghanistan.
Following that, the plane remains relatively unchanged until I get to Pakistan. If the Torkham border remains closed, my plan would be to get the visa in Peshawar, fly to Dubai on the evening flight onboard Serene Air, and then to Kabul early the next morning. While this is a pain in the bottom, there are certain aspects to life that need time to sort themselves out.
I am curious to hear if you think there is any other more efficient way? Unfortunately, I cannot get to Dushanbe, there are no direct flights for three days from Islamabad to Kabul, and there is no PZ/Mileage space to Europe for my dates. What would you do?
Final Thoughts
I am one week out from my great Afghanistan adventure to the beautiful country, and things are already taking a turn. While Air China has canceled my flight, and the Torkham border remains closed, I have full faith that I am going to reach Afghanistan, even if it is only for three days!
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