on our way to tokyo, we had a very very.... very lengthy layover in shanghai before catching out connecting flight. our layover was 20+ hours and the airlines required us to retrieve our luggages at baggage claim and to exit the airport. this meant we had to find a hotel for the night and was that a shit show. we booked an airbnb somewhere in shanghai. we decided we weren't going to need to get a portable wifi since we were only going to be there for such a short amount of time and boy, was that a mistake. shanghai is one of those places where getting internet is like running through an obstacle of american ninja warrior. they simply do not want people to get on the internet, politics man. so we ended up wandering around with our heavy ass luggages all over the city trying to find a building with a chinese address, which was nearly impossible. we had tried to ask a bunch of random people but nobody was trying to help, until finally a younger couple was nice enough to save our lives and point us in the right direction. it was such a pain; main reason being that my wife was in her first trimester at this time and it was just brutal for her to have to go through all of this but she was definitely a trooper. yes, a trooper but this shanghai experience definitely left her in a bit of distaste with this place.

once we finally checked into, what seemed to be a scene from a horror movie, airbnb room; Nikk and I decided to head out and hunt for some food. I'd have to say, after all that hassle and trouble we went through to find our room, aimlessly marauding the shanghai streets late at night was definitely worth it... i think.

20 HOURS IN SHANGHAI