After more than 24 hours of spending waiting in the airport, on an airplane, and on a bus, I finally arrived in China and so far, it feels like the country where I was born is trying to force me out with its weather among other things.

The trip began on September 3, 2026. My mom and I arrived at Salt Lake International Airport at around 3 PM. The first leg of the journey would take us from our home in Salt Lake City, Utah to Los Angeles. When boarding was supposed to begin, we were notified that there was a technical trouble with the plane. When we finally boarded the plane, believing the issue was resolved, after 30 minutes of when the plane was supposed to depart, the pilot told us they were still actively trying to resolve the technical issue. The flight ended up being delayed for more 90 minutes, shortening our layover in LAX.

Meanwhile, my mom was excited to visit a clubhouse while we were at LAX, even though the clubhouse was on the other side of the airport from where we were landing. With the plane delay, I wasn’t sure we were going to make it but she reassured me that we must.

…so the first argument of the trip. Actually, it’s the second, the first happened the night before because my mom never gave clear instructions and got angry when I didn’t do what she expected.

I wasn’t familiar with the terminals at LAX. The only thing I know about the airport is that it’s huge and walking from one terminal to the next takes a long time. I had Google Maps opened on my phone when we landed to guide us to the clubhouse but my mom was walking at a sprinting pace. It was no surprise we got lost because as I was following the signs and the map, she was going her own way and when I pointed out the wrong directions, she contradicted me, telling me I was wrong.

At last, after over 0.5 miles, I gave up and told her I wasn’t going to go with her. I was going to the gate, to sit and wait for our next flight. That’s when she got angry because I refused to comply to her wants. I was sweaty, tired, thirsty, and hungry, and I just wanted to sit and take it easy. So I turned around and walked toward the gate to our next flight, which was another mile.

Along the way, she kept calling me on the phone, screaming at me. As I was walking, passerbys were looking at me. I don’t even want to know what they thought.

When she finally caught up, she kept asking why I didn’t wait for her. “Because you were going to the clubhouse and I didn’t want to go. You can go if you want. We’re not joined at the hip or anything.” She kept lecturing me and saying this would be the last trip she would ever take me on again. Good, I thought, I didn’t want to take a trip with her in the first place.

The flight to Hong Kong was also delayed and what was supposed to be a 11 PM flight ended up departing well after midnight. Fortunately, we ended up arriving early.

From Hong Kong, we had to take a bus to our accomodations for the next few days and before we boarded the us, we would have to take a shuttle to the border between Hong Kong and mainland China.

Even though it was still early in the morning, the moment I exited the airport, I could feel a puff of hot air in my face. Thankfully, it was just a few minutes before we boarded a minivan with AC that made me temporarily forget outside felt like an inferno.

On my past trips to China, I have been through this exact border-crossing several times, but never had I been detained and questioned. On the bus later, I would think, if China wouldn’t let me through, the worst scenario would be for me to return to Hong Kong and take the next plane home.

Again, this was because my mom never gave me the details regarding our Chinese Visa, causing me to answer one of the questions wrong. The immigration agent asked, “What are you doing in China?” I answered, “traveling.”

“But your visa is for visiting relatives.” I absolutely did not know this detail and wondered why my mom neglected this detail. Apparently, it was the visa number that gave away this little detail. The immigration agent continued to ask questions, testing my Mandarin, which I haven’t spoken in almost a decade. It was a nerve-wrecking 15 minutes until he finally stamped my passport and let me through.

For now, let’s just thank the heavens that my mom and I made it to my mom’s cousin’s house in one piece on local time noon, September 5, 2026 (10 PM, September 4, 2026 at home time).