It's been a long time since I last went back to my hometown. This time, I planned to take advantage of the seven-day National Day holiday to go home and take care of some other matters. So, on the evening of September 30th, I drove home with my family.
A Difficult Journey Home#
We started off on the highway, thinking that we had already avoided the peak travel period, but it turned out that I was wrong. We got stuck in traffic on the highway as expected.
As for the navigation, it recommended not taking the highway at this time and instead taking the national road (I really regretted it). So, we got off the highway, but the navigation confused me a bit. We went around in Lin'an and left Hangzhou at 11 o'clock at night. By 3 o'clock in the morning, we were still stuck in Lin'an, and the national road was also congested. We had no choice but to rest on the spot. We were so tired that we couldn't sleep comfortably. This is how it is when traveling at night.
I woke up a little after 5 o'clock, and it was already October 1st. We continued our journey according to the navigation. However, we ended up on a mountain road, and I didn't pay attention to the name of the mountain.
We drove on the winding mountain road for about three hours, with numerous twists and turns. But the scenery was still good, so I comforted myself by thinking that I was on a sightseeing trip.
We finally came out of the mountains around noon, now in Anhui Province, close to Lu'an.
We had some instant noodles for lunch and continued our journey. It was already the afternoon of the 1st. By around 5 o'clock in the afternoon, we were about 100 kilometers away from my hometown, and we would arrive in about two more hours. However, some minor accidents occurred, causing a tire to burst. We had to deal with the accident until the late night, and even after repairing the car, we couldn't continue driving. Exhausted both physically and mentally, we found a hotel to rest. A deep sleep for the whole night was really refreshing. I won't stay up late anymore. It's so uncomfortable.
I woke up at 9:30 in the morning, quickly packed up, and set off at 10 o'clock without having breakfast. I wasn't very hungry. I planned to drive straight back home in one go. As expected, we arrived in the county town before lunch.
It's been a long time since I last went home, and I found that the prices are really low. Four of us couldn't finish the meal, so we packed the leftovers and brought them back. The bill was only about 150 yuan. However, the salary level is also similar to the price level, which triggered a new thought of mine: whether I can retire in the county town in the future.
Random thoughts about going home... Photos (None)
On the 6th, we started our journey back, and on the 7th, we returned to Hangzhou. I was really exhausted both physically and mentally. It was another overnight journey, and resting for two hours at the service area didn't help much.
After arriving in Hangzhou, my stomach started to ache. I roughly calculated that out of the 7 days, 4 days were spent on the road. We only ate biscuits and instant noodles, and I couldn't bear it anymore. After arriving here, I had dinner, took a shower, and went to sleep until 6 o'clock in the afternoon. When I woke up, I still felt a bit tired. I estimate that it will take at least three days to recover to normal. After all, I'm getting older, and it's really painful.
Reflections on Driving and Traveling#
I've learned my lesson. I won't drive long distances for travel anymore, especially during holidays. It's much simpler to solve the problem by taking an 7-8 hour train ride and getting a good sleep. But it's also because I brought some luggage. Next time, I plan to send the luggage directly and travel light with just a backpack. That would be great.
Complaining about Some Things on the Highway#
The highway in Anhui Province is really not good. The management is not in place, and the rescue response is slow. When there is traffic congestion on the highway in Anhui, the emergency lane is basically not idle. Private cars just drive on it. I rarely see this phenomenon in other provinces. And when accidents occur, the rescue response is slow, and the traffic control is not in place, which directly leads to long traffic jams. When I was driving in Henan and Zhejiang, I saw that accidents were handled quickly, and there were hardly any long traffic jams.