The Qingming holiday does not officially end until tomorrow, but I am already on the way back.
Honestly, who wants to get stuck in traffic?
Back on the road before the holiday is over
This feels like a natural follow-up to the whole waiting-list travel situation from before. Trips are always round trips in the end. You go out, and eventually you have to come back.
The original plan was to stay on the railway ticket waitlist while also buying a long-distance bus ticket as backup. But last night I realized there was really nothing much for me to do at home, and by chance I saw that 12306 had a high-speed rail ticket available for today. It was a no-seat ticket, which in plain terms means standing the whole way, but at least it meant I could get moving. So I booked it immediately.
A rather uneventful Qingming
The tomb-sweeping part of the holiday did not really have much to do with me. Not for any dramatic reason—I simply could not get a ticket in time, so I missed the window.
Once I got home, aside from the medical checkup I had already planned to do and bringing a few things back with me, there was not much else going on.
I did have a computer with me, but not my main machine. My main setup is a desktop, which obviously cannot be carried around, so I only brought the laptop that used to be my primary computer and is now basically a backup. That means I can only work through remote access. Latency is one problem, but the bigger issue is that Wake-on-LAN stopped working, so I have to ask my roommate to power the desktop on for me. And if everyone in the dorm has gone home, then what exactly am I supposed to do?
At least back at school there are roommates to chat with, so going back early just made more sense.
The road is always worse near the end
Holiday travel peaks usually come in two waves: right before the break starts, and right before it ends. The 6th is already in that second wave, which means the roads are probably going to be even more jammed.
The backup option, the bus, would still be taking the highway, and highways do not magically stop being congested just because you bought a different ticket. Unless someone can truly produce a secret side route, the bus would be stuck in the same mess as everyone else.
High-speed rail, at least, does not get trapped in road traffic. That much is true. If high-speed trains ever do end up in a traffic jam, you will not need me to explain it—the national news will.
As for no-seat tickets: yes, that means standing all the way. Fortunately the route is not very long. One or two hours is still manageable. There were times in the past when standing on a conventional train for five or six hours was just part of life. Sleep one night and your legs recover eventually.
One minor annoyance is the ticket inspection, but even that is easier than it used to be. Now you just tap your ID and that is basically it.
Tickets were nearly impossible to get
I am writing this part while standing inside the train carriage.
There is not much to explain about the ticket situation. Throughout the three-day Qingming holiday, including the day before it started, getting a high-speed rail ticket was extremely difficult. Even if you think you have learned the trick and try leaving early or coming back late, there will still be plenty of people who predicted the same move.
Open 12306 and even business-class seats—the ones that cost two or three times more—can sell out the moment they are released.
I am not trying to get into any broader discussion here. From the standpoint of an ordinary passenger, the simple fact is this: sometimes you just cannot get a ticket.
People still seem to be doing the old routine of buying a shorter trip and then making up the difference on board. The train staff were walking back and forth asking about ticket changes and fare supplements, and there were indeed passengers handling that. Still, it is hard to generalize. Maybe some of them really did have urgent reasons to travel farther than planned.
Growing up is hearing that kind of message differently
By the time I am writing this, I am no longer on the train but on the subway, and I have just received a voice message from my mom.
“Young people should be out there working hard now—but remember to rest too.”
That is how it is, I guess. I have grown up.
To put it the way a reading-comprehension answer might: I have my own road to walk now.