老外的春运回家路 The crush of the festival rush home

I'd crossed the ticket check — despite all my efforts not to.

我还是通过了检票口，可我压根儿不想进站。

I was swept past the Shanghai train station's boarding gate by the pure forward momentum of passengers boarding two other late trains than mine.

在上海火车站的检票口前，我在人群中被挤来挤去。旅客们一个劲地往前挤，他们乘坐的其实是另外两班较晚的火车。

"Don't push!" and "Don't worry!" became the surging crowd's competing chants.

“不要挤！”、“不要担心!”的喊声在汹涌的人群中此起彼伏。

My book was wrenched from my fist and trampled.

我手中的书被挤落在地，随后被人流踩踏。

I was also gripping the strap of my backpack — which contained my computer and work notebooks — as it was pulled away, clamped between people moving in different directions. I could feel the threads popping.

我的背包里装着电脑和工作笔记本，它夹在往四面八方移动的人群中，不断地被拉扯，我紧紧地抓着肩带。我能感觉到衣服在人群中摩擦作响。

Some people were trying to jump over the ticket check barriers. A worker picked up a movable post and to block them.

一些旅客想要跨过检票处的围栏。工作人员拿来了一个可移动的柱桩，放在门前拦住他们。

We'd stood in lines for hours.

我们已经在队伍里站了几个小时了。

Now, we were suddenly heaving forward.

突然，人流向前涌动。

Most of us just wanted to go home.

大多数人只是想要回家。

But a blizzard and the warm-up to the planet's greatest annual migration of humans — the Spring Festival travel rush, or chunyun, when people return to their hometowns for family reunions — had conspired against us.

但是暴风雪天气，以及春运（即人们回家与家人团聚）——这个地球上一年一度最盛大的人口迁移也刚刚拉开序幕，这二者成了我们归途中的拦路虎。

The day before, I'd kissed my ticket. (The trip had already hit many roadblocks.)

昨天，我亲了亲自己的车票。（这趟旅程已经遭遇重重障碍。）

But even golden tickets get canceled in extreme weather.

但是，遇到极端天气，金子般的车票也只能被取消。

So, lines swelled, people rebooked and the next day was even more frenzied.

候车队伍壮大了，旅客只得重新订票，而第二天会让人更加抓狂。

I showed up about four hours before my train was supposed to depart, given the previous day's lines. It left roughly three hours late.

想到昨天的候车队伍，我在火车预计出发前四个小时便到达车站，然而车晚点了约三个小时。

I've often traveled China by train over the years and have found it to otherwise operate like clockwork.

在中国的这些年里，我经常乘火车。我发现，在其他时候，车站都有条不紊地运行。

This was simply a case of bad weather at a bad time.

这次只是时间不凑巧，又碰上了坏天气。

China Railway Corp's website has increased capacity to sell up to 15 million tickets a day.

中国铁路总公司官网已提高能力，一天最多可以售出1500万张车票。

Authorities forecast nearly 400 million train trips during the 40 days surrounding the holiday. Shanghai is the No 1 departure point, Chinese online travel agency Tuniu reports.

据官方预计，在春节前后的40天内，总共售出的火车票约为4亿张。据中国在线旅行社途牛披露，上海车站的客流量最大。

Lines meandered across the station when I was there.

我在队伍里，随着人流在车站里缓缓移动。

They often stretched to the building's opposite wall, where they had to bend like number 7s and letter Ls to continue.

队伍经常向着对面的墙壁延伸，这时队伍就会弯成数字7或字母L的形状。

Many trains were running late after the previous day's cancelations. Bodies stuffed every corner of the station — even packing the small spaces behind ATMs and vending machines.

昨天很多车次都取消了，而今天很多车次都晚点了。车站的每一个角落都挤满了人——甚至自动取款机和自动售卖机后的小块空间里也都有人。

I had to again plow through this throng when my boarding gate suddenly changed from No 5 to No 15.

我的检票口突然从5号变成了15号，所以我要再次从人群中挤过去。

"It's like a war!" a woman shouted.

“就跟打仗一样！”一个女人大声说。

We finally boarded our train.

我们终于上了火车。

Some guy starting singing Bob Marley's Three Little Birds (in English): "Every little thing is going to be all right."

有人唱起了鲍勃·马利（Bob Marley）的《三只小鸟》（用英文唱的）：“Every little thing is going to be all right（一切都会好起来的）。”

It really was.

确实如此。

I waited until I'd arrived in at my apartment's door before I kissed this ticket.

等我到达公寓门前时，我又一次亲吻了车票。

Then, I stepped inside and kissed my kids.

然后，我走进家门，亲吻我的孩子们。

I was home. Finally.

我终于到家了。

I try not to travel in China around the Golden Week holidays, such as Spring Festival.

我尽量避免在中国的黄金周假期出行，比如春节。

But our American family has adapted the tradition of reunions. This year, we'll join my parents in Sri Lanka.

但是，我们美国家庭也适应了团聚的传统。今年，我们会去斯里兰卡与我的父母团聚。

The experience in Shanghai has given me a new appreciation for the train journeys home hundreds of millions of people will undertake during the chunyun.

这次在上海车站的经历让我对春运期间数以亿计的旅客都会经历的乘火车回家之旅有了新的认识。

I wish them happy travels. We all agree, family is worth any journey.

希望他们旅途愉快。我们都认同，为了家人，任何旅途都是值得的。