A 10-year-old boy who ran away from home to see the Olympics was reunited with his family Monday after he tried to fly to London on a souvenir passport from the World Expo 2012, border authorities announced Monday.
The boy, surnamed Li, showed up alone at Pudong International Airport around 1 pm Monday, according to the airport's frontier inspection station. In the departures area, Li presented his souvenir passport to a border inspection officer, saying that he was on his way to London.
Li's passport had been stamped, but it was only a stamp from the Shanghai Expo's UK Pavilion.
Visitors to the 2010 World Expo could get their souvenir passports stamped to show which of the event's pavilions they had visited.
Li told the inspector that his parents had promised to take him to the Olympic Games, but never followed through, according to the news release.
Carrying 2,000 yuan ($314) and his Expo passport, Li snuck out of his grandparents' home in Pudong New Area while they napped and took the subway to the airport.
The inspector called the grandparents, who soon came to the airport to pick up their intrepid grandson.