Days 1-3 � Santa Rosa to Shanghai
Today is Friday, June 1st and we�re leaving today for China to get Grace. Our friend Lissa will be picking us up at 1:00 to take us to the local Marriott where we will catch the airport bus. We, of course, are ready by noon and wait impatiently for Lissa. She arrives right on time and off we go! The airport bus arrives 10 minutes late (of course the worrying has already started) and we�re on our way to the airport. We arrive at the airport, get our bags checked to Los Angeles and begin the first of many waits in an airport. Our flight leaves almost one hour late but we luckily we left plenty of wiggle room in the schedule to make our flight to China.
We arrive at LAX (Los Angeles International), claim our bags and make our way to the terminal where we catch our flight to China. We discover that we can�t check in for almost one hour! We�re starved, but opt to wait until we can get our bags checked before finding food. We survive the wait, get our bags checked and find something to eat (Pizza!). We were hoping that our friends Andrew and Joel who recently moved to L.A. would be able to meet us during our layover, but we see no signs of them (turns out the traffic was SO bad getting to the airport that Andrew turned around and went back home).
Our flight leaves on time and the plan is practically empty (at least in premium economy�a quasi-business class section). Our flight to Guangzhou lasts 14.75 hours, at least 10 of which they have the lights lowered. I�m able to sleep, in fits and starts, for at least 6 or 7 of those hours. Jude is not quite as lucky, he always has trouble sleeping on planes. I guess it�s easier to contort my 5� frame to a level of comfort in an airplane seat than it is for his 6� 1� body. Our arrival in Guangzhou is under cloudy, rainy skies. The huge Boeing 777 parks on the tarmac and they wheel up stairways for us to use to exit the plane. We anxiously gather our carry-ons and anticipate our first steps in China, but�we wait. It appears they are waiting for customs officials to get to immigration to process our entry. We finally deplane using the slippery metal stairways. Jude, unfortunately, takes a spill down the last three or four steps. He�s fine, but has bruised his tailbone (and his ego, I assume). We are loaded onto a bus and taken to immigration and customs. We get through immigration, claim our bags, get through customs and make our way into the terminal. Using our handy-dandy guide that our travel agency gave us, we easily get our bags checked for the Guangzhou to Shanghai leg of the trip, get money exchanged and pay the airport tax (50 yuan each, about $6 each). We meet up with another adoptive father from St. Louis who is traveling on his own to bring home a 19 month old boy with a cleft lip and palate. It is here, in the airport, that I have my first experience with the infamous squat toilets of China. Quite an experience!! |
