We Finally Made It!!!!

After many a change in plans, change in flights, and changes in the crazy weather on the East Coast, we FINALLY were able to get out the door and make it to the airport!!!

To Chip, who enjoys travelling in luxury all the time for business, the next part might seem inconsequential……….but for Cash and I – it was definitely an upgrade and a great trip. To start off, we got picked up at 4 a.m. in the Limo by Chip’s driver from work. We were worried about getting all our luggage in, but we fit it and off we set. I thought Cash would go right back to sleep on the way, but nope, he was just too excited!! He laughed and giggled for the first hour of the trip, before finally dozing off for the last one.

We got to the airport fine, and then the madness began! Every single bag we were going to check was overweight, and the total bill for it was $3000!! Yeah, uh, crazy, as an extra checked bag is only $200. So for the extra 50 lbs. we bought a bag from the airline and then went through and took stuff out of EVERY bag and made them all fit! It was a long and tedious process, but we finally got them all checked – thank heavens we had gotten to the airport 2 hours early!

As we were walking away the lady said “that carry on bag is NOT going to fit and you need to check it too!!!” She whipped out her little tape measure and showed us, and thus another $200 for a checked bag was shelled out before going – SHEESH!!! Hello airline Nazi!

Well, we barely made it through security and got to our gate as the final people were loading! We got on, found our seats in First Class, and off we set! Cash fit perfectly on the armrest between us and enjoyed the headphones and buttons he could push! Thank HEAVENS it was only a 2 hour flight! As we were landing we realized Cash had a blowout! It smelled so bad and some of the other people sitting around us were making comments about how it stunk! We hurried and got him off first thing, trying to be inconspicuous although I think everyone knew!

Well, then it was a 4 hour lay-over in Chicago! I was worried, but it actually went really fast. We got some breakfast, hung around different sections, Cash had a blast with the moving walkways, and then found this cool area with lights that he enjoyed playing at for a long while! Then, we got to go into the VIP lounge since we were flying Business Class to China and we got more yummy snacks, loaded up for the flight, watched some TV, and then it was time to go!

We got onto the plane and holy smokes was it great! Business Class is the way to fly – it is nicer than first class (I didn’t know this), and it truly is luxurious! Made the 13 hour flight seem like nothing! The seats were huge, with a TON of space between them, they reclined fully back, had massagers in them and individual TVs; and the best part – our section only had 3 other people in it so we had the entire right side to ourselves! Cash was so intrigued by the individual lights on each seat and kept singing into them, thinking they were microphones (think I got a little American Idol on my hands!)

He had tired himself out pretty good with all the running around in the airport, so I thought he would go right to sleep – but ended up being too excited and staying awake for the first few hours of the flight.

Like I mentioned before, this is NOT a big deal to Chip, but to Cash and I we were super excited about this way of travelling. Especially the food part. The stewardesses waited on us ALL the time – first they brought out a warm bowl of nuts and drinks. Then followed shrimp cocktail, vegetable crudite, and a yummy salad and roll. Then, the main dish – I had delicious Teriyaki Salmon, green beans and veggies, and rice, while Chip had a yummy spicy chicken with potatoes and veggies. Then, for dessert – delicious icecream and chocolates!

Later, they served us hot turkey and swiss sandwiches that were super yummy with chips and other snacks, and then we got a fresh fruit platter, warmed crossaint, and yogurt. I have NEVER eaten this well on any flight, and I guess for the expense of the tickets it should be expected, but I was just in awe and enjoying up every minute! Cash kept getting these yummy cookies he liked from the stewardesses before falling asleep and being out for the rest of the ENTIRE flight!

We were all able to get over 6 hours of sleep or so and so it was a great flight! I want to travel like that always – too bad that won’t be the case for us! Hey, we’ll enjoy it while we can! I did get some really bad leg aches at one point, but luckily they didn’t last long!

Once we got there the airport was HUGE – and looked like an Olympic arena to me. It was very quiet and not what I expected, although really nice. We went to get our bags, and they all came super quick and we were off. However, with 10 bags and a stroller and baby we looked funny! The carts looked like the trolleys on Harry Potter and I kept saying to Chip – come on, we got to get to platform 9 ¾ - to which he didn’t understand at all since he hasn’t read the books! It was a site tho I am sure! Customs didn’t take long and soon we were through and walking out the door – it felt like a runway cuz a TON of Chinese people were on the other side of this fence with cameras and felt like we were getting our pictures taken like celebrities on the red carpet or something! I know they actually weren’t taking our pictures, but it was an odd sensation – and to be honest I just wanted to hurry and get through it all!

We found our driver, loaded up the car, it barely all fit – and set off for our place. It was weird driving down a street and not being able to read any street sign or have any sense of direction or communication with the driver. Thank heavens Chip was with us is all I can say – and had our address written in characters for the guy so he could just get us there. We landed at 4:00 p.m. Tuesday, and were to our place at just after 5.

My first impression of the city was that it looks a lot like New York, although with even more buildings everywhere, and that it is a lot cleaner (this actually might not be the case but the area we were driving and living at is really clean!) It seemed a lot quieter than Chip had explained, and then I learned that is due to the Chinese New Year being this week and so everything was shut down. So I guess we will see what next week brings!

When we walked into our place we heard a bunch of loud pops and looked out our windows to see showers of fireworks on each side – we live on the 11^th floor so they were literally right outside our windows! We were excited they would celebrate our arrival like this (ok, it is actually for the holiday and they believe it wards off bad spirits, but we can pretend right?)

Anyhow, it was cool for the first night – but for the last 4 it has become actually really annoying – as they light off fireworks ALL day and ALL night every day and literally at 4 a.m. we are getting woken up to the loud noises!

Well, that is all for now!!! I will write about the next few days tomorrow, including our crazy shopping trip at IKEA, destroying my computer, eating at our first place, the Subway sandwiches here, the grocery store, and more!!!

(However, I currently cannot access blogs or facebook because of the blocks the Chinese government has on it, so I am having my mom post these, and hopefully I can soon get access to it all! I did ruin one computer trying to download some software for it already, so not sure how long it will be before it actually happens, but want everyone to know I made it safe and I really want to communicate with ya’ll soon. Email me if you want my phone number that is a US number you can reach me on for free – as I would love to chat!!!)