Sorry for the long delay in blogging about the last leg of our journey, but as you will see, there is a lot to share. I must forewarn you, this bad boy is going to read like a novel. But I am going to do my best to keep you entertained with quite a story!
Our return home began as the alarm clock was sounding, or should I say vibrating (we didn't want to wake MeiLin!), at 4:30am China time - 2:30pm Dallas. We got dressed, finished packing the last of our items, woke MeiLin for her bottle, and headed down for breakfast right at 6:30. We were racing to get everything ready in time, because we selfishly wanted to sleep as long as possible! So we had breakfast, Brandon went back to the room to get the bags, he checked out of the hotel, and then we loaded into the van right at 7:00am China - 5:00pm Dallas for the airport . Please remember this departure time - 5:00pm Dallas time! Between us and our garage door was flying from Guangzhou, China to Shanghai, China, then heading to America via Chicago, and finally our home base of Dallas, Texas!
Off to the airport we went. As expected, we were in the middle of rush hour so there was quite a bit of traffic. Once we got to the airport, checked our bag, and walked to the gate. We only had to kill time for thirty minutes before boarding the flight - not bad at all! By the time we took turns going to the bathroom and changing her diaper, it was time to board.
Flight #1
We flew China Southern for this return flight. They were great! We went to the back of the long boarding line, but since we had a kiddo, they pulled us to the front and let us board. (We just had regular coach tickets.). Didn't they use to do that in the good 'ole US of A back in the day?!?
MeiLin was fine in the plane until she heard the roar of the airplane engines firing up. We think she associated that sound with her first traumatic flight a few days before where she had the horrible pressure in her ears. As we were expecting, she began to wail! (It didn't bother me so much this time because I could tell that she wasn't in pain - she was just scared and anticipating the pain.) She cried while backing up the plane, taxing to the runway, during takeoff, and well into the decent. The stewardess came to check on us (while we were still climbing!) to see if we needed anything. We had her bottle ready, but by the time we got to the runway she was unconsolable again and wouldn't take the bottle, or the sippy cup, or the sucker, or anything else we tried. We were out of ideas. Then, from out of nowhere appeared a beautiful Asian girl. She was probably early twenties?!? She whisked MeiLin from us and took her to her seat a few rows back. Brandon was concerned and wanted to go after her, but I figured if she could calm her down I would certainly let her try! Sure enough - after just a few minutes, the cries were gone and we could only hear sounds of laughter. (How do those baby whisperers do that?!). The nice gentleman beside us from Australia said that maybe it was the comforting sounds of a native language? She brought her back after about twenty minutes and she was happy as a lark! The girl even came back mid-flight and took her back to play with her again. Yep, she is that cute! :)
So after a 2 hour flight, we landed safely in Shanghai, China. Back to MeiLin's hometown for a long 7 hour layover. Oh my - how do you kill time with a busy toddler? First stop was baggage claim which we found rather easily - thank you for the signs in English! We don't realized how fortunate we are sometimes. After we got the bags, we followed the signs to International Transfer, but when we got there, it was a dead end with a bunch of locked doors. Luckily we found someone who spoke English. Nope, there was no transfer. You had to go out of security, check in to the flight, and then come back through security to get to your gate. Nice... So out we went. The airport was truly impressive. It was huge and had a large expansive ceiling that must have spanned two football fields! We found a directory of all the airlines and proceeded to check-in F for American Airlines. The strange thing is that all of the 20+ terminals were empty; no one was working them. We once again found someone who worked there that explained the American Airlines employees don't arrive until four hours before the check-in time since they have so few flights. So lovely, now we are stuck outside of Security and needed to kill two hours before check-in. My dreams of waiting in the first class lounge with free food, free drinks, and soft, comfy couches was going to have to wait a bit. (Not gonna lie...tears welled up in my eyes.). So we found an area that was made to look like a park with fake Magnolia trees, park benches, and wooden plank floors. We staked our claim on a bench and settled in with our backs resting comfortably on the low granite planter. (I hope you picked up on my sarcasm there!)
Five hours had now passed since breakfast. Luckily there was a mini-mart in that area where I went to scavenge for food. Of course the only American brand name I found was Mentos. So it was a search and find based on pictures. I haven't actually stared intently at packaging before, but it is quite helpful. I found a round can of what looked like knockoff Pringles chips. There were like 5 colors to choose from so I knew they must be different favors. Sure enough, I found a spot on the can with a picture of a pizza - pizza flavored! The next one had a onion, a cheese block, and then a potato. Yeah - that must be plain! I got a Pepsi (same logo), chocolate (this one said milk chocolate on the packaging!), and then some chewy looking candy with a picture of a lemon. I know...not quite the well balance meal for the family that I was hoping for, but on a good note, everything turned out as I had expected. I was most impressed with the off-brand Pringles. They took it to a whole different level. At first I couldn't figure out why there was a plastic stick in the can. Then I realized that it lifted the chips and had hooks on the back. As you ate the chips you could raise the chip holder and rest it on the side so you didn't have to reach your hand in the tube or dump them into your hand. Genius! I totally need to go to the Pringles manufacturer and try to sell them that idea! On the downside, when I opened my Pepsi, it spewed all down the left pant leg of my jeans. It was fitting really, as these were the same jeans that I had previously spilt apple juice down the right pant leg of my jeans. At least they are a matching pair now - right?
After "lunch," Brandon strolled MeiLin around in the stroller and she fell asleep - yeah! He walked around for about 30 minutes. When we went to trade off, she woke up and I never could get her to fall back asleep when I strolled with her. So much for a refreshing nap! Finally our two hours were up, and just as promised, the American Airline employees were ready for check-in. As luck would have it, we got flagged for a bag search, so Brandon got to go into a room off to the side as they searched through our checked luggage. Then it was back through the security check (we get to keep our shoes on!), and off to the lounge - aka heaven! It was an upstairs loft that overlooked the expanse of the airport away from all of the noise below. There were bathrooms (with attendants!) where each restroom stall had its own sink inside. There was free snacks, appetizers, and meals, free beverages, wine, beer, and some liquor. Different seating areas were available, there were small offices for people who needed to work, open seating areas, and then my personal favorite, small, intimate seating areas. Ours had a long couch with two chairs flanking the sides, a low coffee table, and two side tables. It literally felt like we were sitting in a living room! We put a blanket on the coffee table to deaden the sound of the toys and then let MeiLin go to town. People were avoiding our area because of the kiddo, but she was great and didn't make a sound. Now that is not a bad way to pass 3 hours in an airport!
Flight #2
Off to the gate we went, arrived just as boarding was starting, and got right onto the plane. Ahhh...First Class International. I am still in awe...true luxury and worth all 330,000 miles we saved! Not kidding, I said "Sorry..." to almost every person who came into First Class. They would say, "Why?" And then I would show them our little angel. They were all very nice about it and told me about their kids/grandkids - yeah!!
They announced that everyone boarded the plane quickly so we were able to take off early and we had to buckle our seats. Just like the first flight, MeiLin knew what was coming and started wailing again. About 5 minutes into her crying the "nice" flight attendant (I will explain later), told me that we weren't leaving for another hour. What?!? That there was too much air traffic and we couldn't leave. Great. At least when I put MeiLin down she stopped crying. But now we were delaying an already 13 hour flight and we only had a two hour layover in Chicago - Ugh! We were so ready to be home. Once the "real" take off was commencing, we kept playing with MeiLin and singing her songs so she would be too distracted to notice. Not kidding. The "not nice" flight attendant came over to tell me that I was going to have a mutiny on the plane if we didn't stop singing the kids songs. I looked her straight in the eye and told her I didn't care. I am thinking, "Woman, they will think these songs are Heaven once they hear the wailing of my child!". And for the record, I got all of zero dirty looks from the other passengers, I think she was the one annoyed. So then she went the safety angle. "Well," she said, "They are all wearing headphones so they don't hear the singing and we may have important safety information we need to tell them." I politely responded with, "They are grown adults; if they choose to wear their headphones, then so be it." And that was the end of that. As planned, MeiLin was distracted and didn't make a peep!!
She did so well on the flight! That is a lot to expect from a 2 year old who didn't get a nap. When it was time to go to bed, I couldn't get her to sleep beside me in the chair she just kept crying. But I had the most genius idea - so proud of myself! In the third seat we got for her, we made a palate on the floor. It was a 2x4 size area almost identical to a crib. There was the chair on one side which was solid because of the footrest that raises, a leather padded wall in the back, and then a "friend chair" as I called it on the other side where someone can come and chat mid-flight. (It even has its own seat belt!). We shoved two pillows under there to create a third wall and then it was open to the isle. Worked like a charm! Once we got her down, she slept like a baby for a solid 6 hours - Yeah! Wish I could say the same for Mommy. I kept one eye on her the whole time. I was afraid she would wake up and wonder around (really?). It's not like she could hurt herself but my new Mommy gene kicked in anyhow. After about 5 hours, I got up, changed out of my pjs, and played some much missed Bejeweled on my iPhone. Like a good Mommy, in between each 1 minute game, I would look over and check on her. About an hour later, one of the stewardess's came by. She said, "How is your baby doing?" I said, "Great, she is sleeping right over there." And she said, "No she isn't." Sure enough, she had woken up, crawled into the middle of the isle, and was looking up at me. How embarrassing! The rest of the flight was spent entertaining her with the "flight toys" we had packed just for the plane ride. (So she hadn't seen these yet.). Her favorite by far were the stickers. The poor baby had never seen a sticker before. It was amazing to watch her learn before my very eyes. First she saw that they were only sticky on one side. Then she noticed that they stick to stuff. She really struggled with adhering the sticker to the paper (it would stick to her finger) but after a while she succeeded! I have one smart cookie!
Throughout the trip, the "nice" flight attendant would stop by and tell me about her little 11 week old baby at home; I could tell she really missed her and enjoyed seeing our little girl. I was shocked when the "not nice" flight attendant mentioned to me that she didn't have any children - I would never have guessed... (Sarcasm again.) Luckily the rest of the flight was uneventful, but the captain was not able to make up lost time and we arrived an hour and fifteen minutes late to Chicago - UGH! So much for our connecting flight to Dallas that takes off in 45 minutes! (And we still had to get through customs and immigration with our little immigrant :( ).
To help set the stage, it has been over 25 hours since we left the hotel in Guangzhou, China. I had said to remember the time we left the hotel - 5:00pm Dallas time. Well, it is now 6:30pm Dallas time the next day. Brandon, MeiLin, and I are beyond exhausted running on maybe 6 hours of sleep. As soon as we get off of the plane (First Class gets to deboard first!), we are given an Orange priority Express Pass and are told that our flight has been delayed due to bad wheather and we have 45 minutes to catch our flight. We hustled over to Customs where we were the next people in line. Once the guy in front was done, we went to walk up to the window, but a woman came out of no where and jumped in front of us in line! I totally lost it at this point. Brandon and I were both screaming at her and she was screaming something about how important she was and how important her connecting flight was - REALLY?!? The customs officer yelled at all of us to calm down and then he helped her - are you kidding me? When I worked in retail, I NEVER helped the person who cut in line until like 4 people later. Beyond annoying. When it was finally our turn, he looked at our boarding passes and laughed. "I don't know why you are rushing. There is no way you are going to make your flight." Yeah, I was a big fan of this guy! But the moment he took MeiLin's brown evelope marked "Customs" and opened it, she became a US Citizen!! He congratulated her and sent us on to collect our luggage.
On the way to the baggage claim, MeiLin spit up on herself (just like the first flight) and her shirt was soaking wet. I sent Brandon ahead and I changed her into a little fleece jacket I had in my bag. It looks funny to wear that without a shirt under it, but whatever, we were in a rush! By the time I got to our luggage carosel, Brandon already had our checked bag but was waiting on the stroller. We waited and waited...until all of the bags were on the conveyor belt - and no stroller. He went to ask the attendant when he saw it sitting against a random wall. Really? Couldn't someone have mentioned that it was sitting there all of this time - we just wasted 30 minutes! UGH! So now we are off to Immigration. Even though MeiLin was now a US Citizen we still had to go through Immigration with her. They were all official and made us place our bags against the wall and stand back. Really? We were the only ones in this section with two officers - were we going to over power them with a baby? At this point, I am annoyed at everything because of the exhaustion and the fact that we are NOT MISSING THIS PLANE! He checked some stuff and then instead of letting us pass through the gates RIGHT THERE - we had to go stand in a different line that was rediculously long. This is where we had to run our bags through another baggage check before entering the airport - seriously? We just got off of the plane!
We finally got through that line and then had to board the tram to get from the International terminal to the Domestic terminal for our flight. We arrive at the Domestic terminal and for the third time, checked our bag for the trip to Dallas. Then it is off to the security check - for the third time. Of course the line is rediculously long and at this point we have 10 minutes until our plane leaves - AHHH! So we find an attendant and ask, is the Express Pass line or the Priority line faster through security? He says Priority so off we go. We start to enter the line, but a Chinese couple gets in front of us. Their phone rings, they answer, and start having a conversation while just standing there. Hello, we need to get through! Brandon finally yelled at them and we squeezed by. Luckily, there were only 4 people ahead of us in line. Only 3 screening lines are open. The far right is overtaken by a huge Chinese family of like 10 relatives. They had left all of their items on the counter and didn't realize that they needed to be placed on the belt for screening. I must say, American's sure are rude. The TSA person tells them to move the items to the belt and then proceeds to yell at them the same instructions. Look lady, I just came from a country where I didn't speak the native language. Whether they told me something or screamed at me something - I still didn't understand the language! And I totally saw this play out like 5 times in the US airports. We didn't expereience anything like that when we were in China! I degress...so basically only 2 of the screening lanes are getting any action. Needless to say, people from the regular screening line were just walking over to the priority screening line once they got passed the officer because that one was moving so much faster. UGH - the clock was ticking.
When we finally got up there, it was a mad dash. Liquids out of the bag, coats off, shoes off, Brandon thought the iPad had to be out of the bag, pick up the baby, fold the stroller, stroller on the conveyor...Brandon goes through - T minus 5 minutes. We are leaving out of gate K13 and of course we are at K1 (and it is a LONG way to K13). I go through security and as luck would have it the alarm sets off - yeah, I am the random search for bomb making materials on the palms of my hands - really? I tell Brandon to just go - I will catch up. They take me (holding MeiLin) to an area off to the side where they rub my hands with a cloth and then put it in a machine - very CSI actually - and then we wait. Do...Do...Do... De...De...De...Hm....Hm....Hm as others are speeding by me - results, I passed. (Shocking!) Now a different TSA lady is flagging me down. Is this your sippy cup? Why yes it is. (At the other airports they just had me drink it.) Nope - not in good 'ole US of A. She yells at me to take off the cap. (Why must they yell?) When I did, she used some weird contraption to suck up the liquid. And we wait. Do...Do...Do... De...De...De...Hm....Hm....Hm - results, I passed. You have GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! At this point, I have like 3 minutes to go. I just grabbed my shoes (didn't bother to put them on), grabbed the sippy cup (which she spilt down my arm when handing it back to me - nice), and started running.
I have seen those people running through the airport and never really understood why. Now I was one of them. It had been 26 hours and we still had another flight to catch before getting home. I hadn't really worked out in 2 weeks, but I ran and ran and ran. MeiLin thought it was fabulous - the wind was racing through her hair and she would hold her hands up with excitement. I weaved in between people, around carts, and through random peoples' luggage. I passed Brandon at around K8. (In his defense, he had ALL of our luggage. Two rolling bags, a carry on bag, the diaper bag, both of our winter coats, and his shoes in his hands, too. As he says best , "I thought my left arm was going to fall off!) And I kept running... At around gate K10, I had to stop, I was sucking wind so bad that I could hardly breathe. But then, I reminded myself of all the years I played tennis and how that had prepared me for this very moment and my final run home. So I had a renewed burst of energy and sprinted the rest of the way to gate K14. But of course I couldn't find it. The end of the gate turned into a circle there was K13, K15 and, K16. Where was gate K14? So I found someone and could barely ask through my huffing and puffing. This is when they informed me there was no K14 - in my sprint, I had forgotten the gate number! As they were looking up the info (it was K13 by the way...), I saw Brandon run past and I yelled for him. He looked really upset and yelled out to me, "They changed the flight to Gate K3!". This could not possibly be happening. Apparently, the gate had changed and when we checked in (all of 20 minutes before) either they weren't aware or they didn't bother to tell us about the gate change. But I was spent; I was done. I honestly couldn't sprint back almost the entire expanse that I had just run. Our only saving grace was that the departure time had been pushed back another 10 minutes. So Brandon trotted down ahead of me (with all of the bags still!) and he arrived at the doors literally as they were calling the final boarding that "all passengers should now be on the plane". He said he ran up like a mad man yelling that he was coming. I would have loved to have seen that, but I was still a few gates back. He huffed and puffed that his wife and baby were right behind. So after the fiasco that was the Chicago layover, I can't believe it, but we actually made our original flight to Dallas! Praise the Lord! I honestly would have physically lost it if we had to wait for the next flight home!
Flight #3
We rush onto the plane to take our seats. (Shockingly another man boarded the plane right behind us - after all that, we weren't the last ones on the flight!) All of the overhead space was already filled in first class, so Brandon had to head down the isles in coach to find room in one of their bins. (The flight attendants had already closed them, so it was a search and find mission. He ran back up, buckled up, and we were ready to go. Flight attendants did the check and then....nothing. Finally they announced on the speaker that they were waiting to de-ice the place. Of course, did I really expect anything different? Well, at least this gave us time to make a bottle for MeiLin who hasn't eaten in like 6 hours (she was such a trooper during the trip!). Finally at 9:00pm (two hours late), our final flight departed for Dallas! And it gave time for Brandon to find his inhaler; he was having a mild asthma attack from all of the running!
We made the mistake of letting MeiLin see her bottle before getting to the runway, so we had a little meltdown in the middle of the isle for everyone to enjoy. Luckily, once we started to take off, we gave her the bottle, and she didn't make a peep - whew! Either she got better each leg of the trip or we got smarter. ;)
The flight home was rather uneventful. Somehow her diaper leaked - that is #3 for the trip - so we just changed her into her footed pajamas for the rest of the trip home. She was just adorable! And as in the prior flight, when she walked around first classing, holding onto peoples' hands, shirts, and jackets everyone smilled and cooed!
Touch down - in Dallas at last! We turn on our cell phone and see that Kurt Scaggs has parked our car right outside of Gate A17 where we landed. (That worked out so well - so appreciative that they did that for us!) But of course, our luggage claim was down at A28 - seriously? So down we walked to collect our luggage and stroller. As has played out in the other airports, our checked bag arrived first off but the stroller was no where to be found. As we sat and waited, MeiLin was beyond exhausted. We were at almost 30 hours of travel and she had only had 6 hours of sleep. So she fell asleep in my arms - so cute - in her little pj's! Finally, Brandon asked a worker who said, "Is it in a red bag?" Why yes it was. And they said, "Oh, they went ahead and dropped that off at Gate A17". Once again, why does no one bother to tell you that after waiting for over 20 minutes - sigh! So down to Gat A17 we walked again (which our car was there so we had to go anyways), we retrieved the stroller, and headed out the door. The car was parked on Level A, but once we go across the street, we saw that we were up on Level C. Brandon just took some of the luggage down the stairs to put it in the car. I was surprised to see him walk back up with the luggage. As luck would have it the stairs ended on Level B. So back into the terminal we went, we found an elevator, headed down, walked back across the street, and were now on Level A and what were we staring at but - OUR CAR!! Thank you, thank you, thank you. I loaded MeiLin into the car seat for the first time. She didn't like being strapped in and cried for a bit. But as soon as we got on the road she was out. Home we went and pulled into the garage. I stopped and looked at the clock - 30 1/2 hours between our hotel in Guangzhou, China and our garage, but we had made it!
Brandon brought in MeiLin. I changed her diaper, we threw bags in the dining room, put her in her crib, and crashed in bed. But MeiLin kept crying and crying and crying. She had been sleeping fine in the cribs back in the hotels in China. After almost an hour, I went in there and she was still standing in the same position in the crib where I had left here almost and hour before. I am beyond exhausted and started wailing! So much so that it surprised MeiLin and she stopped crying. We decided that she was still on the prior time zone and thought it was the middle of the day. She wanted to explore all of the rooms in the house and play with her new toys. At 4:00am (yes, the next morning - still no sleep), we had to do something. So Brandon put her in the bed with him in her room, used the wall and pillows to make sure she couldn't roll out, and she fell fast asleep. Finally - the last day of our journey had ended...
Stay tuned for a recap of our first day home!
Not many photos; MeiLin kept wanting to play with my phone when she saw it and would have a little meltdown. :)
