China Day 1 - Wednesday May 18

We are in China!! We made it!

We left Salt Lake on Monday night and flew to Los Angelos. We had an overnight layover there, so we booked a hotel room close to the airport and stayed there. It was really convenient because a shuttle bus took us there and picked us up in the morning. So, Tuesday morning we left LA around 9, so we got to the airport at 8ish. We didn’t have to check any bags since they were going straight to China. So we got to our gate and realize our flight to San Fransicso has been delayed and isn’t supposed to leave till 10:00, which was ok. Our connecting flight to China was supposed to leave at 1:30, so as long as we made it there we didn’t mind.

However, then our flight was delayed until 10:30, and I was starting to get a little worried that it might keep getting pushed back. But we boarded the plane with time to leave at 10:30 so I wasn’t that worried anymore. When we were sitting on the plane after just boarding, they said that we weren’t going to take off until 11:17. I was really worried now. They plane ride was an hour and a half long, and we were supposed to board our next flight to China at 12:30. I wasn’t sure we were going to make it, depending on where we had to walk to in the airport.

It all turned out to be ok though. We landed about 12:30, already in the international terminal. We only had to walk down 4 gates, so on the way there I stopped and bought some snacks for the plane. We got there when they were boarding, and my mom was waiting for us. (She had been in California and was going back on the same day as us.) She was a priority boarder, so as soon as we got there, we were able to skip the line and go up with her. :) It was pretty neat.

So once on the plane, it wasn’t bad at all. Rob and I weren’t sitting next to each other, but we were really close. I was sitting in the center seat of an exit row, and Rob was the aisle seat right behind me. No one sat next to Rob so he was able to use both seats.

I didn’t sleep at all on the plane, but that was my plan. I read quite a bit and watched some movies the plane was showing. I watched Tron, How do you Know, and half of a Vince Vaughn movie I still don’t know the name of. :) I did one Sudoku, one crossword, and played some games on my phone. The 12 hours did not go by fast at all! But we finally made it!

We got in to China around 5 pm on Wednesday. We went through immigration and customs, and then got our baggage. We left the airport and found my dad and their driver waiting for us past baggage claim. It took us about 20 minutes to get back to my parents apartment. When we got here we just relaxed. It felt awesome. They ordered Chinese food for dinner and it was really good!! We got fried rice and orange chicken. After dinner we started watching a movie, but I was asleep in 10 minutes. Haha, I had been awake for almost 24 hours by then. I don’t really remember going into bed I was so tired. But Rob and I slept till 4 in the morning, which I thought was pretty good for the first night. We even fell back asleep and didn’t wake up till almost 7. I think the jet lag might be easy to get over this time. (A lot easier than last time I came when I was so worn down from finals that I actually got mono when I was over here.)

Anyway, I guess today will be our first real day in Shanghai, so it should be fun! I don’t know what we’re planning on doing, but it should be fun whatever it is!!