Be prepared....a long post....
Thursday was the day we prepared for heading home. We got up and knew it was going to be a long day. We went to the playground with Caleb twice that day. It was 74 degrees and beautiful. We sat an enjoyed our last moments in Guangzhou with Caleb. He and Baba had a strawberry ice cream cone. He loved that too and ate it all.
I got a little choked up thinking about our time there and that Caleb's world will change again. First with a new Mama and Baba and not seeing his home the way he knew it to getting to Minnesota where the weather is completely different to a home that looks completely different. Hmmm...I get teared up thinking of all that he has been through.
He enjoyed every bit of our play time that day. We have noticed that he makes friends quite easily too. Then 3:00pm came and we went to check out with all of our bags. Even though I did not think we purchased that much, our bags we had to carry aound until 6:30pm were really heavy! Of course we made it, but it was challenging.
We went to the Swan Room at the hotel and there was a gal in there with her daughter who let us in (one needs a hotel card to get into the room). We spent about an hour in there which helped and he loves playing with other kids.
6:30pm came and we met Lucy and headed off to the airport. We got there about 7:35pm and waited about 5 minutes to be able to check in 3 hours earlier than the flight. We got checked in headed through security, again, and headed to our gate to wait for 2.5 hours. Caleb had a rough time. It was late, we did not get him down for a nap and I am sure it was just plain boring to him. We brought out some games and coloring books. A little girl spotted what he was doing and she came over. They played most of the wait and it was great. She shared some dried fish with him.
It was only about a 55 minute flight from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. When we landed we had to get our bags and find the hotel. Even though the hotel was attached to the airport it was a long walking distance. We got to the room about 1:10am, got Caleb to take a shower with Baba, I took a shower and we all drifted off to sleep about 1:30am.
We did not sleep well because we were afraid our alarms would not go off. We had to be up no later than 8am. When we got up we decided to let Caleb sleep more and Tim headed off to the airport to see if he could check us in. Well he came back right away and said we needed to check our bags and all of us needed to be there. Good thing I had already dressed Caleb, put the luggage back on the cart and we all headed out the door for the dreaded long flight.
We were nervous about getting seats. When we booked this they did not give us seats and we could not get them through the travel agency in Guangzhou and we could not get them online 24 hours in advance so we were counting on the United representative to help us. At first all she could say to us was that she could not get us seats together. I just couldn't believe it! We just stood there looking at eachother not knowing what to say. I was not trying to get mad, but I kept thinking we just adopted a new son and he will want his Mama and Baba with him. It was about 3 minutes of awkwardness. I kept saying to Tim hoping the representative was listening that I just don't know what we are going to do and that I could not believe we did not have seats set when we booked this flight. The gal behind the counter did not seem concerned. She got on the phone and was laughing with another person. I was getting a little perturbed at this time, although when she got off she said she just switched with another gal and we now had 3 seats together! We thanked her a lot for helping us. Oh, thank you Lord!
We headed to the far end of the terminal and the Guangzhou airport is large. I did not mind because we needed to use up time. We sat in a place where the terminal comes to a point and is all glass where Caleb could see our plane and other planes taking off. So we waited. Caleb did pretty well. Then we heard word from our flight crew that was sitting waiting to get on the plane with us that there was a delay. I am not sure what it was due to, but we finally got on about 25 minutes later (as if the 3 hours at the airport was not long enough!)
Then we were settled in for a 14 hour flight. Take off was fine and we were in the air for maybe a 20 minutes when the pilot got on welcomed us and said at that point it would be about a 15 hour flight. I guess weather and other things affect how long flights are and one cannot just say that it is always 14 hours from Hong Kong to Chicago. I was so hoping he would get on the intercom and say it would be a lot less! LOL!
It is amazing to think back now that 15 hours in the air is done! Caleb slept twice for maybe two hours at a time. He played some, looked out the window some, went to the bathroom some, watched some movies and before you know it we were landing. To be completely honest, these kind of details are blurry to me. All I know is that he did excellent for 15 hours.
Under normal circumstances we had about an hour an a half once we landed to get to our next plane. Having a half hour less to get our bags, get through customs and immigration was challenging. We ran most of the time. The plane was suppose to depart at 1:14pm to Chicago and when we got through the last security check point it was 1:06pm. We still had to run to the gate and run is what we did. I picked up Caleb, Tim had all the carry on bags and we ran. When we finally got there, Tim went straight to the counter and they said they had not started boarding yet. I cannot remember why that was, but it was something like a change in crew. I ran to the bathroom with Caleb (oh how it was nice to see all Americanized toilets, toilet paper, hand towels and soap!)
We finally boarded and when we got on and took off I knew I was in trouble. With all the scurrying I was not able to take Dramamine. My water was taken before we got on the plane and then I thought that it was too late to take it. The plane was a two seater on each side. It was the most turbulent flight I had ever been on and Tim said it was for him too. From Chicago to Minneapolis, I prayed that we would just land!
So then all of the sudden I looked out the window and out of the clouds I could see we were about to land. I felt the plane accelerate and we were back in the clouds. So close, yet so far! By this time, I was locating THE bag. Really, I found it just in case. Good thing Caleb was a little sleepy and not talking too much 'cause when Mama is that sick she just cannot talk. I don't know if any of you know what motion sickness is like, but I could not look around, talk, move, anything. It was so turbulent, though, that the moving part was not something I could control. We ended up back in the turbulancy for an hour more. We learned that we were too close to another plane or flight pattern (what that means, we do not know).We landed and I cannot tell you how glad I was to be HOME!
I could see my family waiting farther up ahead and I started crying. I was very happy to see them and thankful they were there even though the weather was not good here Friday evening. They had balloons and gifts and food! We soon learned that our three pieces of luggage did not arrive. Well, one did, another was in Chicago still and the other was in the air somewhere. They wanted us to wait until 6:30pm for one and 9 something for the other. Tim said no way and asked them to deliver them to us and they said they would. My Mom and Dad took us home. The car windows were icing up and the roads were getting worse the farther north we went. I prayed for all of our safe returns home. They got us unloaded and in the door and they headed home. We settled in a little. We let Caleb look around see the kitty (mao) and try and eat. I gave Caleb a bath and we were all in bed at 7pm. We received a call from United saying that our bags should be to our house around 9pm. I kept getting up and making sure I did not miss them. I could not let the luggage sit out all night when I had a bottle of Great Wall wine in one of them. They did not arrive at that time. At 1:13am we received a call that our luggage was at our front door. Tim went to greet the man who brought them and they said good night.
Shaanxi Time
