2011 Nov 2 Day 3 - Beijing to Shanghai

We were up and moving before six this morning, I did not sleep well at.  We had to meet our driver at 8:30am to head to the airport.  So after getting ready and eating another big yummy breakfast, that is just what we did. Our driver dropped us off in front of the airport and off he went. We trudged to the airport entrance, each of us with our carry on bags and a rolling bag in each hand.   

We did not have tickets upon arrival so we went to the airline's ticketing counter only to find out this was to purchase or change flights so we went on to the luggage check area. We got there, waited in line only to find out that our 11:30am flight was delayed and that we should get on the 11am flight instead and were told to go back to the ticketing area so they could make that change for us.  So we trudged back to the ticketing counter where the very nice gal that helped answer questions quickly helped us out.  She took all 3 of our passports and bypassed the lines that had formed and got the ticket change done for us. Awesome, on less line we had to wait in and a good thing - you just wait this story gets even better.

With basically a note that says we were changed to the 11am flight we headed back to the baggage check lines.  Once it was our turn, I hand the lady our passports and begin to load our luggage onto the conveyor belt.  We complete that process, she hands us the tickets (which I don't even think to check) and our passports and off we go to go through the long security lines.  By this time it is about 10am and our boarding begins in 30min, doesn't appear to be a problem we should make it.  Me and my aunt Sharon get passed through the passport & ticket check, ready to put our items through the scanner when I am called back because there is question about my mother's ticket.  Thank God these agents speak English! They ask who my travel companion is and show me her passport and tick - oh my, for some reason, I have no idea how but my husband's name is on the ticket, not my mom's.  Therefore, we have to head back to the luggage check counter again to find out what to do.  My aunt Sharon goes on to the boarding terminal, on way or another we'll meet up with her.

Mom and I rush back to the baggage check counter (it is 10:15am, boarding begins in 15 minutes) to a line with about 5 people in front of us.  Thankfully it went pretty quick, I get to the counter and hand them my mom's passport with the ticket and tell them I have no idea how but my husband's name is on the ticket.  Amazingly they did not question me nor did we have to go back to the ticketing counter, they made the change and printed a new ticket with my mom's name on it. Whew.  Only now it is 10:20 and we have to wait in the long security line again. It took 10 minutes to get to the scanning center and we quickly walked to the terminal where they were in the process of boarding the plane - WHEW!!!!  Thankfully it was a big plane and many passengers that needed to board. 

We arrived in Shanghai, and then had a bump in connecting with our guide, Emma but we found her & she us. Since we did not find out about our flight change till we got to the airport in Beijing and ran around so much, we didn't get a chance to contact her to tell her about our flight change; therefore, she had thought our flight had been delayed and thought she was going to have to hang out at the airport for a while to wait for us to get in and had gone to find somewhere to sit and occupy herself till then.  Our awesome travel agent had emailed us Emma's phone number the day before so I was able to have the information desk call her and she met us a few minutes later.  Then our delima was that our driver had not yet left his home, thinking our flight was delayed, so Emma had to get approval from her company to take a taxi instead and that is just what we did.

Shanghai traffic is comparable to Chicago's traffic.  We sat in a slow moving jam for about 30 minutes so I took pictures.  Once the bottleneck cleared up we were cruising. We arrived at the Courtyard Marriott Pu Xi just before 4pm, waited a few minutes for our rooms to be cleaned and took our stuff upstairs.  We then had to head out into the light rain to walk to a nearby bank to convert cash into Yuan for the adoption.  Unfortunately, they would only let each of us convert a small amount, which was not enough so we will have to hit up a bank before meeting Tegan in the morning.  I'm sure it will all work out.

The good Lord is obviously not done testing me in this journey. None of it matters now because in 5 hours I will meet Tegan and all these mountains will not seem important.  I can hardly wait!!!!  Mama's coming Tegan! PTL