We have made it to China! It is 4:15 on Sunday afternoon here so we have almost completed our first day here. I want to record how our trip was so we can remember it so I apologize if this is long.
We left Jackson at 1;10 on Friday afternoon. My mom brought Jenny, Shane and I to the airport. Will had a performance of Shrek at 9:00 and wouldnt be done before we had to leave for the airport. My good friend Laura picked him for me and brought him to the airport so we could see him before we left.
Leaving him at the airport was one of the hardest things to do! I wanted him to be with us, but I know that this is what is best and I praying for God's best for him this week.
We headed for our gate and sat down. About that time my brother texted me letting me know there had been a shooting at the Los Angeles airport. We were flying to Atlanta and then LA. We decided to just stay calm and hope for the best. We had a long layover in both places and prayed for things to work out. Our flight to Atlanta was uneventful and we landed on time. We immediately went to the gate of our next flight and they assured us it was still on but was delayed by about 45 minutes. No problem wwe had a 4 hour layover in LA. We found some good food and relaxed for awhile. We boarded the flight to LA and took off about 45 minuted late. Our plan was to find the gate for our China Southern flight and then get some good filling food. Jenny especially needed to eat since she likely wouldn't be able to eat on the plane.
We landed in Lax and the pilot came on to let us know that because of the "incident" earlier in the day traffic was backed up and they were being told it was a 2 hour wait to get to the gate. He then came on said that he was hopeful it would only be 30 minutes. Forty five minutes later he came back on sad there had been an accident on the tarmac in the lane we had to be in and the 2 hour wait was more likely. It turned out to be more like an hour and half, leaving us right at an hour to make our connection, which we thought was planty of time. We finally got off the plane and went searching for what gate we were supposed to go to. We finally got directions to the international terminal. it was about 1/4 mile away. We took off. Once inside the terminal we discovered we had to get new boarding passes and go through security again. The line for security was very long. We finally made through with 20 minutes to spare before the flight took off. Poor Jenny was running through the airport with no shoes on. We got to the gate and they were already boarding so we jumped on. Whew!! No food but we made it!!
Fifteen hours is a long time on a plane. We slept, watched movies, munched on a few snacks and slept a little more. We landed in Guangzhou about an hour late this morning at 6:30. Our guide, Aron was to meet us outside of baggage claim. It took awhile for the bags to start coming and when they finished coming we were still standing there, bagless. No luggage for us. We went through the process and they feel like it was late leaving LA. We hope to have it tomorrow. I'm trying not to dwell on it too much. The main reason we are here is to get Sarah. However, all her clothes, her blanket, her toys are in those bags. The gifts I spent months collecting and need tomorrow fternoon are in the bags. I'm thankful that at the last minute I grabbed a second carry on and put a change of clothes for us and her gotcha day back pack. I'm thankful thatall our paperwork required for tomorrow was with me and not in the bags. The most important things are with us.
Our poor guide had been waiting an hour and half by the time we got to her. She is so sweet and helpful.She got us settled in the hotel and went over our paperwork with us. The hotel is great!
This is the lobby! There is a garden area in the back with a waterfall and pond full of Koi fish.
After she left we got a little settled and went to find some food. We ended up Mcdonalds of all places! But it was so good!We also went to the 7-11. We founf these tasty treats there.
That's chicken feet. Hanging up in the 7-11 like t was gummy bears.
We then came back and took much needed showers. We faced time with Will and then headed back out for a little shopping. We ended up at McDonalds for lunch again. We delclared that the last Mcdaonalds for awhile. We are still trying to get a stomachs back on schedule and kept finding ourselves very hungary. McDonalds was easy. Tomorrow we branch out a little. We also founf the Trustmart. Basically the Walmart. We got some socks and underwear to last us until the bags get to us. We got some snacks and a toy for Sarah.
We are back in the room. We are having noodle bowls for supper and trying to make it until 7:00 before we crash.
We meet our guide at 2:00 tomorrow afternoon to head to the civil affairs office. Sarah will meet us there. Please pray for her. Her world is turning upside down. She has a long drive tomorrow and I worry she wil be car sick and afraid.
It has been a good first day. the luggage will arrive and it has made me rememeber that the things we sometime make important aren't that important.
Tommorow is the day!
No comments:
Post a Comment