Planes, Trains & Automobiles

Ni Hao (Hello) from China!

After getting in a car @ 5:30 am we headed off to the airport; where Valerie set off the security monitor for what would be the first of three security stops for the day.

Then is was on a plane headed for San Francisco, we had upgraded to Economy Premium Access which gave us a whopping five extra inches of leg room - that is the equivalent of less then the length of a dollar bill, but we took what we could get and it was bearable for the 3 1/2 hours.

Then we headed off to go through the security check point again....I knew I had a magnetic personality, but give me a break, I was setting off more lights and whistles then a slot machine in Vegas. Then we got on our flight for Beijing, we were actually able to upgrade to Business Class for this leg of the flight....OMG...what a difference. Reclining seats, china and glass, Evian water being continually filled throughout the flight, 15 channels of movies and shows to choose from. It made the long flight more than bearable for me, and joy of joys the bathroom was literally within spitting distance from my seat.

I had to get up and stretch my legs several times, and I took a gander at 1st class where everyone looked like Pod People in some sort of capsule contraption....then I went into the belly of the beast and saw Coach.....good grief.....I don't know how people stood it back there, they were crammed in like cattle going to market and I felt guilty for having it so good in our nice seats. I don't understand why everyone can't travel in comfort and with dignity....if you are planning on this type of trip.....do whatever you can to upgrade people.

After traveling in some form or another for over a day we landed in Beijing where we had 2 hours to get deplane, go through customs, get our luggage and get to another terminal and catch our last flight to Changsha.

Well all that glorious peace that accumulated on the flight over quickly dissolved into the hustle and bustle of being a stranger in a strange land. We got through customs quickly enough and then followed the masses to a train which was supposed to take us to the baggage terminal which was nowhere near where we had gotten off the plane.

We followed signs forever saying baggage claim and domestic transfers when it suddenly dead ended at a subway train, which only said Terminal 3 - we didn't know from Terminal 3 but being the good lemmings that we are we all squeezed into this stand only train. We had our carry on items which was already heavy and too much to handle (tip #1 PACK LIGHT), then we had to stand excessively close to all these people. It is the first time I have been in situation where I was the minority group represented. Very strange to feel so awkward and looked at.

We got our luggage and then needed to get to another terminal which we did not know which one as it wasn't on our tickets, this is where it started to fall apart. Nobody speaks English; or if they do they say a little bit and that is exactly what they mean, they can say "A Little Bit" and nothing else.

I think it is a courtesy thing, they want to be helpful and rather than say I don't know, they would rather tell you something to make themselves feel better. Well about 6 people made themselves feel better by sending us all over the airport. We went up the elevator, we went down the elevator, we went outside, then we went inside, we went over a bridge, then back again.....all the while tugging along way too much damn luggage (TIP: PACK LIGHT).
Finally someone told us we needed to get a shuttle bus to the domestic terminal which was no another walk and a half to get to.

The bus waits until it is literally overflowing with people and luggage before it will take off....I was looking very anxiously at the clock as we had already been on the ground for an hour and only had an hour before our last flight took off.

This guy drove us to what felt like a completely different airport....it took about 15 minutes to get to the domestic terminal. Then we had to get in another line to check our luggage....I was sweating...the girl was on the phone while she checked us in and wasn't paying close attention.

We then ran over to the security check point and waited in line again....we had about 20 minutes before our flight left and were really panicking. The security guy took my passport and boarding pass and kept looking at it funny, and asking for my ticket. I said that is my ticket...he said "no, not this, ticket ticket" I reiterated, that is my ticket, I just got if from over there...pointing at a mass of humanity behind me. Then he called over someone else who said the same thing all over again....ticket, ticket. WTF; I pulled out every scrap of paper I had on me and they wanted the little receipt that is torn off and handed back to you which no body ever asks for. But apparently some critical information was missing from it (Gate and flight time) which was coincidentally already listed on the BOARDING PASS. They told us to leave the security line and go back "straight and left" ....what the hell is Straight and Left, those directions lead to a new stand, some chairs, possibly a garbage can and the ticket counters we had just left which gave us the bogus tickets.

I was watching the minutes tick by, when we saw a kiosk that said "Manager On Duty" well I am quite familiar with going to management to settle my complaints. This guy looked at the little stub, wrote on the gate and time (which was on the boarding pass) and stamped it with red ink - that was it??? They wanted the gate and time???? At this point we ran back to the security check point....where there were even more people - at this point it became apparent to me we could not wait in line again. We went to the front and showed the girl our flight time, and asked her to rush us through; which she did.

Well apparently when you see a couple of Americans scampering all over the airport and cutting line, and yelling at each other....it causes interest in you. I set off the third security alarm (Tip. don't where any shirts with metal embellishments on them).

The girl spent more time waving the wand over me then a tailor making a suit. Then I was off - until they called me over to search my bags...which they emptied completely. I had already cleared DFW. SF, and now China was giving me trouble about getting on a domestic flight. They went through everything and then motioned me off to a more extensive search area....where this girl went through literally everything in my quart bags and medical bags. I went out of my way to bring brand new unopened items to keep this simple. She looked at my bottles of insulin and said liquid....no bring. I told her it was medicine....she asked me to open a bottle, which you aren't supposed to do until ready to use....but whatever, she broke the seal, and then tried to smell the bottle which is a rubber covered top which is in place and the insulin can only be removed via a syringe. She took out a box cutter and motioned she was going to slice the rubber open.

Let me tell you, this ticked me off. I need this stuff to live, I only have so much of it and how could she not know what insulin is? I yelled NO WAY, and put m hands up to move the blade away from the bottle, she leisurely put it down and then proceeded to open up brand new bottle of vitamins and the told me m 2 oz bottle of hand sanitizer was flammable. I said no it isn't, she then put some on a blade and lit it with a lighter, I saw nothing happen and told her to just keep it.

At this point is was 5:00 and I knew we had missed our flight. We were re-packing our crap and lamenting how the heck to get another flight...when Gary noticed on a board that our flight was delayed by an hour. Thank God for that.

We then got on another 2 1/2 hour flight and landed in Changsha around 8:30. We went to bed around midnight here, all on about 3 hours total sleep for a two day period.

The beds are right out of the Flintstones, one of our travel mates said she slept like a rock and I said "Well I slept on one."

We are just tyring to get settled in, till the big day tomorrow. I'm sorry for the long post, but I just needed to vent.

We are off to battle the A/C, lack of toilet paper and other things that spoiled Americans expect and take for granted.

Our Gotcha Day appointment is 10:00 am I think.

Please pray it goes well for everyone.

Love Valerie