We were finally ready for our trip to Shanghai. Well, as ready as I was going to be. The house was not spic-n-span the way I would like it to be, but this has been an elusive fantasy of mine for years now. The kids pitched in and vacuumed and tidied up, though, so it is in better shape than it was, and it was much easier to use the vacuum with the puppy at the boarder's (instead of barking maniacally at the vacuum with every stroke). We made a stop at the mailbox to pay for dance lessons and basketball, the middle school to pick up assignments the teacher neglected to give our daughter, and almost stopped for gas since we were running low. Got through the Bay Bridge toll plaza and muddled through the City on our way to Park n Fly, the first leg of the Amazing Race, Woo Family Edition.
For our next task, we must feed a family of four at the SFO eateries that line the concourse. I went with my son to Andale ... which, ironically, took a really long time to prepare his burrito. I started eating my ginormous Chicken Caesar Wrap, under the watchful gaze of my hungry son. I gave him half, although he did not eat it all, because he was still looking forward to his burrito. Tick tock, tick tock. Fortunately, the burrito emerged from behind the counter, and my son's ability to eat his food really fast was put to good use. It is still strangely satisfying to watch him devour his food, even while I am wondering how it will ever digest in his tummy.
In spite of my stressing out about being late due to burrito-waiting, we make it to the gate with plenty of time before boarding. We find our aunt, uncle and cousin there, looking very leisurely, as if they had arrived three hours before the flight, as recommended by the airline. My husband and daughter were already there, having gotten their lunches to-go, and eating in the waiting area. Boarding is uneventful. We walk by the Business Class section wistfully, and settle into Economy. I believe its code is "Y," and flying this trip on United, I began to understand why this is. I had many "Y" moments during the trip. "Y" is there no individual screen to entertain me on this flight, even though ANA, JAL and KAL all have that in Economy class? "Y" does my seat not recline properly? "Y" is the flight attendant's rear end bumping me in the face, again? "Y" is the food so bad? I was not prepared to feel so "Y"-ney about everything, but this was the worst overseas flight I had been on. It actually made me wish there were size restrictions on flight attendants. I am not proud that I had this thought, but I did. I suppose it is a natural reaction to being woken up by a flight attendant's butt bumping into your row repeatedly, just as you were dozing off to dreamland. Sigh.
Many hours later, we landed safe and sound in Shanghai. I love you, United Airlines, for delivering us safely to our destination. In the end, safety trumps discomfort on a flight. After getting our luggage, we push our carts through the passageway of drivers and guides holding signs with travelers' names on them. We were told that the local guide would be holding a sign with my husband's name on it, so we scanned the crowd expectantly. Nothing. We went back and scanned again, this time looking at the signs written in Chinese, too. Still nothing. Aunt Chrissy had the local phone number of the tour company, but none of us had a phone that was equipped to make calls in China. My niece, Kelsey, who had arrived a few hours earlier from Chicago, went over to the young men stationed at the World Expo information table, and they let her make a phone call -- which did not make a difference, anyway, since nobody answered. Things were starting to look grim. Finally, a woman named Megi -- who had been holding a sign that read "Champion Tours," with nobody's name on it at all -- came up to Uncle Leo, the most "American"-looking of all of us, to see if he was looking for a guide. She had apparently noticed the rest of us pacing back and forth along the row of sign-holders, but didn't think to ask us if we were her group. At least things were not so grim anymore. We piled into a micro-bus and made it to our hotel about an hour away from the Shanghai city center.
Finally, we had arrived at our destination.
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