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Saturday, February 15, 2014
WE'RE HERE!
About 28 ½ hours after leaving our front door at home, we
touched down in Guangzhou, China. When you think about it, it is
pretty amazing that you can fly half way around the world in
such a small amount of time. However, when you are on your third
flight and numb with travel weariness, it doesn’t seem very
amazing at all. Instead, it seems staggering and exhausting!
Our day of travel was safe and uneventful though except for a
“God wink” moment at the Shanghai airport. Arriving with two
hours to spare before our third flight took off, it seemed we
might have plenty of time to get from point A to point B. In
reality, it wasn’t so. We had gotten the advice from a person at
the San Francisco airport that we would only have to transfer
planes at Shanghai and not go through customs, get our luggage,
and recheck in. Upon arriving at the next airport, we found out
that wasn’t true, and we would have to hustle through all the
steps plus arrive at our boarding gate early. Anyone who has
done that in a foreign airport knows 2 hours to flight time
isn’t really very long at all.
The three of us, Deidra, Sophia, and I, barely had enough time
to do all the steps in between disembarking and re-checking in
at the ticket counter. Arriving sweaty and out of breath at the
ticket counter, one very helpful lady suddenly found out that I
was mistakenly booked on another flight out of there to arrive
in Guangzhou. Deidra and Sophia were the only ones booked on
that flight.
For a few tense moments, we were not at all sure we would be
going on that flight. There was no way they both would leave
without me and no way would I leave without them. That kind lady
never wavered in trying to help us, even though the man at the
counter with her didn’t seem too eager to be of assistance at
first. In the end, she booked me on the same flight as Sophia
and Deidra, with seats together, for the same price my other
flight had been booked. We ran to our boarding gate with a few
minutes to spare. When we made our way to our seats on the
plane, we just had to smile. With thankful hearts, we realized
that the glory belonged to God. He had had our backs all along.
We had made our flight all together, and we were in the very
back row of a completely full plane with seats all together. |
Waiting to board our plane for our great "Gracie" adventure
A bumpy cloud in the distance out the window of our plane
Nearing arrival to Shanghai.
Two flights done. One to go!
Window looking into the bathroom.
Thank goodness it has a window shade!
How do we work this elevator?
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We arrived at the China Hotel, and we
love it! The beds are so comfy, and the breakfast buffet is
tasty and ample. I wondered how we would find it after having
stayed at the lovely White Swan three times before, and I am
happy to say that it is great! We think our guide John is
wonderful, too! He may wonder about us, though. We were all so
tired upon arriving last night and were not thinking clearly at
all. When John said “Good night” to us at the elevators, we
quickly got on to go up to our rooms only to remember we
couldn’t remember our room numbers. I called out to John, and he
kindly told us the numbers. Then the elevator doors closed.
There we stood. . . trying to understand why floor 17 wouldn’t
light up when we pushed the button. Then we tried to find the
lobby button. Couldn’t get that one to light up either. The
elevator didn’t move. The doors didn’t open. We didn’t know what
to do. We had no phone, no way to get off the elevator, no
nothing. Finally, Deidra thought to swipe our card at the key
pad. It worked! We didn’t have to spend the night in the
elevator after all! Funny way to end our evening. |
