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We're Home
Sunday,
December 20, 2009
OUR TRAVEL EXPERIENCE FROM HECK
Here is a short update to let everyone know that LAST NIGHT
after 38 HOURS of travel… we FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY made it
HOME.
Our travel experience included….
Getting up at 5am after 3.5 hours of sleep, eating breakfast,
checking out of the hotel and a 3 hour wait at the Guangzhou
airport.
Arrival at Beijing airport to find out our flight to Newark was
1 hr 40 minutes delayed…. which turned into a 4 HOUR delay.
TOTAL TIME SPENT AT BEIJING AIRPORT: 8 HOURS. Did you know that
Beijing airport has SO MANY windows that there is absolutely NO
REASON to try to heat the place?? It was freezing the entire
time.
We get on the plane and sit for another HOUR before we take off.
Several hours into our flight a woman gets out of her seat and
faints at my feet. She is complaining of shortness of breath,
dizziness and nausea. Note for everyone… DO NOT take Ambien and
then drink alcohol to help you get to sleep faster. It took 1
hour to just get her out of the aisle. We had 2 nurses and 1
doctor on our flight and each one of them had their butt in my
face for a period of while trying to tend to this woman.
About 1 hour before the plane lands the ceiling starts dripping.
Scary considering the cause of our 4 hour flight delay was to
replace a compressor. THE TALLEST CHINESE MAN I HAVE EVER SEEN
gets up with a tissue to dab the drips. A woman must move seats
to avoid being hit by the drops.
Every person that had a flight connection to make MISSED their
connection. EVERYONE. And we had a full flight!!!
1 hour at immigration in the slowest moving line with a woman
who called 3 people and asked “What is an IH-3 Visa? Some kid is
trying to enter the US with one?” This is after I supplied her
the Hague paperwork from the US Consulate in Guangzhou. She is
tossing our "brown enveople" around like it is a soccer ball.
She transferred us to “someone downstairs” because she didn’t
know how to process the Visa. When we arrived downstairs, the
immigration officer looks at me, looks at the brown envelope and
says “Why did she send you down here???” We just stare at him.
He shakes his head and says "Go collect your baggage". On we go.
We get our bags and zoom through Customs to stop short right
outside the exit door. We wait in a 3 hour line to get our
overhight hotel passes and flight information for the next day.
They force us to recheck our baggage. NOTE: We have no
toiletries and only changes of underwear. My super heavy winter
coat was packed into a small bag that we had checked so I would
have less to carry. BIG MISTAKE.
Surprise: A snowstorm is hitting the east coast.
We check in to our super duper $65/night Holiday Inn at 12:30AM.
Our room was right next to the elevators. Evidently the elevator
mechanical system was in our wall. It sounded like a roaring
dragon every time someone used the elevator. Did you know LOTS
of people use the elevator in the middle of the night?
We get up super early and check out of the hotel to get the
shuttle to the airport. The shuttle runs 24 hours a day but on
no set schedule. More fun and games. Did you know that when a
shuttle pulls up that men and woman will push you and your
strollers OUT OF THE WAY to reach the shuttle before you? Never
mind that the babies are freezing.
We are finally in a good mood as we soar through security with
some very pleasant airport workers.
And our mood stops short when we walk past the departures TV and
see the word CANCELED next to our flight.
30 minute wait to find out there are NO FLIGHTS going toward
home and they don’t know when there will be. 10 more minutes to
have the Contennital folks fill out a reclaim baggage order so
we can get our bags back.
Brandon books our AmTrak tickets.
After 1 hour of waiting for our luggage, a nice man comes out
and tells us that it takes a minimum of 2.5 hours to get luggage
back. We are told that we can just leave and go to the AmTrak
station and our bags will fly home when flights start moving
again. We realize we are short on options. We wait 15 more
minutes and then leave for the AmTrak station.
After waiting for over an hour for the train to arrive, our
hearts drop when we see that the train is now delayed.
Thankfully only by 10 minutes.
Did you know that people have no issues sitting down and
throwing their bags on the seat next to them? After racing
through 5 train cars with 2 kids, 2 backpacks and 2 strollers
NOT ONE PERSON would move their crap off of their seats so we
could sit near the kids. I collapsed in TEARS while talking to a
conductor. He sends us to another car 3 forward to speak to a
different conductor. As I approach this new conductor she is
clicking through people’s tickets like on Polar Express. She is
not happy to see us or see my emotional state. The train in now
moving and we do not have seats. NOW GOD. The conductor looks
down and sees that the people sitting there have Business Class
tickets and they should be in a different car. Their seats are
the 2 seats facing eachtoher with a table. They get up to move
to business class and the conductor gives us those seats.
The train is freezing. Turns out that 4 stops before Newark the
conductor had turned off the heat to that car. We are sitting
across from a minister and his wife. He is all business and
drags a conductor down to our car to turn the heat on. Around
Trenton, NJ it starts snowing like a blizzard. It is actually
snowing in the vestibules between the train cars! Can you tell
this is my first time on AmTrak???
1 stop later the train stops and we are told that the train “has
run over something” and the conductors "must go out on the
tracks to check it out". Katelyn and I look at eachother and
just about have mental breakdowns. 20 minutes later we are
underway again. We must wait for more "mechanical checks" at the
next station to "double check" the safety of the train. We start
moving again and the train finally heats up as we pass
Baltimore. We make it to Union Station…with every other person
from Newark airport who had canceled connections. We all flood
into the metro system to learn that the subway is only running
every 30 minutes due to the snow storm.
29 minutes later the subway comes.
We squish onto the car and I start to have a fainting spell. I
am hanging over a stroller and I feel as though I must leave
immediately. Katelyn yanks me back because all SHE CAN THINK OF
is waiting another 30 minutes for a train. Someone graciously
gives me her seat… because she thinks I may vomit on her. We
switch subway lines and finally make it to our stop at 4:30pm
Saturday night. It is blizzard conditions and the escalators are
not working. Did I mention we had kids in strollers? So back
through the station to find the elevator that will lead me to my
husband and a warm car. I am still wearing the same clothes as
the previous day. I haven’t brushed my teeth in 2 days. The kids
haven’t had baths and are wearing the same clothes and as we
approach street level the bitter cold reminds me that I am still
wearing a thin fleece jacket.
We are finally in Virginia. 1 hour later we pull up at home. 38
HOURS of travel.
THIS WHOLE TRIP TO CHINA CHEWED US UP AND SPIT US OUT.
Did I mention that Ava has 17 tantrums on Friday and 35.. YES….
35 (thirty-five, THIRTY-FIVE) tantrums on Saturday? Yes, I
counted. Each.and.every.one.of.them. Besides worrying about
travel logistics, safety, our health, etc…. my life consisted of
counting the minutes between her meltdowns. And these weren’t
little whiny sad eyes episodes. But screaming at the top of her
lungs so everyone looks at us for minutes and minutes upon end
tantrums. Yep. I’m burnt out.
Our luggage is somewhere in Newark. It contains ALL OF OUR
CLOTHES. Seriously. 4 bags worth. And our toiletries. They know
where our bags are but don’t know when we will get them.
Saturday? Sunday?
Pictures of the kids…. I know I owe you all some. Where is my
camera? I don’t know. Which is odd since… well…. I only had 2
bags to unpack when we got home. Just our 2 backpacks.
However I have got to run and wash all the new underwear and
socks I bought from Target today. Since it is obvious it is
going to be about 1 week before we get our luggage. I've already
washed my only other pair of pants.
A short time ago Katelyn came up to me and said “Mom, thanks for
taking me to China. I had a good time.” My response…”What is
wrong with you? Were you on the same trip as I was? Or have you
just been taking Ambien and drinking alcohol?”
Heck, I don’t drink but I could sure use one right now. |
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