May 2014:
Let’s just say, I deserved and earned that first
class ticket to Beijing…”we flyin’ first class, up in the sky, poppin’
champagne, livin’ my life, in the fast lane, I won’t change, by the glamorous,
ooh, the flossy flossy…” I digress.
Anyways, my arrival into Beijing was less than
glamorous. After 48 hours of
travel, I was looking, well, how you would expect someone to look after
traveling for 48 hours straight.
Grant and my awesome FIL did an amazing job planning out my
itinerary. Pass riding is never easy,
especially the planning part of it…so I applaud them for making the impossible,
possible – truly.
With my Mom already out of town in Denver, my Dad dropped me
off at IAH before driving off to Dallas.
It was a tearful goodbye, but I quickly had to wipe away those tears, as
the plan had shifted in the last few minutes, and I needed to hustle to catch a
flight to Miami.
After begging them to check my 3 bags (when did they start
this bag embargo thing??), I made it to my gate, and had a relaxing first-class
flight to Miami – lovely!
I made a few phone calls in MIA, and received my ticket for
my flight to Chicago! Yay! So far, so good! From Chicago, I was guaranteed a flight
to Beijing. Smooth sailing from
here…so I thought...
…but then, something happened that no one could have
anticipated. There was a fire at the Chicago airport - in the control tower, of
all places. No flights in. No flights out.
***PANIC MODE***
After discussing my options with my FIL, it was back to
Houston for me. There was no other
way. It would have to be tomorrow.
At least that meant one more night with the bestie, as Angie
rescued me from the airport – she was sweet enough to put up with my teary-eyed
and anxious self, and we treated ourselves to J. Christopher’s takeaway and
some much-needed red wine. Pizza
and wine can fix anything, am I right?
My bags were lost in transit though, as you can imagine, and
it was back to the airport at midnight to pick them up…but, of course, they
weren’t there. I would have to
find my bags later. Priority was getting myself to Beijing.
***DING, ROUND 2***
After a couple of hours of sleep, I was on the first flight
out in the AM to LA. And
hallelujah, a first-class ticket from LA to Shanghai was mine! Whoop whoop!
The last hurdle was making it through customs in Shanghai,
checking in on my Air China flight, and making it back through security…with
just an hour layover. Luckily, I
whizzed through the entire process, and made it safely onto my first Air China
flight.
An hour delayed, we were finally in the air…and I was that
much closer to seeing G in Beijing!
I couldn’t help but burst into tears when I saw him…happy
tears, exhausted tears, and anxious tears.
Miraculously, my FIL had managed to sort my bags out, and
after 4 days with no luggage, we picked them up at the airport. Boy, was I happy
to finally have a change of clothes :)
We’re a little over one month in now, and I can definitely
look back and say that it was all worth it. Living in Beijing has been great so far, even with the
challenges and culture shocks we face on a daily basis.
Here’s to continuing our adventure even further across the
pond, and exploring another part of the world!
