Safe in Shanghai!

We are here, safe and sound in Shanghai!

We left early Tuesday morning (Canadian time). We had a limo-type vehicle pick us up to take us to the airport. We hired the company specifically because they advertised that they would provide a car seat for us. Note to self – make sure to ask the driver if the car seat is legal and if it was manufactured within the last 15 years. The car seat was so horribly installed and broken that I had to hold Maelyn on my lap. The car also smelled horribly of cigarette smoke – it was as though we were preparing for driving around in China!


Heading for the airport!

 

The ‘car seat’ that was provided…

 We arrived at the airport a little early, which meant we got through all line-ups and security with ease.





Entertaining Maelyn at the airport – she loved this ‘bubble’ machine!

Maelyn was so excited to board the plane and get to ‘her China,’ so that she could go get her sister, Ailee. She was wired and was bouncing off the walls for the first few hours of the flight. Maelyn behaved very well on the flight – during the entire trip, actually.

Maelyn and I walked up and down the aisles throughout the flight. She would smile at everyone and they would chat with her. My mom also took turns walking with Maelyn and holding Maelyn on her lap. She was such a big help! Maelyn eventually settled down, but she only ended up sleeping for about four hours.

On the personal televisions you can see a map of your flight and your distance to landing at your destination. Maelyn loved watching our progress and at one point, as the plane got closer to China, she yelled out, very loudly, ‘We are almost at China! Yay, China!!’

Landing was a little worse than I had remembered – it really hurt my ears. That could be because I have caught Maelyn’s cold/infection and I am a bit of a congested mess. Maelyn was asleep as we landed, but she woke up and was in a wonderful mood. How come she can’t wake up after only four hours of sleep at home and be in such a good mood??  We found our Shanghai guide and we got into the van, to head to the hotel.

What should have been a 45 minute drive turned into a 2 hour drive – and after such a long day and flight, it was slightly torturous. There was one point where we didn’t move an inch for over 20 minutes. Maelyn was unsure of what was going on and wasn’t impressed when I told her that we would be going to the hotel. She was very mad that we weren’t going to get Ailee right away!

We eventually settled into our hotel rooms and we all crashed right away. Maelyn fell asleep within minutes. But – it is now just after 1 am and we have already been up for an hour. We slept a total of four more hours, but hopefully our systems will get on track today.

In a few hours we will head for breakfast and then it is off to the train station and then to Shangrao. I have been anticipating this portion of the trip for over two years – since the day Maelyn came into our lives. It is so important to us to be able to visit her orphanage and foster home and hopefully gather as much information about her first two years as we possibly can.

I am not sure how reliable the internet connection will be in Shangrao, so if you don’t hear from us, we will touch base once we are in Guangzhou.