China: Day 6 – Return to Shanghai

Saturday, June 11, 2011

It was nice to be able to sleep a little later this morning, but the phone rang before 8am.  Bailey had been sleeping in our room because the rooms were only available with single beds.  It seems the hotels come with either king beds or single beds… not double or queen.  I found that odd to say the least, but oh well.  Anyway, the Kemps were headed down to breakfast and Bailey would not be able to get into their room to get ready.  So up she hopped to go get ready.  And once awake… well, we were up.  So much for sleeping in.

We were down for breakfast in a jiffy.  Only the Kemp men were there having breakfast.  Slowly but surely the rest of the clan wandered in.  Everyone filled up again on the free breakfast before going back to the room to finish packing. 

We checked out at 10:45 and on the bus by 11:00am.  This is so amazing… every day we have managed to get 11 people where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be there.  That is nothing short of a miracle!!!

No pictures today… nobody even thought about it.  We got to the airport, checked in, through security and decided to have a bite to eat at the Asijen Noodles in the airport.  I was so bummed that they have taken my most favorite thing off the menu.  This was terrible news!!!  But we survived and the kids had KFC.

Got to the gate… the plane would be late… not a good sign.  At this point it was about an hour delay.  There was no place to sit in this tiny downstairs waiting area and our flight was a Beijing to Shanghai and then on to Paris… a 777.  Those planes hold a lot of passengers… it was wall to wall crowded.

Very long story… the storms started to roll in and our flight is now delayed indefinitely.  NOOOOOO… not with 5 kids!!  Then I found a lady that spoke English and Chinese.  She told us about the weather situation and said she would keep me informed.  She said we should go up to the much larger waiting area on the floor above… then as we were gathering up… she said wait… they are going to load the plane.  We are there, in line, the gate attendant takes our ticket and we board the bus.  HotDog… we are going home!  The bus fills up and we are off to the plane… no… wait… we are circling the building… NOOOOO… we are at the starting point again.  Everyone is getting off… we are holding tight… it could be a mistake…right?

NOT!!!  We get off… reluctantly!  The weather had grounded things indefinitely.  Those were not the words I wanted to hear.  So we schlep upstairs to the waiting area there.  Michael is pacing.   Marcy, Jenn, Bailey and I are just sitting there and the guys took the kids to a little play area one floor up.  Trying to see if they could burn off a little of that energy.  It is now about 4 something. 

After a half hour or so… everyone is back in the waiting area.  There have been several announcements that no new information is available.  Then, in Chinese, we hear something that sounds like us… words like Shanghai and Pudong International Airport.  Others that we had seen earlier were getting up and heading back down to the original waiting area.  So we did the same.

Much to our delight… our flight is going to board… YEA!!!!  We are not the first ones on this time, but that’s ok… we have a seat waiting for us.  We are going home.

Arrival in Shanghai would bring two more obstacles to overcome before we could get home.  We collected our bags and headed to the Maglev boarding area.  We started through the turn style and our round trip tickets were not working… none of them.  What now???  We had to wait while the attendant got them squared away, which seemed to take forever.  We made it to the escalator to go to the platform just as that attendant is closing the entrance.  We have missed the train and would need to wait for the next.

We finally arrived at the Maglev station in Longyang Lu.  It is pouring rain… buckets of rain.  We decided, given the day we’ve had, we would just catch a cab for each family and not mess with the subway and the rain to get to the apartment.  We are too tired to go much farther.

I put the Kemp’s in a cab and instructed the driver as to where to go.  Now the Tanner’s… we load the bags in the trunk and they load up… I tell the driver where to take them… AND we got one of THOSE drivers!!!  He refused to take them.  We had to unload the bags and unload the Tanners… and the driver sped off.  What is it with some of these drivers???  I just don’t understand it.

So the next cab pulled up and before we did anything, I told the driver where to take them and he was ok with it.  We got them loaded back up and they were off too.  It is our turn now… we are loaded and on our way too. 

We took a bit of a scenic route, but finally arrived at the apartment.  The others were already there and each had paid a different amount for the ride from the same starting and ending point… just goes to show how some of the drivers are.  Only one cab ride had actually cost the closest to what it should have cost.  It is a 12 RMB ride, but none of us paid only 12.  But we are home and that is the only thing that matters right now.

Home Sweet Home… need I say more?