Bman sleeping under the chairs at LAX
Where to start...hmm. We left home around 2:00pm on Saturday. We so appreciate all of the phone calls and well wishes. And we are very grateful to those of you who are “holding down the fort” while we are away. Our first flight went off without a hitch. We arrived in California smack on time. We stepped out of the tunnel and B-man spotted Ali right away. (Ali is my niece. She is going to be traveling with us to help with the kids. We were so glad to see her!) I have never seen anything quite like LAX. We got off the plane and had no idea where to go. There were no maps and no one seemed to know which terminal China Southern flew out of. We finally found a nice gentlemen who gave us instructions that seemed to be legit. We met a really nice couple from South Africa on our flight from home. They were also looking for the Tom Bradley International Airport Terminal. So, we set off to find it together. The moment we set foot in the building, it seemed like we were not even in America anymore. So many people! And very few of them speaking English. With just a little difficulty, we were able to find the counter for China Southern Airlines, but they would not be opening for service until 7:30pm. So, the wait began. We played some games and goofed around in the food court for about an hour and a half. Then we walked back to the counter and got checked in. Then we needed to wait some more. They would not be boarding our flight until 10:45pm. We went back to the food court and ordered some dinner. Probably around 8:30 we passed through security and walked to our gate. We sat there for a long time! I was able to meet several other adoptive families while we were sitting there. And I finally met “Julie from Tennessee”. She is in our travel group and we have been corresponding for months.
Around 10:30 everyone started standing up and getting in line. It was kind of funny. I don't know who started it, but everyone started migrating towards the gate. The lady had to come on the intercom and tell everyone that our flight had not been called and to “please return to your seats”! A while later she announced that our flight would be delayed for FIVE HOURS! (five hours?? you have got to be kidding me!) But, that was not all. We were delayed because of a volcanic eruption in Russia. (???) You could feel a collective gasp as everyone let that sink in. Time to get comfortable, it was going to be a long night! We did the best we could. Everyone took off their shoes and tried to get some sleep. It was near impossible for the adults, but the kids managed a little better. S-lady curled up with her head on one arm rest and her legs bent over the other. B-man abandoned the seats and opted to stretch out on the floor under the seats. The rest of us sat there with our heads bobbing up and down for what was truly hours! S decided to go and talk to the lady at the counter about our connecting flight in Beijing (the one we would obviously NOT be on). She was able to reschedule us on the last flight of the day. It departs at 1:00 pm and arrives in Beijing around 4:00pm. She couldn't guarantee that we would make it. We have to go through customs and recheck our baggage and get to the new gate all in about an hour and a half. All of which, is contingent on our flight actually leaving LAX in the five hours that they were predicting. It was the best she could do. I guess it's worth the try. Please pray that we make this flight. Otherwise, we might not be able to see Beijing at all. That would be a huge diappointment. Now there is only one more problem. The guide that is supposed to meet us in Beijing, has no idea that we will not be on the earlier flight. So, potentially there could be no one to meet us when we get off the plane. We emailed Adam (with some very early morning help from Aunt Loree) and hopefully he will get the message and contact our guide in Beijing. I guess we will cross that bridge when we come to it. We waited and waited and waited. We were exhausted at this point. I wasn't sure I could take much more, when I started to sense a “movement” in the crowd again. A girl sitting next to us said they had announced (in Chinese) they would be boarding in twenty minutes. Thank Goodness! So, at 5:00 in the morning after a twelve hour layover, we finally got to board our plane.
This is when things started to get better. We ended up purchasing premium economy seats (it's a long story...I'll tell you later) and boy were we glad! The thought of having to be human pretzels in the back of the plane, was more than I could bear. We walked onto the plane and magic started to happen. On our seats were several gifts—a pair of slippers, a blanket, a pillow, and a personal care bag containing toothbrushes, combs, etc). It was like Christmas day! I was getting such a kick out of watching the kids open each of their packages. The buttons and gadgets on the seats entertained them for a long time. Within minutes of boarding we had drinks and warm wash clothes and snacks. The seats recline and have plenty of room. There is a TV monitor that tracks our flight (very cool!) We have been sleeping off and on throughout the flight. We flew along the western coastline of the US up to Alaska and across the Bering sea. We crossed the international date line. Now we will begin to make our way south along the eastern coastline of Russia. We have been flying for about seven and a half hours. I'd say we are almost exactly half way. Stay tuned for the continuing story....
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