Angela was a great little travel buddy and the trip here was so much easier than I anticipated. Security in Raleigh was a breeze, they have a special family lane and offered assistance with getting the stroller and car seat through the x-ray machine. We were able to board our first flight early and the flight attendant was incredibly helpful with getting the car seat and all of our belongings situated. I nursed Angela during take off and landing and the flight didn't seem to bother her one bit. We had a few hours to kill in Chicago so we found a nice quiet spot, set up a blanket on the floor, and played for a bit. It was an easy boarding process in Chicago and once again the flight attendants offered a lot of help with the baby. The flight from Chicago to Shanghai is a little over 14 hours. Angela was awake for about the first 8 hours (napped off and on for a little bit) and then slept pretty well for the end of the flight. There were not many passengers on the plane which made it easy to walk up and down the aisles to keep Ang from fussing too much. The flight attendants were more than happy to hold her anytime I had to use the restroom.
Ang was sound asleep when we landed in Shanghai and didn't wake up for the health check, immigration, baggage claim or customs. Two things impressed me when we arrived in Shanghai:
1. Express Lane! One of the immigration workers saw me with the stroller and motioned for me to follow her. Rather than wait in the long line that was forming, she opened a special gate that sent me directly to the next open agent. Normally I don't like to take advantage of special services like this just because I have a baby, but I was pretty happy that I could expedite getting through immigration (because I knew once Ang woke up she was not going to be happy sitting in the car seat any longer).
2. After loading up a cart with our four checked bags (we don't pack lightly) I had to push the cart and stroller through customs and out to the greeting hall. One of the customs agents saw me and pushed the stroller for me!! I didn't expect this offer of help and was very surprised to see it.
Rich was waiting for us when we exited customs (luckily he made it in time, our flight was almost an hour early and we were pretty quick getting through the airport). The trip from the airport to our apartment was interesting. Car seats are not required in China and many of the traditional taxis don't even have seat belts. The driver that picked us up at the airport had seat belts so Ang was strapped in. From what I have read, its only the taxi cabs that do not have seat belts so we will just have to steer clear of those! There is construction on the roads everywhere and the drivers are crazy! It took about 30 minutes to get to our apartment and when we arrived we were greeted very kindly by the building manager and concierge.
It was such a great feeling to finally arrive here in Shanghai and be "home" with Rich. The trip really was much easier than I anticipated although I'm not sure I would want to do that flight too often (and give Rich lots of credit for already having done it so many times this year). Ang and I are struggling a little bit with jet lag but had a pretty good first night last night (she slept off and on all night) and Rich is struggling with 'baby schedule' (she was wide awake and ready to play at 5:30 thsi morning). We made it out to the grocery store and the mall today - both within 5 minutes walking of the apartment. Its nice to know I can head over to the mall easily and get home very quickly if Ang gets fussy.
First impressions, our apartment is wonderful. It's huge and has many great amenities. The view is awesome and I think the location will suit us well. I will start taking some pictures and will post an update about the apartment later. For now, I'm going to log off and try to unpack a bit!
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