Travel Adventure...

Our traveling experience to Chengdu, China found the highest highs and eventually the lowest lows. But in the end, the Perdues reached their final destination happily and safely!
Our trip started with Heath Cooper, Leann Cooper and Jeff Coleman taking us to the airport. They woke up well before 3 AM and drove us to the airport. The guys were a huge help by gathering our luggage and help getting it checked. At the Birmingham  airport, we received our first blessing, as the desk lady did not charge us for our 2 overweight or our 2 extra bags. We saved a lot of money! After some tearful goodbyes, Sarah, Brynn and I made it through security and onto the plane without a hiccup. The short, 2-hour ride to Chicago, was painless and enjoyable.

In Chicago, we found our way to the gate for our flight to Shanghai. After eating some airport breakfast, we made our way to the ticket counter. Our luck continued  as the ticket agent gave us an extra seat for Brynn to sleep. In all, we had 4 seats to Shanghai, along with a 10-year old boy from China (5 seats on our row) who slept most of the flight. We watched a lot of movies, ate a lot of food and enjoyed Brynn sleeping  for 8 of the 13 hours. For my first international flight, I would give this experience an A-plus.

Once we touched down in Shanghai, things began to get interesting. At baggage, we immediately ran into another family going to Chengdu and Kirsten, a single  girl on our staff. Tom, speaks Chinese, so that made the process much easier in the Shanghai airport. Customs were a breeze because we have a baby. They pushed us straight to the front of the line. Baggage was easy because we had Tom's two 15-year old sons to push our carts. Finding our gate was a little tough, as the company on both of our tickets claimed not to be flying to Chengdu. Eventually, we found out that we were traded to another airline and everything was going to be okay. Our second bit of fortune hit as we rechecked our baggage. The Chinese company charged our other team members, a second time, for their baggage. Like I said earlier, we received free bags in Bham and received our second set of free bags in Shanghai. I am not sure why, since he spoke very little English, but I think having the cute, American baby helped. Our celebrity status began to pick up in this airport, as Sarah and Brynn posed for pictures with random Chinese. Once we found our gate, we boarded the plane without a hitch and met a Chinese college student who helped us with all the translations, as he spoke basic English.

The flight from Shanghai to Chengdu seemed to be following the same pattern as our earlier flights. We got great service and the ride was going smooth. With about 25 minutes until landing, we noticed the turbulence begin to pick up. As we began our final landing approach, we noticed a lot of lightning and rain. With about 1 minute before we touch down, our pilot decides it is not safe to land. He pulls us out of  a straight landing manuveur and pulls up straight back up. Still not bad, but  getting a little nervous. About 2 minutes later, the stuartist comes on the intercom and gives a short speech in Chinese that sends all the Chinese on the plane into a panic and uproar. At this point, Sarah and I are preparing for the worse. We truly are expecting a crash landing. Luckily, our Chinese friend calms us down and informs us that we are going to a new airport close by, because the pilot was not feeling the landing. I am extremely fine with that decision. Do not risk our lives because you want to make a scheduled stop.

So we are heading to a new airport and upon arrival our pilot informs us that he can not land because it is rained out. How do we not know this before we get to the airport? On to our third airport in 1 hour, which is a 7-hour bus ride from Chengdu. We arrive at Xi'an at 9 PM and sit on the runway to 1 AM. Lots of FUN! At 1 AM, we are given clearance to go to Chengdu. Finally, Hip-Hip Hooray!!! Wrong!!!!! After getting in the air for 15 minutes, our pilot informs us that the weather is too bad in Chengdu for landing and we must do a U-turn. Does China not have a Doppler Radar? Can airplanes not call ahead and check out the weather conditions? I am getting a bit frustrated.

We land in Xi'an and depart the plane at 2 AM. We are told to get our luggage and head outside to get on a bus that will carry us to a hotel. Our group decides against hauling 18  suitcases to the bus and hotel. We take a gamble and leave them on the conveyor belt and  hope they arrive in Chengdu. We board the bus and arrive at the hotel at 3:30 AM. The hotel is very nice and has a shower/toilet that can be seen from the beds. Little awkward, even after being married for 3-plus years. We are told a breakfast buffet awaits at 7 AM and bus departs at  8 AM, thus leaving us with a whopping 2 hours sleep. Brynn does not cooperate and we end up taking showers and resting for a short while. The breakfast buffet was excellent and bus ride allowed us to see a new city. After waiting in a line for an hour and the plane being held for us due to lines, we get on the plane at 10 AM and arrive in Chengdu at 12 PM with much applause from everyone on board.

After loading our luggage onto carts, we find our principal and his wife. They help load  everything into a van and bus. We get our first glimpse of the city. It is hard to describe how different my life is going to be. For those that visit, you will get an idea. Sarah and I will try to paint a picture on our blog. But I am not sure, if we will ever do it justice. We arrived at our apartment at about 2 PM. Hauling 10 suitcases up 5 flights of stairs is
an absolute chore!

Now that we are online, we will be able to update our blog on a frequent basis. Check back in the next day or so, as we are able to give a description of our apartment, some of the food that we have tried and other experiences from our first few days.

Perdues OUT!!