Day 1 Fly to China and Day 2 Arrive in Beijing

The travel day finally arrived.  We were driving away from the house by 8:30am.  Mom and Dad came to pick us up a little before 8.  

Mom and Dad showed up and we just had to wrap up getting everyone’s shoes and socks on, which surprisingly took a really long time and had probably nothing to do with us running around wrapping up last minute things and making sure we packed the last few things and were totally set to go… We planned to leave at 8 but left at 8:30, which for a trip around the world with 7 people, I was pretty happy with that!

Of course, I didn’t take the time to eat breakfast… just coffee, which was probably my first questionable decision that day, but I intended on eating a banana that I brought which is probably somewhere rotting in our van at this point.  OOPS.  It was SUCH a fun ride down to Chicago.  My Dad drove and Mom was able to make it into the front seat of the Grumobile without too much issue.  (Not fun: The first little while was me trying to convince Sammy that his 15 minutes of traveling was definitely not long enough to put him in China already and to try and curb his whining without climbing to the very back to retrieve his requested monkey.  After a while, though, Phil decided we all needed to have an end to the whining and climbed back to save us all by getting Sammy’s monkey.  Jemma also insisted she was “all done with the car” several times throughout that ride and made me seriously wonder if we were going to survive the next 15 hours.)  I so enjoyed telling my Mom all about our itinerary and she wrote everything down as I shared it.  We talked with Annalisa on the bluetooth audio, which everyone seemed to get a kick out of, especially the fact that I was yelling from the back seat to be heard by her since the microphone is located in the front.  Hahaha!  Valerie called even though their is a 2 hour time difference and she was getting her girls’ breakfast and T ready for school.  It was fun for her to “ride in the van on the way down” with us!  

Once we got to the airport, my mom and I cried and hugged a lot and shared some sweet moments.  Dad and Phil worked on getting the 250 pounds of checked bags out of the van while all the kids piled out with their back packs and shoulder bags.  I grabbed my stuff and a bag of sandwiches I had purchased the day before so we could eat on the plane when we got hungry.  (And technically, we WERE on the plane when we ate them… more later.)  We accidentally didn’t think of tipping the porter because all of our money was in hundreds around Phil’s waist… so that was a bummer.  

Phil checked us all in and then someone came over to verify our visas.  The computer said we needed extra processing, so Phil and the agent went over to the desk to “process” for quite a long time.  Weird.  

We went to the security line and as soon as the first security person at the beginning of the line saw Jemma walking with her walker, she pointed our group to the premier line quite a ways away, but clearly a tiny fraction of a line compared to the economy one.  

This is where it all got hairy.  And by hairy, I mean… well, you’ll read what I mean.  Typically, a security line, you are kind of always inching forward… not a dead stop for lengths of time.  We stood in line completely not moving for a LONG time.  We’d move forward only periodically.  Finally, I suggested Phil going to see if there was a handicap line or something else.  He went and asked and came back to say that there was no staff actually available - only one person working our line.  UH….  

People were getting so antsy and frustrated.  Our family kept people on the cheerier side than what probably would have otherwise been.  Until a lady who’d been trying to skip her way ahead for a while, decided that, just as we were about to get to the bins, she would skip us.  I have always been a “you need to go first - oh! go ahead, that’s fine” kind of person.  Until today.  It makes my stomach turn just thinking of having to say, “I’m sorry, but we are going to keep our place in line.  You cannot go ahead of us.  We need to be able to get to our flight.”  THEN, a whole new line of people showed up out of nowhere and started to cut Phil off.  At this point, we are SERIOUSLY questioning if we are even going to MAKE our flight.  (Again, my stomach hurts just writing all this.)  I see what’s happening and that Phil’s saying, no we are going first and trying to keep our spot, and just like that the panic or mother-bear-we-are-getting-on-this-flight-to-China-or-else came up out of me and I semi-shouted “NO!  We are not letting anyone skip us.  We HAVE to go!”  The guy says that he’s let people skip him and Phil said, you are not traveling with 5 small children 2 of whom have disabilities.  It turned into an argument which I think I’ve blocked out, AND THEN, the travelers rallied.  Our line seemed to press us on and the new line seemed to have the clouds cleared and people started asking us how they could help.  There were bins everywhere all of a sudden and kids putting stuff in them (Sammy MISSED THE MEMO of only taking out his hand sani and started emptying every little candy bag).  It was insanity, shaking-induced, eyes wide like a crazy woman, few minutes.  Phoebe had her bag searched.  Lily had her bag searched.  Amazingly, we survived.  It was just so many people and so many were missing their flights because of the delay that everyone was stressed, but we survived.  Oh, I forgot to say that half way through the line, Jemma decided she was done.  And by done, I mean blowing the line off and taking her walker (and when I blocked her walker from moving - just taking herself) elsewhere.  Wailing and gnashing of teeth ensued until she passed out in the ergo, which she loved (SARCASM) because of her inability to leave the airport and forget this whole mess.  

Okay - back to after security.  So, at this point, we know our plane has already started boarding and we need to get from security to terminal C.  The kids kept saying we’d go through a tunnel of lights, which I thought someone had just told them about the metal detector we walk through at security, but they were right - a tunnel of lights… all over the ceiling and changing colors.  Of course, Phil and I were not in any frame of mind to enjoy a leisurely stroll through this captivating section of the airport.  We did the accelerated walk ways and people stepped aside so we could hustle.  At this point, the kids have had their backpacks for over two hours and shoulder bags were a new thing that we hadn’t thought to practice.  As we walked, I acquired more bags, still wore Jemma who was gloriously passed out and sweating down the front of my shirt (or maybe that was me sweating), and carried her walker.  

Phil was in sports mindset of “setting the screen” so that all our little ducks between us could quickly get through.  See how I’m setting the stage here for one of our most epic parenting fails of all time?  Ya, it’s bad.  Our kids will need therapy.  

Titus is getting amped up and sensing the need for speed so he gets in front of Phil, the engine to our train and Phil stays with Titus to get on the escalator while I’m herding the rest and afore mentioned bags and walker onto the escalator.  Instead of taking longer than a few seconds to explain to Sammy what’s going to happen, Phil yells down when he sees the disaster that is happening in fast-motion (no slow-motion here for affect) for Sammy to just take a step and get on.  I am right behind him, hands full and say, “Sammy, take a step and get on.”  And then I watch in horror as his backpack, which he is still faithfully and responsibly carrying, and the momentum of the escalator cause him to lay down (fall-ish) backwards.  He can’t stand up because his feet are underneath his bottom at this point and he’s laying upside down going up the escalator and I promise, I watched him watch his life flash before his eyes.  It was AWFUL.  I’m kind of catching him with my foot and Jemma’s walker, when a stranger RUNS onto the escalator which has only started ascending and lifts him up and helps him stand upright as we ride up.  He is bawling HYSTERICALLY at this point and the stranger is just telling him over and over that she’s helping him and it’s okay.  We get off and collect as a group again and rush to our gate, which for the first time in all the flights I can remember, was one of the first gates in the terminal and not the very last.  We get to the gate and Phil goes to see if we can skip the MASSIVE amount of people and board while Sammy, who’s still crying (WHO WOULDN’T BE?!?!) says, “I’m dizzy” and I realize he’s about to pass out from the trauma.  I have him sit down and tell him he’s safe and continue to win the best mom award by letting the surge of adrenaline come out through my voice as I loudly ask him if he is scared and that I understand and that he’s okay now and Mommy and Daddy will keep him safe.  Phil came back quickly and said we’re boarding and I start to shake so bad.  I was kneeling by Sammy and Phil gathered our stuff and the kids and then looked at me waiting for me to stand up.  THAT TOOK MENTAL EFFORT!  Standing up with Jemma attached and my back pack on and however many shoulder bags I was still carrying, with the shakes from the surge of the security and escalator adrenaline coupled with no breakfast… it was an act of God.  We went through NO line (bypassing the 300+ people working their way through the economy line) and finally boarded our flight.  

As we were walking on the plane, I heard the captain say, “We have had a fluid leak and need to wait until it’s cleaned up before we can push back from our gate.  We hope this will happen quickly.”  

We were THRILLED to get to our seats - the very last two rows of the aircraft.  We had time to get organized, shed some now soaking wet clothes, and let the reality sink in that WE WERE FINALLY ON OUR WAY TO CHINA TO GET IAN!  It was exciting.  

Until we didn’t leave… for a long time.  HA!  

We had been told that there would only be one meal on the flight (which I thought was SO bizarre for a 13 hour flight).  I had purchased subs from Walmart the day before for everyone knowing we’d need two meals for a flight like that.  And I was NOT about to repeat the flight home from China with Jemma when we had no food for her and she screamed for hours.  I realize, we have the sandwiches and everyone is SO hungry since it’s well after lunch time.  God will take care of us and in the moment, we have the food we need.  So, I broke out the sandwiches and everyone ate and not one person complained.  And it took up time.  It was a win-win-win.  

Finally, we pushed back from the gate.  The girls had read the travel safety cars in the seat back in front of them several times already and barely even noticed the safety video playing, which is so bizarre anyway that I doubt they would have even realized they were talking about airplane safety.  

Pulling up to the strip to take off was SO exciting.  I was sitting in the girls’ row and Phil with the boys behind me.  Everyone was anticipating THIS MOMENT.  And other than the wild fish tailing for us in the back of the plane, it was everything I had hoped it would be.  Lily’s face was priceless.  Phoebe absorbed and took it all in in her customary calm way.  Jemma acted like it was no big deal and this was old hat.  We lifted off and I got choked up!  We were off the ground on our way to Ian with our little group.  It was a moment.  I don’t want to ever forget it.  I loved every second of that moment… watching the kids, knowing we were taking them to the other side of the world, going back to the country I love, heading back to the place of half of my children’s birth land, knowing we made it onto the flight… it was all so perfect.  On a side note, EAR PLANES - a must-have for traveling.  Not one single ear popped - they REALLY work!  You can take them out after you’ve reached altitude.  Amazing invention.

The kids were given hot dogs, potatoes, cookies, applesauce, and the nastiest gelato I’ve ever thought I could share.  Jemma wouldn’t eat a bite.  The activities in the back packs were great.  I’d put surprise play dough in their shoulder bags which was perfect later in the flight when everyone needed a pick-me-up.  

Phil and I often switched spots based on the particular needs.  There were certain things I minded and he didn’t and vice versa so we’d switch places as needed.  I will say that I think Phil traveling business class with no children for his previous several flights made this one harder in a sense that it was a much greater adjustment for him than it was for me.  He survived it though.  

Breakfast was served (surprise - a second meal) towards the very end of the flight.  So close to the end of the flight that as soon as the flight attendants passed out the food, they came back around and collected the trays.  LOL.  The kids had french toast, a sausage, and something else that I can’t remember.  I had a SPICY omelet, potatoes, and orange juice.  (For dinner the night before, Phil was served first even though he was in the row behind me and got the last Asian chicken dinner, so he switched with me for the pasta meal.)  I’m glad we opted for kids meals ahead of time when we booked the tickets because they were much better suited for our kids than the meals we had.  Again, Jemma didn’t want to touch her food, although she had just had a snack with Sammy while they watched Tangled in the seat next to me on our iPad (glad I downloaded stuff because the in-flight United app for streaming didn’t work on anything we brought except Phil’s phone and one iPad).  I gave Jemma a bottle.  

Then I heard the captain come on and say we were 25 minutes from Beijing.  I’m sorry, say what?  We’re there?!  That was almost painless!  We’re there?  

Then we started the decent.  Let me sum it up by saying:

Jemma shouted for each of her siblings to “HOLD ON!”  And she shouted for the whole plane to “HOLD ON!”  Until she stopped shouting and got quiet.  

AND I THOUGHT TO MYSELF, HMMMM IF I WERE HER I’D BE PUKING!  

WHY DID I NOT GET THE AIRSICK BAG READY AT THAT POINT?!?!?!

The vomit from her was epic.  I felt bad for her.  I felt bad for the lady sitting next to us (who did not get throw up on her, just that she had to sit there and watch).  I felt bad for the smell of the airplane.  I felt even worse for Jemma because the decent took at least 30 minutes and was… rough. The. Entire. Way. Down.  So, the puking just kept coming.  Poor girl.  Phil has never once gotten airsick and he was SO green, when he turned around to whisper he wasn’t doing so great, I thought for sure we’d have a few more pukers before we landed.

The landing must have been fairly smooth though.  I remember telling Sammy to sit back in his seat so he didn’t get jerked by the jolt, but it must have just been a non-issue.  The flight attendant came around the corner while we were taxiing and handed me a couple of napkins since she could hear from her seat kitty-corner behind me off the galley that things weren’t going well for Jemma.  Then she saw what happened and came back with a stack of air sick bags (which are surprisingly NOT helpful at that point) and then she came back again with much bigger bags to put all of Jemma’s clothes and blanket in.  I asked her if I could unbuckle to get wipes down and she said go ahead (see, I’m a rule follower).  I sat Jemma in the large space next to our seat by the exit/galley/bathrooms and washed her down.  All this time of taxiing, we were not gathering our belongings and repacking.  Phil was still greenish yellow and not moving.  I was cleaning up throw up.  So this meant that when we did get to our gate, we were WAY behind on cleaning up our stuff.  We had every flight attendant helping and possibly even other crew members at that point because we were BY FAR the last people off the plane.  Oh and the flight attendant had called ahead to the gate once we landed that they were going to need to come in and change out one of the seat covers (I wonder if they had to change out that nasty seat belt, too).  She said to another attendant that there were a lot of people who got sick.  I said, “we weren’t the only ones?” and she said no, there were a lot of others.  Maybe they all used the bags in their seat backs in front of them.  Or maybe they took heed to Jemma’s warning for everyone to HOLD ON!!!

Every time we go to the Beijing airport, it’s quiet.  No matter the time of day.  It’s just so calm and quiet.  We took our time (because Jemma once again had her walker back and takes in the sights while she strolls) getting to customs/immigration.  Again, a GIGANTIC line to wait in, except that someone saw Jemma with her walker and pointed us to a D/P line which wasn’t a line but an officer sitting in his booth waiting to look at all 7 passport pictures and travel documents and match them up to the 7 people in our party.  Jemma thought that the “stand here” foot prints her Blues Clues and that she needed to stand on every single one.  She tried crawling through the barriers in our little section and was LESS THAN happy that we put a stop to her pursuit of finding all of Blues Clues.  Poor girl - we’re so mean.  

We got our luggage, walked PAST the luggage check without any checks and out to David Wang, our guide waiting for us with a paper sign saying our names.  

The next couple hours are a blur.  The kids talked his ear off and he said something about staying up until 9pm and meeting him at 8:30 the next morning.  

We didn’t stay up.  With my last shred of energy, I made noodles for those clamoring for food and then we all fell fast asleep.  Until Jemma got up.  Phil got her back pack for her and told her to play next to his side of the bed where a night light is built into the side table.  Needless to say, he fell back asleep and she destroyed a container of Pringles.  I got up about 11:30 and stayed up with the rest of the kids (minus Lily) until about 2:30 when I had successfully coaxed them all back to sleep after giving them a protein bar and letting them watch a movie.  Lily slept until 5 and then just put her headphones on and waited for everyone to wake up.  

First blog post done.  Nailed it.

All the girls' cubes in into the pink duffle and boys in green.  

Phil loading the car before midnight the night before we left.

Yes, he's wearing a winter coat.

Our pastor came over and prayed with us before we left and took a family picture  :)

We hadn't even left the driveway when Sammy asked if we were there yet.

Security check line (Jemma went through all her dum-dums)

For my own amusement, I told the boys to eat their atomic fire ball jawbreakers.

It was a contest to see who could keep it in their mouth the longest.  Sammy accidentally dropped his out when it was really little and it rolled away so Titus won.

 These were Jemma's thoughts about not having water for her bottle yet.

The captain announced that we would leave soon.

We started moving

Jemma reached over and held Lily's hand

Phoebe's always up for a good adventure.

TAKING OFF!

me... wondering how we were going to make it 13 hours with this buster.

Our flight attendant only came three times to shut off the call light.  I was pretty happy with that.

One of many seat reassignments

Me - with a sleeping Titus and Phoebe on top of me.

This picture just does not do it justice

LANDING IN CHINA!

That was our plane

On our way to our hotel

This is what Jemma thinks of no carseats

Midnight - local time