Sunday in Shanghai and Coming Home
We started our last day in Shanghai with a yummy Chinese breakfast and a final round of packing. Other than a last day of shopping we were ready to go home.
Hailee, a student of Ming’s met us in the hotel lobby promptly at 9:00 am to start our shopping adventure. She spoke English quite well and seemed excited to help us get around her city. She had done some internet research to get us started.
We used taxis since we were pressed for time. We went to an area that had lots of different stores selling handmade items. I can’t go into too much detail or I will ruin Christmas for a lot of our family.
We had lunch at a sort of snack food court and ate all kinds of things that were probably bad for us. I guess it was the Chinese version of fast food. We knew it had to exist. Mostly it was fried although I had some good soup that was fine other than being salty.
Then it was back to the hotel and a very sad good bye.
We put our last treasures into our suitcases and were ready to check out and start the long journey home.
Our taxi ride to the airport did not take long and check in went smoothly. We had lots of time to spare.
We walked around the airport and checked out duty free. We bought nothing.
We spend some time in the American Airlines lounge and it was time to board.
I had a business class ticket that Neal bought with his miles and he was hoping for an upgrade. Literally at the last, the very last minute, he got one and we were both seated in business class on a brand new 787.
The seats were lovely with one minor problem. All the seat controls including the one to turn the seat into a bed, were on a totally flat screen. There was even a button or not button that completely changed the function of the flat screen.
We pointed this out to the staff and they were kind of shocked. Neal borrowed some tape and marked the screen for me.
Then the flight attendant gave me a brand new emergency card in large print and braille. It was good for several planes but not the one we were on.
They were kind of surprised about this as well.
I will say that this flight was a lovely end to the trip. The food was good and the bed was amazing. I think I had the best night sleep of the trip.
In the morning I went to find my cane that I had put on a little flat place to the side of my seat just under the arm.
It was nowhere to be found.
It seemed that when I flattened my seat that nice little spot opened up in the back and the cane was gone into the seat somewhere.
Someone from the cocke pit came and finally got the seat apart enough to get my poor cane.
I felt like I was beta testing this plane.
We arrived in LA three hours before we left Shanghai. At least we had a good sleep.
We had almost six hours in the LA airport. Because we had flown in on business class we got to use the fancy lounge. They were serving actual food so we ate lunch and dinner there.
When we landed we had to go through customs and get our bags and recheck them. Everything was a mob scene.
Again I had a business class ticket on the red eye and Neal was hoping for an upgrade. We were not as lucky this time and he did not get it.
While waiting in a very long line to get our boarding passes, a charming young man came and swept us away into a room that we did not know existed.
This room was quiet and beautifully decorated. It did not look like it was in an airport.
Our knight in shining armor was able to get Neal TSA Pre but not me. So, he had Neal take all the bags through the check point and he escorted me. We have no idea why this happened. It did not feel like a blindness thing.
The red eye flight was pretty lame. They give you no real food not even in business class.
I think my flight attendant ignored me the best she could.
I did get some kind of breakfast snack box but I only ate the yogurt.
American Airlines has the most nasty coffee in the world.
We were home.
We got our bags and met our driver.
It was still dark out and we had no sense of time.
I think I am going to deal with this jet lag for days.
What a wonderful trip.
I will probably write another entry with things I have forgotten and a list of good books.
Thanks to Zachary for posting my blogs every day. I could not post from China.