Yesterday was a VERY long day!  We started by waking up at 2:45 AM to get to Dayton International Airport by 4:00 AM for a 6:00 flight.  We arrived at our hotel in Harbin via Dallas and Shanghai at around midnight, topping off 33 hours of being awake!  While we did get some sleep on the various flights, we were all pretty tired and ready for bed.

Our first layover was in Dallas and Kelly tried to get a little shut eye while we waited for the flight.

She and Ali talked about plans for breakfast.

Caleb was a trooper on the trip.  This was a lot to ask from a 10-year old boy, but he came through with flying colors.

There was a older gentleman who was manning the information booth at DFW who looked like the epitome of Texas.  I wanted a shot of him, so we asked him if he would pose with the kids and he agreed!

We finally boarded the Boeing 777 for a very long 15 hour flight to Shanghai.  Everyone here looks like they are in a pretty good mood, don’t they?!

We may not have been as happy when we realized the shortcomings of this American Airlines flight.  We have had the opportunity to make this trip with several different airlines on several different planes.  While I can appreciate that their main job is to get us from Point A to Point B in a safe manner, other airlines have got us there in much better style.  One issue was the extreme variability in temperature.  The entire flight it fluctuated between cold to bitter cold to arctic cold!  Kelly worked in vain to try and sleep and keep her nose warm.

Next we will discuss the in-flight entertainment system.  As you can see below, it is a personal entertainment system.

That is, however, a little deceiving compared to other airlines. While I will admit that it WAS better than one flight we had back in 2010, there were all of 10 movies available and they were not on demand.  I know, this sounds very menial to complain about.  But you spend 15 hours on a plan with a 10 year old boy and only two kids movies and lets see what you think!

Actually, we didn’t even hear from Caleb.  There is a chance that he watched Taken 3, but he was quiet so I am not asking any questions.

The food, however, was pretty good.  We had chicken and potatoes for dinner, and then lunch was this very tasty ham sandwich.

Breakfast was a peppered ham croissant which was very tasty!  About half way through the flight I had a serious craving for Peanut Butter M&M’s.  Unfortunately, when you are at 32,000 feet over the North Pole you don’t have the options to head around the corner to the store and pick some up.  I went back to go the the restroom and there in the back of the plane I found a box with some snacks!

Not QUITE what I was looking for, but they fit the bill in a pinch.

As we approached China, we had to go through all our immigration paperwork.  Nothing that anyone who has traveled internationally hasn’t had to do before, but I was pretty proud of myself that this was the first time I remembered to bring pens.  Usually I am trying to ask non-English speaking people sitting around me if I can borrow theirs.  This was a LOT easier!

As Kelly and I stepped off the plane in Shanghai, the smell of China hit us and everything came flooding back!  We had arrived!  It isn’t a bad smell, but it is unique to China and one that you experience the entire time you are here.

We got through immigration and customs fairly quickly and headed into the main terminal to fine our China Eastern flight.

Here again we ran into the other familiar thing about China and that is that NO ONE stays in line.  There is not such thing as a line in China.  It is a free-for-all.  I was impressed that the lady at the information desk above sent a man to the back of the line who tried to push ahead of us for information.  That doesn’t happen very often.

We had to move to a different terminal, so we waited for the bus to transfer us over.  This is all getting to be second nature for us as we navigated through everything withe ease!

Caleb was pretty impressed with the gymnasium that they had installed in the bus to keep little boys active during the transfer.

The main terminal of the airport had several exhibits along with a music group playing

We got through security and out to our gate in time for a short, five-hour layover!  The gate area is very pretty at Shanghai airport.

We found our little spot to camp out for awhile…

… and had a little dinner.

Time actually went fairly quickly and we were boarded our 3-hour flight to Hardin.  We arrived a little after 10:00 PM and the airport was pretty empty.

We found our guide, Lynn, and took a 40-minute drive to our hotel.

I will update more later.  The hotel is very nice, probably one of the nicest we have been in.  The room is large and breakfast this morning was good.  The staff has been beyond helpful.

At this point we already have Katelyn.  I will hold off on posting today’s activities until later tonight, but I will tell you that everything is going extremely well and she is a beautiful and very sweet little girl.  We are beyond blessed.

Cameron