NOTE - UPDATED Saturday and Sunday, September 16 and 17, 2017 – Atlanta – Toronto – Shanghai

Ewww!  Who knew 2:00 a.m. was a real time?!  But we’re up and dressed and out the door just a little after three and Nick transports us to the international terminal at the Atlanta airport.  

Yep!  Deserted!

 As you can see, it’s extremely crowded at 3:50!!  The good news is that there is already a ticket agent at the Air Canada counter!  She doesn’t need our paperwork, just our passports;  however, she developes a quizzical expression as she tries to process our boarding passes.  In a moment, though, the look passes and she asks us if our visas for China have been approved.  Ginger shows her the letter we have to sign that states that we will be in China for less than 144 hours and that we “cherish this opportunity to travel to China”.  That satisfies her and it’s all smooth sailing from there.

We walk down to security and have a seat, since it’s now 4:01 and they don’t open until 4:45.  We watch the parade of TSA people as they arrive from their shuttle bus from the remote parking lot.

Even though we’re TSA pre-checked, there isn’t an operating TSA line, so we do the whole shoes and laptop routine.  Since there are only about a dozen people doing this dance with us, it isn’t a big deal, and our gate is almost immediately adjacent to security.  

Your reward for making it through security is this jewel-bespangled netting.

Nothing is open, so no caffeine source!!  Hope there is something on this flight from Atlanta to Toronto.  It’s a two-hour flight, so there’s hope for something!  And if not, there’s a four-hour layover before the – shudder – fourteen hour flight to Shanghai!  Lots of time to find sustenance.

We’re plugged in and working on our laptops, waiting patiently for the big adventure to get off the ground, so to speak!  More from Toronto!!

Things that make you hmmmmm?

The lovely ticket agent who was so helpful was also the gate agent!!  She had made a phone call when we were at the ticket counter to report that someone hadn’t shown up for work.  When I asked her at the gate if that person had arrived, her “no” was so disheartened!  I guess that’s why she was doing double duty!  Then – she showed up on the plane!  She was returning something that a passenger had left at the gate.

Another one – a statement was made by one of the flight attendants that all announcements would be made in both French and English, but the speaker had a pronounced Spanish accent!  Very disconcerting!

And a third!  In the Toronto airport we each ordered a yogurt with fruit and museli.  As Ginger was paying for hers, the girl asked her how many spoons she needed????  How many spoons does one normally need to eat yogurt??

Sunrise!

Anyway, getting through immigration in Toronto was quite easy, with the line moving right along; and there are only eleven gates in the “E” terminal, so finding ours is a piece of cake.  We’ve still got over three hours, so we eat our breakfast and play with our cameras and laptops. The wifi here is disturbingly slow, but typing doesn’t require that.  (Therefore, photos to follow at a later time!)

Surrounded by electronics!

After all, the flight IS to Shanghai!  Can you read the text of her book?

It was disappointing that our flight up had screens but we weren’t given earbuds, as is usual any more.  I didn’t get to watch “La La Land”!  whine…  And the beverage wasn’t accompanied by any kind of munchies on a two-hour flight.  The tea came in the cutest LITTLE cups!  We were offered water, twice, though.

One of the agents here (Toronto) assured us that we’d have earbuds on the international flight, which is good.  Fourteen hours is a long time to try to lip read a movie or six!  We were prepared to buy some if necessary;  although now that I’ve looked around, that might not have been possible!

Oh!  There’s a vending machine!  But Ginger asked another agent and she asked an actual attendant on the flight, and we don’t have to spend the money!

(Turns out you had to log in a different way, and that made all the difference.  Sorry, Toronto!  No hard feelings?)

  

It’s getting close to boarding time and we pack up and move down to the gate.  Oh my goodness!!  There are people everywhere!  Later we estimated that the plane holds about six hundred people and I don’t think there were any empty seats!  It takes about an hour to herd the masses on board;  but it is orderly and an odd thing happened.  As Zone 4 was boarding (our zone) an agent came and collected Ginger and me and checked us in!  No idea why we were selected!!

Our seats are not bad.  Ginger has the aisle seat in the middle section and I’m next to her.  The plane has three seats on each side and for in the middle, in the economy section.  Now begins the binge watching of movies and the continual eating frenzy.  First there is Molson’s Canadian lager with pretzels.  Next comes dinner, which features chicken with potatoes and vegetables in a flavorful cream sauce, with a salad of finely diced sweet potatoes and something white!, a roll and butter, a brownie, a bottle of water and a bottle of Les Tannes Rouge (carignan, merlot and shiraz).

I finally got to see “La La Land”.  While I appreciated the singing and dancing, I heartily disapprove of the ending!  Next came “Kedi” which is a documentary from a cat’s point of view.  It is set in Istanbul, which of course made it better for me, and is about the numerous street cats there and their effect on people’s lives.  I tried to watch “Buddies in India”, a Chinese comedy, but only lasted about twenty minutes.  Likewise, “The Lego Movie” didn’t make the half-hour cut.

Time for a snack!  Everyone got a large Cup O’ Noodles with a meat and cheese slider and two cookies.  The “Norman:  The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer” lasted the full distance.  It’s a very different role for Richard Gere.  It’s a little heavy, so it was followed by “Office Space”, always good for a giggle, and “The Social Network” which I’ve wanted to see for ages.  It was interrupted by breakfast.  The egg choice was an omelet with salsa, honeydew and cantaloupe and a roll with butter and strawberry jam.  And there was water offered periodically throughout the flight.

Finally the fourteen hours are over and we deplane to figure out what comes next.  We’re directed to the line for people who will only be in China for less than 144 hours and fill out the mandatory blue card.  The line moves rather slowly and it takes two people to process each visitor.  In addition to the card we present our passports, proof that we have tickets to leave within the time frame and a letter officially requesting permission to visit.

Next it’s on to baggage claim.  There is a marque sign with flights and carousel numbers;  but our flight isn’t listed.  We check out all the busy ones and eventually see some other people with the Sinorama name tags.  They point out the carousel and we look there.  Turns out that’s not the right one;  but when we finally are in the right place, our bags come along pretty quickly.  Weirdness -  I saw not one but two other purple bags with rainbow belts around them!!  I nearly took one with me and the other belongs to one of the Sinorama people!

We walk straight through the customs area since we have nothing to declare and on the other side we find our tour guide among all the sign wavers.  There’s some backing and forthing while he and two others gather their charges and we wait for another bus to take us to the hotel.  They’ve changed hotels.  It’s still a Holiday Inn;  but a different one.  When we finally get off the bus and are checked in, it’s been nearly four hours since our plane touched down.

Look at how large all these cars are at the airport!

Random prettiness

In the Holiday Inn lobby

Once in our room we discover that, although we spent about an hour on the bus, traveling mostly on an expressway, we must still be very close to the airport.  We hear each plane as it comes by and it feels like we could touch them.  Sure glad we’re on the second floor and not the top!!

We do a little organizing and try to log into the wifi before going out for a little bite to eat and to buy some more water.  We’re told not to fill our bottles from the tap and most certainly not to buy water from a street vendor at any time during the tour.

Julian, our guide, had suggested checking out the mall near the hotel.  There’s a KFC there, he offered helpfully.  Ginger said, “Like we’d come all the way to China to eat KFC!”  We did find a marvelous dumpling place and got the six-piece platter to share.  What a great idea!  Three very different tastes, all yummy, and just the right amount of food.  Then we get a large bottle of water with which to refill the ones that the hotel gives us and walk home.  Along the way we stop to try to capture the perfect photo of a plane skimming the top of the buildings, including ours.  Eventually we figure what we’ve got is good enough.

So many motorbikes, even this late, in the dark!

Lego playground in the mall

Sunset as we come over mainland China.

We got the six pack.  YUM!

Cuties who work at Yang Dumplings

Back upstairs we try the new wifi code the desk clerk gave us, to little avail.  I hope the next hotel is more accommodating!  (giggle!)  We can at least write the text in Word and download the photos, so it won’t be so grueling and time-consuming when we are back in touch!

Tomorrow is a busy tour day.  Breakfast will be around 7:45 so we can meet Julian and our twenty, new, best friends at 8:45.  Bed time by eleven!!  We’ve been up about thirty-three hours and are amazingly functional! J  J