The Trip Home

The trip back to Chiberia started at 5am. We had called a red truck taxi(also need a pic of this---think of a pick-up with a cover over it, and benches inside..confusing?!) the night before and scheduled for him to pick us up at 5:10am to catch our 7:50 flight. We waited for him with another family that was heading back to China on the same flight. A red truck pulled up at 5:!0, but with another family inside, and the family we had been waiting with knew it was theirs. We continued to wait, swatting at mosquitoes and driving the kids around in the stroller to keep them moving, hoping to keep the blood-sucking bugs off of them.

5:25 rolled around. I told Michael he needed to call. He did, and woops! The driver didn't know which families he was taking, and didn't realize he was supposed to take all 3 bunches of us. So, he said he would be there in 10 minutes. Poor guy, felt so bad. We didn't mind..we figured we would still be ok for the flight.

When we arrived, it was pushing 6:00. We got in line..a long line. It seemed to just crawl. When we finally got to the counter, we had the same problem as the trip there. No ticket for Malachi. For real?! So, just like the first round, the clerk checked us through partially. Through Bangkok, but in Guangzhou, we'd have to retrieve our bags and check in again. I was beyond annoyed, and we had only begun our day. Not an awesome start. And the kids were already getting whiny.

There was nothing we could do at this point, so we took what we had and finished checking in...which also took forever. By the time we got to our gate, it was well after 7:00 and our plane was to board any minute. The other 2 families that took our red truck taxi by accident were already there. (They felt bad, by the way--but they didn't know it was also for us!) We boarded shortly thereafter.

It was a short flight, and Malachi took a short nap. I remember them serving "breakfast." A box with a cup of juice and three 1/2 sandwiches--2 filled with something green, and the other yellowish. None of us touched them! Thank heavens for granola bars.

Bangkok was uneventful except for the fact that we walked another mile or two--literally--to get to our gate. Josiah was already starting to break down, wanting to ride in the stroller. This was only the beginning. We made it to the gate with no time to spare--we boarded immediately.

In Guangzhou, thankfully, we had a few hour layover. Our flight was almost an hour late landing, though. We quickly picked up our bags and headed to the domestic transfer desk. Thankfully, hardly any line. But we still were at that desk for at least 30 minutes. The kids really started to break down at this point. Josiah, whining. Malachi, only wanting me to hold him. All we could do was bribe both of them to calm down with candy. I hated doing that. At one point, I barked at why we should be giving in to their whines. Michael reminded me---we still have half the day left and 2 flights to catch. Oh yeah. My attitude was going downhill as well. Poor Michael.

The clerk was able to check our bags and everyone except Malachi, of course, through to Changchun. We had a second-guess moment, wondering if we should just check the stroller, too, knowing we wouldn't have much time to use it in Beijing. We decided not to. Dropping it off and picking it up at the gate had been working so far, and at least one child needed to be in it to stay calm and quiet. This decision would bite us later.

By the time all of that was over, we had about 30 minutes to get to our gate. Planes board 30 minutes early. We made it, with some running, and 2 very cranky kids and 1 cranky momma. Bless Michael.

On this 3 hour flight, we were separated by a few rows. Michael and Josiah behind Malachi and me. I thought this would be tough, but it actually was better for Malachi. He wasn't distracted by his brother, so he settled down for a nap early into the flight. Sadly, it only lasted 20 minutes. *sigh* Thankfully, we had a seat open next to us and a cute 15 year-old in front of us that helped keep the energizer bunny entertained. Overall, not a bad flight. Except one thing. Right before the plane took off, a flight attendant told Michael we would have to check the stroller and pick it up in Beijing. I was furious, once again, knowing we wouldn't have time to pick it up.

We were scared about our last flight. We landed in Beijing with maybe 45 minutes before our next flight was to leave. And probably the last flight of the night to our city. How could this happen again?! We decided to skip baggage claim for the stroller at this point. We wanted to be on our flight more than get the stroller. We ran into the domestic transfer room with, thankfully, no line. And Josiah had to pee. So I ran the 2 of them back down the 18-mile-long hall to the bathroom while Michael figured things out. We ran back, and found them still trying to figure things out. The clerk was just as confused as all the other clerks were as to why Malachi didn't have a ticket.

I was pacing, trying to stay calm, but thoroughly annoyed. I kept reminding myself that He was watching over us, and whatever happened, it wouldn't be the end of the world. Thankfully, the kids were on some adrenaline high at this point and not too crabby.

Finally, they got all of our boarding passes. Then, Michael mentioned to them about our stroller. The clerk gave us a bewildered look and told us we could choose: catch our flight that was leaving in 20 minutes, or go fetch our stroller and miss our flight. I was annoyed they wouldn't help us...that it was their fault we were leaving our stroller behind. But, there was no time to be mad. We had to RUN!

We caught the flight, thanks be to Him. I was still upset about the stroller, but Michael assured me this has happened to him several times. They would probably just deliver it to us the next day.

When we arrived in Changchun, it was 10pm. Long day! We had to ask around and figure out how to report about our stroller. That took another 30 minutes. The taxi driver we had reserved was waiting for us, what seemed like the last people in the airport. We walked outside, as bundled as we could be, and immediately our teeth started chattering in the sub-zero temperatures. The driver didn't really think things through and made all of us walk across the entire parking lot to his frigid car. Sheesh. I thought we were all going to get frost bite for sure.

Malachi was exhausted and slept the 45 minute car ride home. We walked in to a warm home, all ready to crash. I put Malachi down right away, and he was out for the night. Josiah had fun remembering all the things he had left behind a few weeks before. Thankfully, our stroller was delivered to us by noon the next day. Props to the airport for such speedy delivery!

Lesson learned: No more insane flight plans...spend the extra money to get a hotel for a night somewhere in the middle!