Davises land in Shanghai

We successfully survived the long journey to Shanghai from Indianapolis. The kids did extremely well for traveling from Indianapolis to Detroit (45minutes), from Detroit to Tokyo (13 hours), and then from Tokyo to Shanghai (2 1/2 hours). The first leg of the trip went well and quickly. We then settled into our much longer flight to Tokyo. Josh had a little problem initially falling asleep on the plane, but after crying for a short time he fell asleep (Much to the joy of the women two rows back who when we first got to our seats had asked the attendant whether our section of the plane was a kid free zone). Thankfully both boys were able to sleep a majority of the 13 hour portion of the plane ride. We had ordered kids meals, so the boys enjoyed their favorite--chicken fingers. Danny was in heaven as he was able to watch "Cars" movie while eating dinner.

The only real glitch we ran into was trying to make the connecting flight in Tokyo airport. Due to the short time between flights (60 minutes), the enormous amount of carry-on luggage, strollers and two tired boys, and very thorough security (they confiscated our baby diaper rash ointment and screened all our milk through a machine plus required us to open each container), our plane going to Shanghai had to wait on us to get on. In addition, for this leg of the trip the airlines had taken our seats which were booked all together and separated us to individual seats. So not only was the flight delayed because of us, but we had to make two passengers move their seats. We were quite the sight entering that plane. After moving the two passengers and finding our seats, we then had to scramble to find places for all our carry-on luggage. The faces on our fellow passengers were priceless when they saw us with all our bags (6 carry-ons, two bookbag diaperbags and my purse, plus coats and neck pillows) and two young children. Thankfully both boys fell asleep on this flight and did not fuss at all.

Our arrival into the Shanghai airport went fairly smoothly. The only issue was Tokyo had not gate checked our strollers like we asked, but put them with the rest of the luggage. The Chinese were very friendly and allowed us to go into a special line through security. Dustin was then able to get all of our baggage (twenty suitcases including our carry-ons). We were then able to make our way to our drivers. We actually had a whole group come meet us and help us with the suitcases. We created quite the stir through the airport as we were the only Americans especially with two young boys. Danny was even asked to pose for a picture with a Chinese boy. So far our impression is good and we are just so thrilled to not be on a plane. Our hotel was an hour from the airport and we quickly settled in for the night.