Fly day

Today is our first fly day in China. It is very different flying with 40 people in a group versus just us two. The first change is our luggage needs to be packed and outside our door at least an hour before we leave and actually several hours before we actually leave. We are flying to Shanghai. We have to give our passports to the tour guide so he can get all the boarding passes.

On the way to the airport we stop at a cloissenne factory and a chance to "purchase from the gift shop".  The actual process is amazing, time consuming and still done by hand, bending and applying the copper then enamel.  Many of the workers have been there doing this same job for 15-20 years.

We are off to the airport. Let me say trying to get 40 through TSA check and to the gate is an interesting process. It is nice to have my passport back. The worse part was the more than 1 hour the guide spent telling people how to pack and what needs to be put in suitcases versus carry on. You would think these same people didn't fly to China 5 days ago.

The flight is amazing in that they loaded everyone and pulled away from the gate and then stopped and parked the plane stating they had to wait for permission to take off. We sat for 30 to 45 minutes. The other thing that is amazing is that they feed you on  a flight that is 90 minutes long.

Getting everyone together after the flight is also interesting the up side is they unload our luggage for us and take it to the hotel. Our hotel in Shanghai is not nearly as nice as Beijing and the front desk staff speaks very little English. The good news is there is a grocery store across the street and we were able to locate a bottle of Italian white so at least we will have happy hour in our room either before dinner or after dinner😄😄