Day 1

Day 1 of our totally awesome, kid-less, vacation together!

I guess I really need to start with a few weeks prior to the trip. 

Rhett and James planned this whole trip and I felt really out of the loop. I couldn't really even tell you where we were going or when the plane would drop us back in Okinawa. It made me feel very panicky and I felt like something was going to go wrong. I asked Rhett about 15 times if he had made sure to do ALL the paperwork and if there was anything else we needed to do to go. He assured me that he and James had everything all worked out.

Fast forward to the evening before we are to leave. Our neighbor Chris came over to wish us a good trip. While visiting with him he casually asked me if we had made sure to get our passports stamped?!? I immediately went to grab Rhett to ask. The answer was NO. Chris said that they had missed their flight because they didn't get theirs stamped before they left. We called James and he immediately apologized for forgetting to tell us this was a must. Then we ran to the AMC terminal praying they had a space A flight going out. We got lucky and the terminal was open. The stars must have aligned for us to get those dang passports signed. 

Okay now on to the first day-

We started by waking up early and getting everything packed up. We had packed the kids earlier and just had to throw the last few items into our suitcases. We put everything out into the car just hoping and praying that we didn't forget anything too important. Next, I headed to the babysitters and dropped off the kids and the van. Rhett picked me up downstairs and we were off! Rhett had grabbed the other couple, James and Fabiola, and we all headed to the Naha airport. 

After arriving at the airport we had a car service pick up Rhett's car where they would detail it and be there to pick us up in 9 glorious days!

We waited in the LONG LONG lines and made it through to our gate. I was seriously so excited. A little nervous for the babysitter watching our children, but excited to be with Rhett. Rhett was pretty sure that either the babysitter, her husband, or one of the kids would be dead before we made it home! :) We were headed to Shanghai, China. Here we are at the Naha airport in Okinawa.

It made me smile because as we were checking in they saw Rhett and immediately asked if we wanted the emergency row on the plane because he was so tall and it had more leg room.  People in Asian tend to be a little on the shorter side so everywhere we went it was super easy to find Rhett. He was about a head taller than everyone else around us.

The flight was about an hour and a half so we got to Shanghai right around 4:00 p.m. We grabbed our luggage and headed to the FASTEST train in the WORLD! The Maglev. It was wild to watch out the window as the cars on the freeway looked as though they were standing still. It was fun to watch the numbers go up as we went faster and faster. We got across the city in about 20 minutes versus the hour taxi ride. It was cool.

Here we are sitting on the train chairs. I got some video of the outside of the train, but no pictures. :( You'll just have to trust me that we were indeed on a train!

That's right... we were going 431 km/h. Sorry folks, but we are in the land of kilometers and meters. I can't actually decipher how fast that is to you folks at home, but it was quick. Rhett was a little nervous that we would just fly off the tracks while I was hoping for a loop de loop. :)

Famous bridge to which the name has escaped me. I will have to look it up and get back on to post the name, but for now... just enjoy the beautiful view!

We got to the Radisson Hotel and were shown to our rooms. The hotel was absolutely beautiful. We decided to take showers and change into dressier clothes before hitting the town. Our night plans were to head to The Pearl Tower and take a boat tour along the Huangpu River.

We jumped in the taxi and talked as the driver drove us around. A fun fact about Shanghai is that they put the little kids in chaps and they just poop right on the street. Pretty gross, huh? There are also about 20 million people in the city of Shanghai. It is crazy populated and it's not just the kids that poop on the street! As we drove around the city James started to get worried. He knew that we were headed in the wrong direction and tried to tell the cab driver. Actually he had Rhett. The conversation went a little like this-

James from the back of the cab yells up to Rhett, "Hey Rhett, tell him that we are going the wrong way. We need to go to the Pearl Tower."

Rhett looks over at the driver and says, "Hey sir, we are going the wrong way... We want to go to Pearl Tower." It was hilarious because all he did was say the exact same thing that James said. Not that it did any good because the guy spoke NO english.

Twenty minutes later we are clear out of the city and he is trying to drop us off at a ferry! Maybe he just wanted us out of his country. :) We kept speaking to the driver and letting him know we were going the wrong way. James kept getting mad at Rhett because he wasn't talking to the driver and telling him where we needed to go. Rhett just looked back and said, "Dude, the driver doesn't speak any English and I only know Nihao ma." Finally, James gets out of the car and the driver gets out. They both climb back in after several minutes and we asked James if he had cleared everything up. James says, "No, we just got out and stared at each other." We all busted up laughing. Best quote of the trip!! Finally, James pulls out some paper and draws a picture of the Pearl Tower and we got going in the right direction. I felt the theme of this trip was turning into "Lost in Translation."

 

We got to the Pearl Tower, but than had a fun little argument about paying full price for the taxi ride around the city. We didn't want to pay the full price because the crazy guy led us everywhere BUT the place we wanted to go. He wanted the full price! He stopped at a hotel next the the pearl tower to clear things up with someone who spoke English.

After about 20 additional minutes of everyone arguing with the cab driver. One lady that was on our side took the money we had to offer and just stuck it in his hand. She then told us that we could leave. 

This is a picture of the Pearl Tower! We walked all over the place that night and I found myself thinking back and feeling sorry for all the girls that wear heels on the strip in Las Vegas. My toes were extremely pissed at me that night. I vowed to wear flip flops the rest of the trip! :) 

This city definitely has a night life. It was close to midnight and we still saw lots of parents with children up. I couldn't even imagine keeping my kids up that late. They would not be happy campers.

We made our way over to the Grand Hyatt Shanghai. It is the 2nd tallest building in Shanghai.

We went to a place called cloud 9 on the second tallest floor. We had a couple drinks and an appetizer and would have bought food, but it was a little out of our price. After our little snack we headed back down to the street to get some real food. We were all starving and opted for a little French Bistro that was still open. Rhett got some Thai inspired chicken and rice while I stuck with the good ol' club sandwich. I was way to hungary to try something I may not like. Rhett said the food was definitely not Thai nor was it inspiring. :)

After we ate we headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep. I asked Rhett if he wanted to push our twin beds together to which he lovingly replied, "Heck no. Lets actually get a good nights sleep for once." That proves that this was not a honeymoon. We have been married 8 years now! Little twerp. I did sleep really well though! The first day was a success. We had a really great time.

Let me just apologize for all the typos. I am really tired typing this-- Hopefully I will get a chance to go back and fix all the errors, but for now just cut me some slack! :)