Day 8

 Today was a big travel day. We had to get up at 2:30 am to go to the airport. Hiro arranged for a taxi in advance. I gave him the rest of his tip, got a selfie with him and Kerry, and wished him well. He was a nice man and a good guide.

The taxi was expensive, but it got us to the airport in plenty of time. The airport was VERY empty when we got there, and we didn't have to wait in lines long at all, not even in security. And the security in Tokyo was WAY more lax than in the USA: we didn't have to remove our shoes or belts, nor did we have to take CPAPs out of our bags. No major invasive pat downs. 

Then we had a lot of waiting. Fortunately, Kerry found a vending machine with both food and drink and fed me a egg-ham-cucumber-tuna sandwich (I kid you not). The actual flight to Seoul was great: I even managed to buckle my belt with no extender (a personal triumph). They fed us a chicken cutlet dish with rice and I slept most of the way.

We had some drama in Seoul, though. We couldn't figure out where we were supposed to pick up our bags. Some Asiana airline employees tried to help us, but they just suggested we go to the transfer gate, which is what we did. After an interminably long journey to the gate (25 minutes of riding and walking), our bags were not there. However, the woman at the counter assured us that our bags would be located and put on the plane. So I crossed my fingers and we boarded.

Amazingly enough, I slept again on this second flight to Shanghai quite a bit. Good food served once again: a fish with sauce, good fruit that wasn't overly sweet, an egg custard, and a roll. This airline, Korean Air, took forever to taxi for takeoff and forever to taxi to the gate once it landed.

Once we landed in Shanghai, we had to fill out a "Health Declaration Form." I had mine on WeChat, so mine wasn't to bad (though Kerry did have to help me interpret it a bit). Kerry had to do his at a kiosk. After that, we had to go to immigration--huge long line with over 100 people in front of us (mostly men, for some reason). Once I arrived, the woman at the counter asked me my profession, whether I'd worked for military or police, and if I'd worked for the federal government. We had to present an "Arrival Card" that we had to fill out on the plane, which asked everything but your blood type and next of kin. I happened not to know the flight number of the flight taking us out of Shanghai, so of course she asked about that....but she didn't seem to consider it a big deal that I only knew the name of the airline (I swear, all these forms in China are just for show). 

We went to go get our bags after immigration at baggage claim......and there they were, waiting for us! Yay! I was so worried about this. After we grabbed them, you have to go through customs and put them on a X-ray machine to leave. Lots of rules in China.

FINALLY we met Mulan, our Shanghai tour guide. She took my bag and guided us to Terminal 2, where a driver came to get us. She seems nice so far and chatted with us all the way to the Westin. She helped check us in.

Our room is AMAZING: huge, in fact twice as big as our room in Tokyo, at least. I love it. We took a nap and then went to Prego, their Italian restaurant. I had a sirloin steak and Kerry had TWO ENTREES: a cannelloni stuffed with ground beef. I also had a mushroom soup, risotto, and a great chocolate mousse. Kerry had tiramisu.

And now we are tired, so we went back to the hotel room. (Oh btw, we learned that the theme for the brunch on Sunday is "Aloha Brunch.)

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