MagLev Train

Maglev train, just the sound of it is cool. It is only the fastest commercial train on the planet!!!! It uses magnetic levitation with a maximum commercial speed of 268 mph. For all you boys (girls too) out there that still love trains, this is quite an experience. The train was designed to move travelers from the city to the outlying international airport, which in car can take about 35 minutes without traffic. The train makes no stops, it leaves from Pudong on outskirts of the city center, actually very close to where I live, and drops you off at the airport in 7 minutes. Because the kids were off in the middle of the week for moon festival, we decided to take a ride on the maglev train. First of all it is very slick. It was clean and efficient. We bought VIP tickets so we had big windows and comfy seats. Getting moving is not like on airplane, so you don't get as much of a G-force rush but you do get moving quickly. What is different about the train is the perception of speed. You can appreciate your speed so much more when the houses are flying by you. Even more impressive is when you pass by an oncoming maglev train. Isn't it the theory of relativity that helps define motion. Well, if you never understood it in physics, you can ride the maglev train and experience it, because when we passed the oncoming maglev at greater tha 250 mph, it almost felt like it was traveling at light speed. Seriously it was a blink of an eye and the train was gone, so cool.

I must say however, if you are one to get dizzy or have a seizure disorder, the maglev is not for you. The rapid flashing of outside world from houses to trees etc can get your head spinning as your eyes continually try to find a place to focus. Anyway, we were out to the airport and back in less than an hour.

Kiddo update, I sent the kids to school on Thursday everything seemed fine. Jackson complained of headache and upset tummy Thursday night. On Friday, no fever JP still complained but I figured he was just at the tail end and was fine. I sent him to school... Less than on hour later the phone call....JP threw up in class. Home again! Emmy's boo boo is looking much better.

Not in Longmont anymore!!

I am back!!!! I apologize in advance this is likely to be a long post. Due to the Chinese government and their internet firewall, I had to overcome some obstacles in order to access my blog. More about that later.

So the Chicago stop over for a few days was an excellent idea. With all the stress of moving and closing down a household, a few days with good friends, good food, fun museum's and even a spa day for mom with her gal pals was what the doctor ordered. Thank you to all my girlfriends for making time to spend with us on our short stay, it meant a ton to me.

Question, flying across the planet with 500 lbs of luggage and 3 small children easy or hard? Do I have to ask. It actually went as good as it could go, I guess. Steve and JP were upgraded to business class...again. While I slaved in coach with a four year old and 17 month old. Thankfully, I had an extra seat which let us stretch out. AC was awesome, Miss E...well what can you expect of a 17 month old. All I can say, is thank God we bought her a seat. She cried far less than the lap children, of which there were many. Her biggest flaw was that she liked kicking the seat in front of her. Thankfully, she had a very gracious Chinese man in front of her. In the end I was fried, but I did manage to squeeze out a couple of hours of sleep and it definitely could had been worse.
So we landed in the Pudong airport, all 5 of us, after 14 1/2 hours of flying time. We left on a Monday morning and arrived on a Tuesday afternoon. The air was humid and the kids were tired. Now it was time to gather our massive cache of luggage. A grand total of 26 pieces. Oops! only 25 pieces... oh where oh where has our green duffle gone!!! Yes we had a 5% attrition with our luggage. For the first time in my 13 year marriage, it was not my bag. Since Steve was preparing for a natural disaster and consumed about 60% of our checked luggage, it was not a fatal loss. Luckily the bag was not home alone for long and did arrive a couple of days later. We had a decent reception with 3 minivans picking us and our luggage up.

Our first meal, if you can call it that in China. We stayed at a Marriot downtown we were all exhausted. Overtired jet lagged kids are no fun. It is like they are on speed. So we sat down at a local restaurant, the kids were loud and squirmy, Miss E was cranky, mom and dad were cranky too. When we realized this was likely not going to work, we aborted immediately and headed to an iconic Chicken establishment, KFC. Not that ordering food from there was any easier, but it was faster. The boys promptly fell asleep at the table, and that was that.