Long time, no see...

Ok, so I haven't blogged in forever.  I am a very busy person, ya know.  I tell my husband all the time that I am much busier now that I'm "retired" than when I was working.  I am going to make blogging a priority, though, because it will document my thoughts and memories on my adventures, as well as inform everyone of what I've been up to and how I'm doing while I'm overseas.

I'm going to warn you, my blogs will probably be very random because I've thought of lots of things I want to blog about.  And yes, I will probably get on my soapbox a lot, complaining about Shanghai, or China in general.  FAIR WARNING.

Ok.  For those of you who don't know, I officially moved to Shanghai on December 13th.  It was the perfect date because that was actually my husband's and my 3rd wedding anniversary, so it was nice to be reunited.


I flew to Dallas first and stayed with one of my best friends and her family.  Her husband was supposed to be the only one picking me up at the airport, but she and her son surprised me by coming along, too!  It was so wonderful to see them, even if it was only for a few hours.

My entourage carrying my bags.  I am still carrying one, too.

Can I please tell you, I heart DFW Airport D Terminal?  And this is why... As I'm flying off to a 3rd world country and thinking about all the food I won't have access to, I am able to eat my last meal in the states at my FAVORITE bagel place...

Einstein Bros Bagels... It's the little things in life

It was also nice, because I flew business class for the first time on an international flight.  What a difference it makes!!!  I told my husband I don't want to fly coach on any flight over 4 hours EVER again.

My courtesy slippers

It was incredibly nice because I was in the bulkhead, which gave me tons of room, plus there was no one sitting next to me.  Of course, being a flight to Shanghai, there was a mandarin speaking flight attendant on the plane, and within 3 minutes of getting on the plane, she attempted to speak to me in mandarin to ask me if she could hang my coat.  Normally I don't have to deal with this until I actually ARRIVE in China, but oh well.


The food is so much better in business class, too.  I considered having a drink, but jet lag is enough to make me loopy and feel ill... I didn't need to add alcohol to the equation.

My warm nuts to start off my meal

The salad and bread were great!

Bacon wrapped, crab stuffed shrimp

Dessert - Toffee Ice cream with cocoa dusted nuts

Delicious!  And soooo much food.  So much better than the weird, sometimes unrecognizable items served in coach.  The best part of my flight was the fact I ended up sleeping for a full 8 hours.  On my previous flights in coach, I slept a total of 30 minutes because I couldn't fall asleep sitting up so straight and being so cramped.  Sleep does wonders for jet lag!


I arrived safe and sound, completely convinced customs had gone through all of my bags and taken out tons of the stuff I had brought, because I was able to lift all 5 of my suitcases on my cart by myself.  Might I add, I had 2 suitcases at 70 pounds, 2 at 50 pounds, and 1 carry-on stuffed to the max.  In the end customs didn't take anything, but had gone through 2 of my bags.  I got to kiss my husband on our anniversary, eat a calzone, and go to bed!