Shanghai Arrival Day

Good evening, Sioux Falls (and points in the USA!)

This was my view of Shanghai following my arrival last night - about 24 hours prior to the arrival of the rest of the crew.  Alas, today is quite similar, and my understanding is that it won't change much until late Wednesday afternoon.

That said, if the gang is as tired as I was last night, it probably won't matter what they see, right?

Reports are that the trip from Sioux Falls so MSP was unenventful - everyone showed up on time, and the group had plenty of time to make their morning flight to Seattle.  FOUR HOURS in Seattle, and then they loaded their Delta 767 to head up over Alaska and onward to Shanghai.  At last look on FlightAware, they were just entering Russian airspace....I'll be some of them never thought they could say THAT, right?

Delta reports the flight to be a bit early at 4:45 p.m.  It takes a good hour to get through Customs - the group will be fingerprinted (a new security function for ALL foreigners entering China) then head through Passport Control, on to find all their luggage and then a SEA of people moving to get through "Nothing to Declare."  Once outside of the secure area, they'll be met by huge signs and our local guides who will get them to buses and onward to the hotel.  From landing to their rooms it's probably a good 2.5. hours.  And then, DINNER!

What's it like to be in tomorrow when YOU ALL are in yesterday?  Better yet, what does the body feel like after be in transit for more than 24 hours?  I'll guarantee they'll hit the sack right after dinner, then be up wandering around at about 2 am.  Just like me.  But then they'll head right back to sleep as we have breakfast at 7 a.m. Wednesday morning and we'll be off for a full day of Shanghai!

I'll post tonight when I see the group!

And here we go - a series of photos of the group arriving, dinner (for those who arrived before I sat down to eat!) and a special day for two of our travelers, Andrea DeGroot-Nesdahl and Janai Crawford.  Happy Birthday you two!

I'm impressed with the resiliancy of the group - after they got to their rooms and came back down for dinner, they looked pretty good!  And now, the race to bed!  See you tomorrow!