Departure Day (by Jen)

The countdown is almost over. Trish and I will be departing for Shanghai, China, for two weeks of exploration and rejuvenation. The rejuvenation will begin immediately, as we're going to need to recover and reorient ourselves from transit. While I've been going around saying my flight will be 12 hours, I realized this morning it will be closer to 14 hours. Trish doesn't fair much better, with an actual 12 hour flights from Vancouver. On top of that, it's a 12 hour time difference between Toronto and Shanghai.

Since we arrive on different flights, we decided on a meeting point in the airport. And three back up meeting points. With an ultimate back-up plan that I'll find Trish curled up sleeping in the hotel lobby, having been told to leave the airport, but being unable to check in to the hotel since the reservation is in my name. We're pretty sure it won't come to that though, we just like to be prepared.

Knowing that we'd likely be struggling a bit as we leave the airport, Trish and I booked our first couple of nights in a hotel that is easy to get to and ask directions towards (stay tuned to hear how that works out...). We've made no plans, not even vague ideas, for the first day and a half, as we just try to adjust. If we leave the hotel and walk three blocks to the park, I'm calling that a a win.

Per Trish's previous post, her explanation of why we're actually going to Shanghai is pretty accurate. One of the many perks of travelling with Trish is that she too is interested in seeing new and different places with a "Why wouldn't we go there?" attitude. Although it wasn't a deciding factor, one of the neat pieces about going to Shanghai is that my grandfather was born there. His father was working for a British telephone company, and while I tried to look up information online, I wasn't able to find anything indicating the building is still standing (or even whereabouts it might be). I'll still keep an eye out for it, but maintain low expectations.

While Trish and I are in China, our internet connection may not be as reliable as it was in Iceland, and several websites are blocked. So while we hope to post frequently, please be patient if there are gaps, and forgiving if the formatting is wonky (I'm sure I'll compulsively fix it all when I'm back home if need be).

We had a last online chat last night, reviewed our packing strategies, tried to collectively think of the things we were certainly forgetting, and we both tried to convince me I don't need to bring as many books as I think I do...