A Narrative About My Trip to China

For along time my sister had always been the world traveler of the family. First she lived in sunny fast-paced Los Angeles, California. Next was the sophisticated Princeton, New Jersey and most recent exotic China. Half way around the world. Now that was a culture completely different from anything I'd ever seen, or at least that what I had read. It's not like I had ever been there.

Being a waitress in Los Angeles, California had it's perks I have to admit. It is surely one of the only jobs in Los Angeles short of stripping where you can leave work with a pocket full of cold hard cash. But I wanted more, I wanted to travel, I wanted China. In my sister's recent travels or should I say year long residences, I had visited her. So why should China be any different and by May of 2006 I had made my choice I was going to go to China. I set my date and told my live in boyfriend that we would be leaving for China on the second of November.

I saved my money for months, watching how I spent every penny and finally saved enough for the $2000.00 plane tickets to Shanghai, China. After the tickets were taken care of I saved for the Passports and the Visas. Finally all the trip expenses where taken care of and I had two months left to save for spending money. I couldn't be more excited. I busted my butt at work to rake in the cash. I wanted to have enough money to buy nik-nacks and food in Shanghai.

Finally, the day came. November 2, 2006 at 6:00am. I dragged myself out of bed anxiously washing my face and brushing my teeth. Waking my boyfriend up to call a cab. The ride to the airport was excruciating. I felt like the cab driver took the slowest possible route to LAX, Los Angeles International Airport. Nervously I opened and closed my cell phone repeatedly to check the time. I just couldn't be late to the airport, international flights can be a pain to check in for, and missing the plane would crush me. I had waited so long. The cab slowly pulled into the departure section of airport letting my boyfriend and I off in front of the China Eastern Airlines terminal. Eagerly we jumped in line to check in. My hands shaking with excitement while holding the precious airline tickets. We waited and waited while the line moved slowly forward until it was our turn and I stepped up to the counter, which was a little to high for me. Standing on my tip toes I handed the clerk the tickets and our passports for identification. Every click on her computer keyboard meant one step closer to China.

Eventually we finished with our ticket and baggage check and all that was left was to board the plane. My boyfriend and I sat patiently in the airport terminal for our flight to begin boarding. Announcements blared from the overhead speakers while I listened intently for the information I so desperately wanted to hear. And then... "Flight 4295 from LAX bound for Shanghai, China now boarding, starting with first class and business passengers, then all regular passengers can board the plane."

We boarded the plane shortly after and took our seats. The aircraft engines roared as the plane took off. I shifted in my seat to get comfortable while my boyfriend fumbled nervously with his seat belt. We had a long flight ahead, exactly fourteen hours to be precise. While I wished the hours would melt away quickly they didn't. It was the longest flight I had ever been on. Movie after movie played on the small screens overhead. I thought the plane would never land but finally it did. We touched down at Shanghai's PVG airport at approximately 8:00pm Chinese time.

Exhausted and sore we stepped off the plane and set foot in Shanghai, China. The furthest I had ever been from home. We made our way through customs and into baggage claim understanding none of the announcements being made overhead. After acquiring our luggage, which was surprisingly only one bag, we moved towards the front of the airport terminal to find my sister, who was picking us up with a Chinese friend of hers. We found her easily, considering she was the only white girl, or person for that matter, in the airport other than myself. After a good amount of greetings and conversation we headed for the car. The very first Chinese car I've ever been in, and hit the freeway, the very first roadway I've ever been on in China! Then all at once it hit me like a rock. I was in China. My face gleamed with excitement, I looked to my right at my boyfriend who had the exact same look. We were in a dream. My eyes dodged from side to side and up and down tracing the large buildings surrounding the freeway. Neon lights lined the walls with all types of advertisements for coca-cola or a nearby Chinese restaurant. The city was so bright, so illuminated with color and there was little I could actually read which actually added to the magic of the city. It was everything I could have hoped for and more. Ever since that day, I had the bug. I now knew why my sister traveled so much and I longed to do it too.