A Busy Day of Preparation

Well, today has been crazy. We have been running around trying to tie up all the loose ends before we leave tomorrow. We spent the last 2 hours weighing our luggage, taking things out, shifting between bags, and trying to come into compliance with the travel rules in China. We don't anticipate any problems with our luggage on the flights to and from China, but those several flights we will be taking within China on China Southern Airlines are the ones we are worried about. As best we can tell, we are only allowed to check 44 pounds of luggage each on those flights and carry on one item that must be 11 pounds or less. Some websites also indicate that the checked luggage can only be one ITEM each. We are each taking 1 suitcase, one rolling tote, and a backpack. If they let us carry on the rolling tote AND the backpack, no problem. If they make us check the tote with the suitcase, we do have that combo under 44 pounds but it will depend on whether or not that can consist of 2 bags. Hopefully the worst case scenario will be that we have to pay a little extra to check the totes.

Wow, it is definitely late and I am getting tired because I spent a long time rambling about luggage there...

The rest of our time today has been spent childproofing and cleaning. Stephanie is definitely in nesting mode and would hand scour the entire apartment in concentrated bleach if she had her way, I think. So amidst the slightly caustic odor of Clorox we will try to get a few hours of sleep before we get up to leave on our early flight.

I would like to say a special "thank you" to our co-workers who have made this trip possible and have bent over backward to cover for us, change call schedules, etc. I am especially grateful for Ling Yu, John Idoux, and Kim Smith who have made big changes in their schedules to help me out. Stephanie's coworkers have been incredibly thoughtful to allow her to have a full maternity leave. We appreciate this more than you know!

Next entry will be en route to China! JP