Returning to China---Not Without Some Adventure!

 China was difficult the first time around to get into---miraculous to have actually made it.

The second time, it was easier, but while going through it, it didn't feel like it--we still needed approval to enter the country.  And again, it was nonetheless miraculous.

This time around, we could fly directly from Salt Lake City without a week in a city approved for testing. And only two negative Covid tests were needed.  Seemed simple enough.

Then we read the fine-print requirements:  2 RT-PCR tests at CILA certified labs with two different reagents 24 hours apart from each other one and two days before the flight.  Who in the US is still doing PCR test with a rapid turn around?  And who knows the reagents they use? No one that we could find.

After several phone calls, we were exhausted at the thought of actually being successful.  We finally just decided to use two different certified labs and hope that their reagents were different and that we could get results in time.

Our flights were 7:30pm on a Tuesday.  On Sunday we went to Walgreens, waited a long time in the line and then another 20 minutes at the window.  They were puzzled that we wanted PCR tests and that we were paying out of pocket--so were 2 credit cards and 1 debit card because the payment was rejected on all 3 cards.  We finally saw we had messages on our phone saying there was a fraudulent purchase pending.  Once we authorized the $560, we were able to pay.  We did the swab and were handed papers.  As we drove off we read that results could be expected in '48-72 hours but CAN TAKE LONGER' (yes, it was in all caps).  We didn't have more than 52 for the results to be too late.  What to do, but move forward, formulating non-ideal options if needed... (And praying that somehow, some way the results would arrive in time.)

My brother Joe helped us with the second test by sending in a rush order for us.  That was one thing that went well in the process.

On Tuesday morning, we packed up, and with Chandler's help returned our car to its garage and got to the train station.  We had far less luggage this time around, but because we were asked to bring garments back for members here and we stocked up with quarantine food, we ended up buying two IKEA bags to carry the whole of what we bought.  Those are a sturdy, cheap and great option, but terribly awkward and difficult to maneuver.  Next time I do this, I will really try to avoid IKEA bags......  

We arrived at the airport about 3:30 without clearance from the Chinese embassy to fly.  We found some chairs just inside the door and kind of sneezed our stuff everywhere and Tom began paperwork for the clearance even without the test results.  He had forgotten that we needed to have some documents printed out so we each could sign them then scan them back in for uploading.  No worries, airports have business centers.  Oh wait, they are on the other side of TSA.....  So we used Greta's Surface Pro to sign, transferred them to Tom's computer, resized and played with the placement until it looked like a real signature.  Whew.

Meanwhile Tom sent me on a query to find out what to do if we weren't allowed to fly.  In that process I learned that the airport had an onsite lab with certified Covid testing.  It was on the other side of TSA, but Delta could take us there one by one and possibly get it done.  I just needed to locate someone with a phone number to call out to them to certify that they could do it.  The information desk guy was super kind and took me upstairs to a swarm of offices/cubicles/conference rooms to find his boss who might have the number.  They worked together and finally got one for me.  I called.  No answer.  Mr. Information Desk was a super chatty guy and wanted to talk it up with his boss, but there was no way I could get out of that maze of offices without help, so he had to cut the chit chat short to navigate me back out of the office spaces. I made my way back to Tom and tried the number again a few times without success.  By then, it was nearly 5:00 and we were still without test results.  Delta had told me that we needed to be upstairs by 6:00 in order to make the flight.  

About 5:10, the first result came in.  Tom hurriedly started to upload all of the documents to the embassy (it was something like 12 per person).  

🚒🔥🧯Then suddenly, the fire alarm went off and we all had to file outside.  Tom, still frantically worked on the documents while we waited for the fire alarm issue to be resolved.

Thankfully there was not a fire, nor fire engines etc. to complicate things and in 20 minutes, we just went back in and sat down.  A little bit after 6:00 pm Tom finished the paperwork and we hustled upstairs.  We didn't know if we needed the authorization from the embassy to fly to Seattle or if that would only be needed in Seattle, but we had to give it a try.

The nice people at Delta said they needed to see the codes, but started processing our tickets even without the clearance.  Three of us received the green code to fly while the tickets were being issued.  As they were finishing up tagging luggage, Greta's was still only showing a processing message but for whatever reason, the agent let us through with that.

We could tell that divine intervention had been sent to our aid; it truly was a miracle that given the rigidity of the embassy regulations and the lateness of our submission that we received the codes in that amount of time.  And with that, we were off to Seattle having just enough time to grab a bite to eat (we were famished).

After landing in Seattle, we had a 1.5 hour layover, which was mostly taken up with finalizing the clearance to fly.  Greta's green code came in and then with that, temperature checks, more paperwork and getting the correct stickers on our passports we were able to load the plane with little time to spare.  BUT we made it!  And since it was late and we were all so exhausted, we all slept! Thirteen hour flights are much nicer when you sleep through half of it!  

The process of getting out of the Shanghai airport hadn't changed---still lengthy, lots of paperwork, testing etc.  But this time we could process the experience a little better since we knew what to expect and weren't worried about if we could do everything right.  We took our time and since we were much slower than anyone else on the plane, we were given our own private bus to the quarantine location.  (More than a 1 hour ride....)  But we might as well take our time.....there was not any real hurry to get back into quarantine!!!

Waiting to go through customs

Waiting to pass through the narrow walk ways to the bus loading area.

One thing we had reaffirmed to us through this whole process is that faith is a principle of action.  Had we been sitting in American Fork waiting for our Covid test results before going to the airport, we would have never made it.  We had to put our trust in the Lord that He would open doors for us by taking action.  Each step put us in place to be ready for the next step.  We had to take action, trusting that the Lord would do what we could not.  It truly was a miracle that we made the flights.