Following Daughter to China

[Admin]

My 16yo daughter Caitlin left today on a 2 week school trip to their sister school in Nanjing, China. It's her first big trip apart from tears from her at the airport I am unsure who is the most anxious, her or me.

 

Her trip is:

 

13/9 - Shanghai

 

14/9 - Nanjing

 

15/9 - 16/9 - attending classes at their sister school in Nanjing

 

17/9 - Suzhou

 

18/9 - 20/9 - Beijing

 

21/9 - 23/9 - Xi'an

 

24/9 - 25/9 - Shanghai

 

26/9 - Home to Melbourne

 

I have forum user bexrbetter laying in wait over in China in case there are any extreme emergencies but I am following her flight here on Recreational Flying and it aint leaving the screen till she lands:

 

[ATTACH]21021[/ATTACH]

 

I wish I was going with her but we had to scrap, beg, borrow and steal for this once in a life time school trip for her and I know her first big trip is going to be memorable...I hope China Eastern have their act together by now...was it CE or CS (Southern) that was flying with busted fan blades into Germany and was grounded there

 

 

 

[yampy]

Its only natural being loving and caring parents that you are a little apprehensive and nervous having your daughter taking this big trip.. I bet she has the time of her life, a trip of a lifetime and one filled with great memories ..I worried when my daughter had a school trip to Wagga , so a trip to China would have given me goosebumps I tell you .... Try not to worry too much Ian, she'll be OK ..

 

 

[Admin]

Its only natural being loving and caring parents that you are a little apprehensive and nervous having your daughter taking this big trip.. I bet she has the time of her life, a trip of a lifetime and one filled with great memories ..I worried when my daughter had a school trip to Wagga , so a trip to China would have given me goosebumps I tell you .... Try not to worry too much Ian, she'll be OK ..

Thanks Mate, She is right now just N/E of Alice and suppose to land at Shanghai around midnight our time so a late night for me

 

 

[kaz3g]

What a fantastic opportunity for her, Ian? And how proud you must rightly be that she is able to have it?

 

She will be fine. China is a very safe place and has an amazing cultural history.

 

Kaz

 

 

[Admin]

Thanks Kaz...Caitlin is right over the top of Darwin as I write...the longest she has ever been away from us is the normal School camp for 4 days...it will be something she will always remember...the Great Wall of China and all the other great sights. The only thing she is not looking forward to is School in Nanjing...they start school at 7am and go to 6pm.

 

 

[Jabiru Phil]

Ian,

 

Back from a seven day straight golfing trip to Kunming in Yunnan Provence yesterday.

 

We were welcomed everywhere we went.

 

People very polite and helpful. Probably the cleanest city that I have seen in in my travels.

 

One word of advice, have a steak sandwich with chips ready when she returns.

 

Phil.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

My son lives and works in Wuxi about 50 mins north of Shanghai...so there are 2 people you can get hold of just in case

 

 

[Admin]

Thanks Guys...getting a bid worried at the moment as she is over a lot of water...I will do just that Phil, Steak Chips and Eggs although she wears braces and is carrying a card written in Mandarin just in case there is a problem with interpretation that says "soft food only". Thanks Kyle, I made the school do a whole flow-chart of the processes that would occur in different situations of extreme emergencies. For those that don't know, Caitlin has grown up with disabilities, Auditory Processing Loss (she can't distinguish your voice from a car going past), Developmental Verbal Dyspraxia (her brain and mouth don't communicate together properly causing jumbled speech) and others but she has worked hard, currently a School Captain, and to go on this trip is a MAJOR leap...for both of us

 

 

[Geoff13]

Excellent good on her and good on you. It is never easy to let go but let go we must. After all that is why we have them, to bring them into the world and teach them to the best of our ability. After that you sit back and trust that you have done a good job. :)

 

Oh and from experience if or when they do storm out and slam the door behind them, you should quietly reopen that door and the last words they should hear as they walk away is this door will be open when you need me.

 

Cheers Geoff13.

 

 

[Admin]

This is a bit of a weird track:

 

[ATTACH]21040[/ATTACH]

 

 

 

[Admin]

Anyone want a job as an Air Traffic Controller:

 

[ATTACH]21041[/ATTACH]

 

 

 

[bexrbetter]

China is a very safe place and has an amazing cultural history.

Extremely safe, even to the point of bizarre when you have lived 20+ years in Logan area.

 

Amazing cultural history, surreal when you grow up in Oz and think something 150 years old is ancient and then come here and walk down a 2500 year old street!

 

There is a lot more to see than the tourist orientated places which can be a bit trumped up and commercialised. except for the Great Wall, it's just awesome anytime, even the reconditioned Tourist section, it's just .

 

 

[rgmwa]

She'll love it! A group of four of us spent 5 weeks travelling all over China in 2010 and had a wonderful time. Great country and people.

 

rgmwa

 

 

[flyvulcan]

This is a bit of a weird track:[ATTACH]31938[/ATTACH]

Pretty typical for that region Ian as aircraft divert around thunderstorms. Better to go around them than through them as they are really nasty inside. I've been cruising round there at 47000' and they still go 30000' higher than where I'm at....

 

China is a fantastic place to visit. I went there for 2 weeks during the SARS crisis and I felt like we were the only tourists there at the time. We were treated extremely well everywhere we went and the folks were very nice to us. We loved it, it was absolutely fascinating.

 

 

[flyvulcan]

47000 Ft in what?

Falcon900 and Global Express business jets. Both have ceilings of 51000' but there's not much fuel saving to be had above 47000' so we don't go above 47000' often.

 

FYI, if we suffer a depressurisation at that altitude, in the Global Express that I currently fly there is an Emergency Descent Mode (EDM) function on the autopilot which puts the aircraft into a descent to 15000' and then automatically levels off. So when we pass out after the depressurisation, we can wake up at 15000'. Hopefully we weren't flying over the Andes at the time!

 

 

[Admin]

How often do you get a chance to come back home? oh, and hope all the IT and connection issues are now sorted out

 

 

[flyvulcan]

I get back to Oz either twice a year for 2 weeks at a time, or once a year for 3-4 weeks. It's no wonder my Komet jet has taken almost 5 years to build so far. Between me and my able co-builders, we've put in around 800 hours labour on the build so far. If I lived in Oz, the jet would have been flying a few years ago. At least I can now work on my Fokker triplane here in the desert which is great therapy for me and helps pass the time.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

A mate of mine is one of Graham Harts pilots . Hart has 2 global express. My mate loves them he reckons far better than the 737 biz jet he used to fly for Hart

 

 

[Admin]

Forgot to post this one of Caitlin finally over China about to start their descent:

 

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Anyway, Caitlin is there now yesterday visiting the Bund, a popular promenade along the Huangpu River where the old meets the modern Shanghai. Saw local people performing Tai Chi, visited Shanghai Xintiandi seeing unique Shikumen houses and a maze of narrow alleys converted into Cafes and shops. Boarded the Bullet Train to Nanjing and meeting up with her assigned Nanjing School home stay. Last night her home stay school buddy and her family took her out on the town to show it off. Today she will attend classes at the Nanjing school with school hours being 7:30am to 6pm.

 

Her last flight was when I flew her up to Sydney and back in my CT but that was about 5 years ago and she said she felt safe with me at the controls flying the aircraft for her, don't know why . At the airport she saw a 4 striper and said she wants to wear a uniform like that so WOW, the first time she has shown an interest in flying...the minute she gets back I will have to organise some flying lessons for her

 

You guys probably don't want to hear about all this as it isn't aviation related but I will post it anyway as it brings a smile to my face writing about what she is up to

 

 

 

 

[Geoff13]

Hey. We can be interested in more than one thing so keep posting.

 

 

[rgmwa]

You guys probably don't want to hear about all this as it isn't aviation related but I will post it anyway as it brings a smile to my face writing about what she is up to

Of course it's aviation related. She got on a plane didn't she?

 

rgmwa

 

 

[DCM]

Hello Ian

 

Little girls have a habit of making old dads smile my little girl (now 23 )and I spent the weekend fishing caught nothing much but we both loved it ,she was never supposed to live beyond 6 I think I am the luckiest Dad ever

 

David

 

 

[DonRamsay]

While visiting Shanghai I carried a card with the hotel name & address on it in Chinese. Gave it to a taxi driver who I subsequently figured out couldn't read! Still got to the hotel due to my ability to wave my hands in fluent Mandarin. :-)

 

 

[Admin]

Spoke to Caitlin for an hour or so last night, well text anyway using WeChat as she prefers text and having a great time. Spent the day at school which was hard for her not only the real long day of school they have there but also interpreting what was being said. This is year 10 and it is very much like "lecture" orientated. Even last night at around 8pm their time Caitlin's home stay partner was busy doing homework after over 10hrs at school. The family she is staying with are really nice she says but very short on English and luckily she has her own room which is supposedly rare in China to have a spare room. Today the China Middle School （Houmen） Principle is taking them for an excursion in the afternoon on a river cruise and get this, a Karaoke place and then back to the host family home.

 

Here are some pics but note that I have had to black out the faces as naturally I don't have the children's parents permission to show them:

 

[ATTACH]21098[/ATTACH] After 6 hrs sleep

 

[ATTACH]21099[/ATTACH] The host families waiting at the host school for the arrival of the kids

 

[ATTACH]21100[/ATTACH] A little office block

 

[ATTACH]21101[/ATTACH] Walking along The Bund

 

[ATTACH]21102[/ATTACH] The Shikumen houses and a maze of narrow alleys

 

[ATTACH]21103[/ATTACH] Shanghai train station

 

[ATTACH]21104[/ATTACH] The bullet train

 

I get a gauge of how Caitlin is handling it all by getting her to score the trip out of 10 each time...last night it was 8 (with a huge lack of sleep) so I hoping it gets to 9 in a couple of days with some sleep

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bexrbetter]

While visiting Shanghai I carried a card with the hotel name & address on it in Chinese. Gave it to a taxi driver who I subsequently figured out couldn't read! Still got to the hotel due to my ability to wave my hands in fluent Mandarin. :-)

3rd day in China I was busting to go to the loo, after many attempts to make myself understood I crossed my legs, crossed my hands over my groin and hunched forward and turned my face red ... instant response, International sign language!