Congratulations on your graduation and condolences for your loss. I hope your grandfather had a long life but a short illness. Wow, you have a lot of cousins which I assume is becoming quite rare for someone your age and raised in China. It's obvious you enjoyed the trip and the chance to see your relatives. Do they speak English and do you speak Putonghua or any dialect? If not, how hard was it for you to communicate? I didn't notice if you mentioned whether you entered China as a citizen or a foreigner with a visa. Was it just your Mom who needed a visa? Your report is quite long and not the easiest to read so I might not have absorbed all the details. Please understand that I am not complaining, just explaining why I was asking in case you had already mentioned it. I will have to come back to read it more carefully.

The agent who accepted your bag for standby to Austin shouldn't have told you that it may be sent ahead of you. Even though all bags are screened, passengers are still supposed to believe that they and their bags will be on the same flight. Not that suicide bombers really care.

I am surprised that the Arrivals Suite at ORD was part of the IFL. I can't imagine that the majority of Chicago bound passengers would bother making the trip across the airport to the UA terminal and clear security just to use it. Where are they supposed to leave their checked bagage?

Thank you for writing and posting pictures.