China Day 7 - Halfway

One week from now, we will be home.  Well, halfway home as I type this.  I can’t tell you how excited we are to be home again.  In the meantime, we are happy to have arrived in Guangzhou!  Our flight was delayed and then we flew over Guangzhou for about an hour while we waited for the weather to let up enough for us to land.  So it was very late when we arrived at the hotel.  It was so fun to watch Stella (still calling her Cong Cong but faster to type Stella) check out this new hotel room.  I’ll try to post pictures tomorrow but tonight we’re just too tired.  All we did today was travel but it was exhausting nonetheless. 

Traveling by air in country when you don’t speak the language can be somewhat intimidating.  Our guide got us checked in to our flight and then dropped us off at security.  She explained to Stella everything that would happen today.  Stella nodded yes, she understood everything.  Then when we were waiting in line for security, I had our guide ask Stella if she was nervous.  She just smiled.  Then I had her ask if Stella was scared, immediate nod yes.  But she was a trooper, not a perfect trooper, but a trooper all the same.

Let me take a moment and share what in country travel is like in China.  First, you aren’t allowed to check in until 2 hours before your flight.  No problem.  Then there are two levels of boarding gates.  If you are on the upstairs floor then you use a ramp to board your plane.  If your gate is on the first floor then you board a bus and drive to the plane.  This made no sense to me as the plane was parked very close to an upstairs gate when the bus arrived.  So you show your ticket and have the stub removed then get on the bus.  Then you ride the bus to the airplane, which is within view of where you got on the bus.  Then you all wait on the bus until the first class passengers get off of their special van and on to the plane.  Then the bus opens its doors and everyone pours out to the stairs leading up to the back door of the plane.  To get on the stairs you need to have another part of your ticket removed.  The entire process was so bizarre to me it was comical.  Mind you, we were the only white people on the plane.

So I know this isn’t very exciting and no pictures is a bummer.  But we arrived to the hotel late and then I had to unpack, do some laundry, and figure out which clothes we will send out to be cleaned.  We didn’t explore the hotel.  What a bummer!  So, I’ll post more tomorrow.  Our day starts with the medical appointment, so please be praying for Miss Stella as we go through that!  Thanks!