Traveling to Guangzhou (6-28-2008)

No sightseeing today... And I only took 78 pictures (I've been averaging about 390 per day for the past several days). Today was travel day and started with the usual great company and great food.



All of the families are splitting up today and flying to the province where they will pick up thier children. We are going directly to Guangzhou (took me forever to remember how to spell that!). After about a week, all of the families will be meeting up with us in Guangzhou to finalize the adoption paperwork. Since we are going there right away, we will be settling in to our hotel for quite a long stay.

The Beijing airport is shaped like a turtle, long life, as many things here are built and decorated with symbology in mind.

When we went to check in, our flight for Noon had been cancelled and they moved us up to a 11am departure, so we were already running late. We were expedited through security and rode a cart to the "gate." When we got to the gate, we found ourselves on the third floor, "shopping areas," floor 2 looked like the gate waiting area and the actual gate was on the 1st floor. After checking in at the gate, we actually got on a bus and waited for a while, then we drove for a while and ended up out on the tarmac, parked right beside our plane.

At this point, we are getting very excited about getting E.V. We are less than 24 hrs out and are on the plane ride to her province.

Of course, it couldn't be that easy. Apparently, there was a typhoon that hit Hong Kong yesterday and now Guangzhou is getting some of the weather. We were diverted to Guitin, a city about an hours flight northwest of Guangzhou. When we landed there, the pilot came back and talked to everyone, but he didn't speak much English, so we were judging what was going on mostly by the reactions of the people around us. Of course, CHI would know we had been diverted and would react accordingly. After sitting for about an hour, we took back off and landed in Guangzhou. Our original flight was supposed to be from Noon - 3pm and we ended up flying from 11am - 5:30pm.... Bottom Line: We are in Guangzhou and that is all that matters... just another adventure.

We were met at the airport by the CHI representative, Elsie, and taken by bus to the hotel for check-in.

This hotel is very nice and the room is set up very interestingly. The bathroom and shower are all part of one waterproof room and you just shower whether you are in or out of the tub. Also, the wall between this tub/shower area and the beds is glass, so you can see right through. Pretty cool, but not huge on privacy. Yes, there is a little powered curtain thing that you can bring down if you want some privacy.

There is a little play-crib in our room and the hotel staff left a little stuffed bear for E.V.! Very cute.

Since we arrived a little late and have been eating so much lately, we decided to just have a little snack and go for a massage for our last night without a child. We went to a massage house and got a 2 hour full body massage for both of us, with a really good tip for about $45 total. Why not spoil ourselves... that is about what you would pay for one 30min massage at home.

After the massage, it was back to the room where we spent a little time unpacking and setting up the room for the arrival of baby E.V.

When we get up tomorrow.... It will be GOTCHA DAY!!!

-Darrell