June 19, 2008
HOLY SMOKES BATMAN,
THE FANNONS ARE IN CHINA
We made it...pinching myself and holy
smokes we are here. YOU WILL LOVE THIS
some things don't change no matter what
country you are in...I am blogging and Mel is
asleep snoring loudly and very content. I
won't be far behind him. The flight was
excellent little to no turbulence. I feel
certain my "crazy woman" email to Continental
turned our trip around. Right before
boarding I received their reply and they said
they would use my examples in there yearly
customer service training. I do believe when
Robyn helped us this am she was just nice, but
I think our file also said...TAKE CARE OF THIS
FAMILY! When we boarded the flight someone
named Gloria came up to us and mentioned our
adoption and there is no way she would know
unless she had a copy of my email...so yeah
they responded. There was one gal Marla. …she
was amazing made me a special snowman (vanilla
ice-cream with sprite) made Mel an Irish cream
coffee and some coke float thing he loved. She
really spoiled us both.
The flight had in seat entertainment which was
fabulous I watched Grease and Meet
the Fockers and of course Sex in the
City. It was fun to see what I picked vs.
what Mel picked "all sci fi". The food omg
they fed us constantly, gave us water
constantly and that is likely why I literally
"spent 1/2 my time in the ladies room"...not
to be gross, but like a woman in labor I peed
my way to China. Ten trips to the ladies room
on the plane to Mel's one....as he would say I
have a bladder the size of a Brazil nut.
We had some type of chicken noodle soup...with
a Chinese twist some type of green sea weed
looking stuff. I watched the other Asians and
ate it with my chopsticks. It was good, but
left my stomach in a spin...no more chicken
noodle soup for me. We did not even eat one of
the snacks we brought there was just so much
they gave us. Oh and the personal kits chap
stick, special socks, toothbrush and paste,
lotion and all sorts of goodies. I think
dinner was a 5 course meal. The seats my word
were awesome, now mind you coming home it
won't feel like a vacation as we will have 14
hours to entertain our daughter who will
barely know us. GREAT NEWS!!! There is a
changing table in the lavatory hallelujah.
When our plane arrived in Beijing the first
thing I noticed when the exited the plane all
the locals had almost a frown on there face,
nobody made eye contact and nobody smiled at
all. Of course even though we were tired I am
sure we looked like flashing neon signs. We
went thru the area where they check your
documents with no issue then we gathered our
luggage and put it on a cart to clear customs
again no big deal. I think the agents got a
kick out of seeing me lift all our heavy
luggage. I didn’t want to risk Mel pulling his
neck so insisted on schlepping the luggage.
All was well and we exited customs. We then
could see perhaps hundreds of people standing
with signs for whoever they were picking up.
We walked the line and saw no sign with our
name. A little panic settled in, I found our
“what to do if your guide is not there
paperwork”, we bought a pay phone card for 48
Yuan and then were just trying to make the
phone call when “Happy” appeared. She took our
luggage cart and literally parted the sea of
taxis and cars as she helped us make our way
to the area for pickup.
The driver came and put our 2 ton bags in but
we had to squeeze our carry ons between us in
the backseat. This was actually good as there
were no seatbelts and this helped make sure we
weren’t tossed around during the trip. One of
the local Holt agents called Happy and wanted
to speak us about signing our TA the faxed
copy apparently was not good enough she would
be meeting us at our hotel to get our
signature. We had about an hour and a half
drive to the hotel. The driver was very
experienced and actually pulled up behind the
hotel hoping to take an ally that would avoid
traffic…there was a guide and several cars
were denied but our driver had connections and
he was waved thru. Our hotel is huge and very
modern. At this point I was a bit “green or
queasy” so it was good to check in and get
settled in our nice but efficient room. After
we signed our papers we ventured down to the
lobby and found some cards with calligraphy on
them. The gift shop attendant could speak no
English but she literally stood over me like I
was going to take something….grrrrrrr. We then
found the dinner buffet where there were a few
things I felt like we could eat. There were
many wonderful things that we just did not
know what they were, so I only ate “mugged
chicken” fried chicken almost like chicken
cordon blue and steamed broccoli, rice and
broiled potatoes and a sprint. Mel had a
similar food and the bill was $40.00 which
would have been a deal if we had eaten much
but since we didn’t it was a bit steep. There
are no drink refills…you pay for each drink.
We are tired and travel worn, will get some
sleep and get ready for a big day tomorrow.
Love
Em and Mel |
Breakfast
Early Morning Snack
First scenes of Beijing
Mural in Airport
Our room
Emily with our guide Happy |
