Dec. 19th – Flying to Guangzhou

We had our last breakfast in Kunming this morning, and our final walk on the lake and the streets surrounding the hotel. We got some shopping done, then put Kaeli down for her nap. Then Laurie and I dragged everything out into the hallway outside the room and somehow managed to get everything packed. Todd and Diana in the next room were doing the same thing, so the hallway looked like a lawn sale gone rampant!

We left for the airport at 1:45, and got our bags checked in at the airport. We took a bus from our gate to the actual plane, and were lucky to be in a three-seat row for the 1.5 hour flight to Guangzhou. Kaeli was mesmerized by the goings-on outside the bus and airplane window, and was so good the entire flight. She sat and looked out the window and played with toys and drank when she needed to for ear popping. I don’t want to get my hopes up for the LONG flight home, but this first flight went SO well!

We were met at the airport by Amy, a one-day only guide, who helped us get our luggage and get to our bus and to the White Swan Hotel. It was about a 45 minute ride from the airport (gorgeous, modern, huge) down this newly constructed highway lined with new huge modern buildings into Guangzhou. The White Swan itself is on Shamian Island in the Pearl River, and is a 20+ floor building that is lit up and very hard to miss on the horizon. We drove in to the hotel across a bridge that had been built specially for Queen Elizabeth to visit the hotel, but now everyone can use the bridge.

We got settled into our room, and Laurie went out exploring while I fed Kaeli and ordered room service for myself. My cold seems to have come back, or it is the air pollution here in the city that has aggravated my nose and throat. Kaeli was quite hyper and not at all interested in sleeping, so we had an interesting evening. She finally conked out around 10pm, and Mama and Laurie shortly after!