Planes Trains & Automobiles

Let the journey begin! We eagerly boarded the commuter plane Thursday morning at 6 am leaving Birmingham headed to Detroit for a 6 hour layover before the very very very very very did I say very long flight to Hong Kong!!! With great anticipation we boarded the Boeing 777 for Hong Kong. We were so excited to each have our own tv screen right in front of us and have full control of the remote to watch whatever we wanted...great movie selections, music, tv shows,etc. We were fortunate no one booked the middle seat in our section so that allowed the kids to sleep and gave us a little elbow room! I sat with Sarah Grace, Kim sat with Jacob and Stephen sat with a stranger in front of us and across from Kim & Jacob. After a movie and a little conversation lunch rolls around and we could not wait to see what they had prepared for us and at this point I STILL don't know what it was so needless to say I ended up savoring the few snacks I brought along. (note to self: don't rely on airline food ever) unless you fly first class and that is a whole different story! I understand they got filet mignon for supper and ice cream sundaes for dessert and they can lay flat in their own private space AND their seats are massage chairs!! Now keep in mind that comes at a premium though. Ok back to economy...after they have fed all the hungry beasts they turn the lights off I guess to tell us it's nap time go to sleep and leave us alone. You could wander back to the galley for pretzels and the beverage of your choice. Okay so we all take a little nap to pass the time, wake up watch another movie then you look at your watch knowing you are getting close only to find out you have only been in the air five hours and you have 11 more to go. They turn the lights on ,you get another snack watch another movie then lights out again and sleep a little more, this kills about 5 more hours. Now we are on the home stretch just 6 more hours so by this time I am looking for other ways to entertain myself since 80 % of the people are asleep ( they must have drugged themselves:) I start doing laps around the plane and all of these people who were so well put together at the beginning are now draped in every position imaginable in their seats snoring, drooling and legs hanging out in the isle. Even though I hate using the bathroom on planes it became a form of entertainment, I even went a little "Monica" and did a little housekeeping while I was in there! If I had proper cleaning products I could have done a better job so without that I just drained the water out of the sink because apparently nobody seemed to do that after they washed their hands. I also pushed the pile of paper towel down the shoot and dried up the water around the sink. I stopped at cleaning the toilet though!! It was very entertaining watching where our plane was traveling across the map on our little tv even though the progress seemed slow. I saw the sun set twice even though it never got dark...still don't quite understand that. Finally we reach Hong Kong
At 8:30pm and I have never seen people get off a plane so quickly! We rapidly moved through immigration and someone from the Hyatt drove us and our mountain of luggage to our hotel! A little freaky to ride down the opposite side of the road and the man driving was sitting in the passenger seat! When we arrived at the hotel we went straight to bed we were so happy to get horizontal and slept like babies. The next morning we boarded a train for a two hour ride to Guangzhou! It was a very pleasant experience, much more comfortable and accommodating than the plane! We arrived in Guangzhou about 3:00 pm and what a culture shock! Hong Kong was very metropolitan and this place is very dreary and full of smog. You take your life in your own hands crossing the street and you have to watch your step cause they will spit big phlegm balls anywhere! We are pretty content in our hotel rooms which I must say are spectacular!
We are kind of limited on what we can and can't eat and drink but there is a Starbucks close by as well as a McDonalds and I have to say they never tasted SO good! Thus our journey so far and tomorrow is the BIG day and we are so excited. This hotel is the central place where many families stay while going through the adoption process and at breakfast this morning there were several families who have been here a week an already have their children. It was just so sweet to see them and what a huge blessing for these precious children as well as the families! It is very touching to see the smiles and the love shared between them! God is so Good!