We are in Nanning

It has been a journey, but we are finally sitting in our hotel room in Nanning. Other than being a bit jet-lagged, we are doing well. Our journey started out with a drive to the airport in a limo. We made arrangements for a Towncar to take us to the airport so we could say our good-byes to Skylar at home. What showed up in front of our house was a long, black stretch limo. That was an interesting way to start things off. The trip only got better from there. We had Business Class tickets for the flights to China so this meant we got into all of the *short* lines at the airport. The short line at the ticket counter. The super short line at the security check. Once in the terminal we waited for our flight in the NW Club room. We also got early boarding where we were served beverages and handed newspapers while we waited for take-off. And those were just all of the perks BEFORE the plane left the ground. I am very glad we paid a few hundred dollars more for the upgraded tickets. Listen, this journey is emotional enough both because of what we left behind and because of why we are going.

The flight to Japan was smooth (once they removed the luggage for the passenger that checked-in bags but never boarded the flight) and is sure didn't seem like we were in the air for 10 hours. Once we arrived in Japan we found out that our flight to Guangzhou, China had been cancelled. The NW representatives were greeting all Guangzhou passengers as we got off the plane. They gave us tickets on a different flight with Japan Airline and walked us all to the proper place so we wouldn't miss the flight. They were wonderful.

We made it Guangzhou... and so did our bags thankfully. By the time we finished clearing customs it was after 11:00 PM in China. We made our way to the airport hotel and this is where we got our first lesson that we need to be careful. As we walked to the airport hotel a shuttle driver offered to give us a ride. He told us it would 380 yuan. We initially agreed until our jet-lagged brains finally kicked in and realized that he wanted to charge us over $50 for a ride that was going to take less than 5 minutes.

We spent the night in Guangzhou and then caught a 9:50 AM flight to Nanning. And here we are. We haven't had time see much yet. We spent the day getting settled in our room, adjusting to the time and ordering food by pointing to pictures on menu. And no, I didn't choose the dish that had the chicken head on the plate... and I also passed on the ox shin, turtle soup, ostrich and crocodile. The picture you see with this post is from our hotel room. The air quality is bad and the humidity is even worse. I won't even go into how they drive here on this post. I will save that for later, after I actually try to cross a street. Yikes!

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