Starting where I left off ... we left the White Swan hotel and took a 2 hr train ride from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. What a great way to see some of the China countryside, everything from villages to factories to cities. The train was very nice and seemed new, and it was a smooth ride. We enjoyed it and Abby loved her ride. Once in the train station we took a bus to the Regal Airport Hotel, had a late dinner, and got a good night's sleep before our big travel day.
From the time we left the Regal until the time we landed in Peoria, about 25 hours elapsed. It was a few hours shorter than our journey over, which was nice. Our flight from Hong Kong to Tokyo (3.5 hrs) left a few minutes earlier than originally scheduled, and we had about an hour in Tokyo before boarding our connecting flight to Minneapolis. The flight from Tokyo took off on time, and we had a (all things considered) relatively smooth 10.5 hr flight to
Minneapolis. Abby did incredible on the plane, sleeping well and probably about 4 hrs total of the 10.5 on the plane. We did buy a seat for her which was good since the plane was packed, and we had extra room to stretch if she was on our lap, and she had room to stretch out and sleep.
As the plane landed in Minneapolis she waved her small American flag in great symbolism of becoming a new American citizen! She carried it in her hand through the airport and had fun with it. It took us about 30 min to get through Immigration, then we had to go to another place and wait a little more to submit her visa and get the
process rolling from an immigration standpoint, even though she is "technically" a citizen now. We waited there about another 30 min and then had to get our bags and run them back through customs, so all told it was about an hour and 15 min to clear once we got off the plane ... no problem since we had a 4 hr layover.
The Minneapolis airport has a shopping mall and food court area, so we stretched our legs and enjoyed not sitting down for awhile. We got to the gate for our Peoria flight and there were only about 8 people on the plane, and the gate agent and flight attendant immediately started asking about Abby and was she just coming home, etc. One of the families in our travelgroup (the Overbey's) split off from us in Tokyo to connect through Seattle, and they were
supposed to meet up with us on this leg of the trip into Peoria. When it was time to board and they had not arrived, we asked the gate agent to check on their flights and we found out they had been delayed leaving Tokyo and would not make our flight. Our thoughts went out to them for getting home later than planned ... on a day that was already long enough!
The flight from Minneapolis to Peoria was smooth, and before we knew it, we were landing. We loaded Abby in the stroller and headed to baggage claim, and the most welcome sight greeted us at the bottom of the escalator ... Drew and TJ!! I was very happy to see them and it was a very emotional moment ... we missed them so much! Then we
rounded the corner and were met by Mitch's parents; our neighbors John, Deanna, Allison & Cori; and friends Harold, Lisa and JR. It was so great to see everyone there, again a very welcome sight to see familiar faces! Several cameras were flashing and John's "mission" was to take video for us of Abby meeting her brothers and the rest of the crowd.
Once home we had a chance to catch up with Mitch's parents, and show them our souveniers of the trip. Here it is a day and a half later and I have yet to cook a meal ... we have been very pampered by Cheryl having a crock pot of chili ready on Sat night, then the Fox's came over last night and prepared pizza and salad for us so that we would not have to figure out what was for dinner. It was really appreciated!
John and Deanna came over last night, too, and we were able to show them all of our purchases. We bought Deanna a special painted crystal globe because you would not believe the work she has done for us in Abby's room ... stenciling on the walls and she also made Abby's crib skirt, valance, crib sheet and stenciled a lamp to match
the walls. Allison and Cori made the softest blanket for Abby, it's just beautiful. My next order of business will be to take pics of all of these wonderful things and post them, but no pics there yet! Sorry!!
Abby is napping and has been sleeping pretty well considering a 14 hr time change. She is an angel and we are so happy to finally be home with her, although there will definitely be things about China that I will miss. It will always have a special place in our hearts since it is Abby's homeland.
I'm so glad that I took the time to chronicle this journey on a daily basis ... for those of you still waiting to travel to China, I would highly recommend it. I don't know how I could come home and sum it up, you really need to capture your thoughts and feelings and experiences each and every day of the journey. We really appreciate all of you sharing this journey with us ...
Lisa