I was still feeling of so great from last night Praying sessions with the local porcelain god...

Its 5am Rise and Shine. Is your luggage packed?  uhhh... no... )-:   We under estimated how much was packed from the night before. Had the Lights out for Maleah, so I'm sure that was the cause. hehehe  We had to hustle to get going, only and hour to get checked out and on the bus!

Irv like the trooper he was, had his act together and was checked out by 5:30am!  We were still packing at 5:55 and Chris was there to help things along.

Getting Checked out was fun too. We didn’t know where the 2nd room key was and they wanted it back. I also the 2 waters from the mini bar to help with my prayers from the night before. So they didn’t figure on this until after they processed the credit card for the rooms. Of which I already used up the last of the Chinese money I had. So they settled for US Cash…

So off to the White Swan to pick up the rest of the Bunch…  Good think we were late; it gave them time to get things going… They were a bit behind too! We didn’t see the bug rush… Though there were some unexpected things at the Guangzhou Airport.

Um, lap seat Ticket? Um, I’ll just get that there… Or so Irv thought. We went to check in and divided up our luggage with Irv. Some how he ended up with more luggage then Jen, Paul and I. So to help with the overage costs we took on some excess baggage. When Irv went to check in, they would not let him get the Lap-seat Ticket fort Lia. He had to go to another area of the Airport and get the Ticket. Chris was not too happy about that.

Then David and Alicia took about twice the time it took the other 5 of us to check in. They also had extra baggage and had to go to another counter to pay the overage charges. That seemed to take forever. We all left the Ticket counter and passed the, yes, Exit Customs, Security and were on the plane before we even saw Davis and Alicia again. Though they did make it on the plane.

The Flight from Guangzhou to Hong Kong went well; it was a hop, skip and a jump away. We almost made it cursing altitude before we had to make out decent back down.

We lucked out in Guangzhou and were able to check our luggage through to the United Flight to SFO. We said goodbye to our North Carolina Friends and Headed to the United Transfer Check-In Desk.  With Maleah’s good looks and cute smile, we managed to get seats together. Before we all had seats in the center one in front of the other. That would have made for an interesting trip home!

Well with no breakfast in our tummies we followed the Signs for ‘Restaurants and Shops’ well Several Shops later and 30 gates, we found a Sole Restaurant that was, yes, Chinese Food. Only looking for a Bagel and Coffee we walked back the 30 gates and headed the other direction. No Luck. )-; We knew there was a Starbucks in the place, though we already entered the Departure area and could not leave to the unsecured area. We found a cafeteria with some croissants, juice and yes, more Chinese food. Still feeling Oh so well, I did opt for some plain steamed rice to see if that would stick…

Paul tried to upgrade us to something better then back of the bus and got shot down before he finished the word upgrade. The Economy Plus on the way over gave a few extra inches which helped; No luck here…

Not sure how this works, but we took the Polar route on the way back and went up towards the Bering Sea, Washington, etc. It was faster then the Direct Route when we flew in.  2.5 hours shorter. I still think you just fly up, let the earth spin and come back down.

The Flight was great. Well for Maleah and the rest. I concentrated on not having to do any more praying to the porcelain gods, as this flight didn’t have that much knee room.

Maleah was a trooper, she slept, ate, slept, slept some more, looked at Jen and Paul for a while, ate and slept. Oh there were a few diaper changes here and there too.  She didn’t fuss a bit.

It was great to see familiar landscapes again. Ones more then a few hundred feet away… You can’t truly appreciate the air you have until you can’t see through it.

Irv and Lia meet their family at the Customs Exit. We gave him back his luggage in exchange for some hugs and a Date for Chinese New Year in Santa Rosa.

With our Early Flight Arrival, we were not sure if Pamela was going to Drive by the loading zone or meet us and we walk to the short term parking.

The Ride home was, er um, one event full.

In China, they don’t really use seatbelts or Car seats or anything like that. Well we strapped Maleah into her Car seat and she was not too happy about it.   She Cried and Cried her little eyes out. We thought for sure she was going to blow a gasket.

We decided to get a bottle ready for her. Though we had no hot water...  This looks like a Call for Starbucks!

Well on 19th and one up from Lincoln there happened to be one. 3 Rights later we drive right by, no parking...  A Few more rights Pamela and I hopped out and went to get Hot Water. By the time we were at the front of the line Paul, Jen and Maleah walked in. The kid behind the counter obviously didn't know what I really wanted. I did have a baby bottle ready to go and opened, though that might be a hint.  Not getting it, he gave us a cup of the hottest water they had. Not wanting to really explain what I wanted I grabbed a bottle of water and went to pay for it. All I had in my Wallet was Chinese Money... A quick borrow of Pamela's Starbucks card and we were in business. It wasn’t till I sat down to make the bottle that I found a bottle of water from the plane in my pocket!

Maleah was happy again with the Bottle, that is until we strapped her into the Car Seat again...

Several miles later after mom jumped into the back seat and dad didn't pay attention to her anymore, she fell asleep.

We arrived home save and sound....