China Day Four - Travel Day

We started our morning at 5am by live streaming the Auburn/Alabama game! It's dedication to watch the game half way around the world before the sun comes up! Although the game didn't turn out the way we wanted, War Eagle anyways! 

We enjoyed one last breakfast at the Executive Club before heading to the airport. While we were eating, we met a couple from Florida who are touring Beijing prior to him taking a class next week in Hong Kong. In one of those little God moments, we figured out he would be taking the same flight home as us next Thursday! (I told him that he still had time to change flights because my baby might cry the whole way!) He was very kind to offer us his cell phone number in case we needed help in the airport next week! I love how God places people in your life when you need it! 

After breakfast, we quickly packed up, checked out of the hotel and met our guide in the hotel lobby! We were off to the airport for our flight to Nanning! We have so enjoyed our company here in Beijing and were able to hang with them all the way until our flights departed. 

We had a bet going into the airport about who would have to pay the most money for overweight luggage fees. On international flights to China you are allowed 2 checked pieces of 50 pound luggage per person. On domestic flights in China, each person is allowed 20kg or about 44lbs. Well I'm happy to announce that I won the prize for the heaviest luggage in our group! Thanks to our guide's negotiating skills, I ONLY had to pay 100 dollars! I swiped my credit card with a smile....I'm happy to have all my stuff here! 

We said goodbye to our guide at the entrance to security! She has been a huge help to us over the past several days! We headed down the escalators, ready to take on airport security! We were quickly defeated! China is very particular about what is in your checked AND carry on luggage! They have special aversion to batteries of any kind. Not only did we have to empty our bags of the usual liquids and laptops - we had to unload all battery powered devices, batteries, chargers and so on! I think my whole bag was in a bin! We placed it all into the x-ray machine and walked through the metal detectors! (This is the part where I wish I had pictures to include!) EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. OF. US. set off the metal detectors! (Woohoo! Crazy Americans!) They made us step up on this stool and then proceeded to wand our entire body and then perform a very serious pat down! I have never been so violated! After getting our body massage, we went to collect our belongings. The lady started pointing to items on the computerized image of the x-ray and I had to find each thing for her! Then she would run that item through the machine. This went on for several minutes! Finally, with my entire backpack unloaded, I was able to leave! An experience I will never forget! How on earth will I do that with a baby next week?!

We found our gate and we were able to relax and talk for about an hour before we boarded our plane. 

When it was time to board, we said goodbye to the Good family and headed to our boarding area where we were the only Americans! It's such a weird feeling to be in a foreign country with no familiar around! 

Our flight was about 3 and a half hours, and we sat next to a nice Chinese college student. He was quick to help us with our bags and explained things to us in broken English. They served us lunch on the plane - Chicken or Beef with rice! It wasn't half bad - and it was a nice surprise since we weren't expecting it! We landed in Nanning about 3:30 pm and easily found our way to baggage claim! 

All of our luggage arrived in one piece - praise the Lord! It would be a long week in these same clothes if that had not been the case! Our guide, Belinda, met us outside of baggage claim and took us to our waiting driver! 

Nanning has a tropical feel and is much warmer than it was in Beijing. This week will be in the 60's and 70's. The land is green and there are tons of beautiful tropical flowers everywhere! 

Belinda let us know that we would be getting Hallie Grace tomorrow at 2:30pm. She got us all settled in our hotel room at the Marriott Nanning, and went over the itinerary for the week. We went through some paperwork and she told us what to expect for tomorrow! 

As for the rest of the night, we ate in the Executive Club and went exploring in the mall that is connected to our hotel! We visited Wal-Mart (that deserves its own post!) and had a Blizzard from Dairy Queen! 

The next post will be all about Hallie Grace day!!!! 

China Day Three - Great Wall

It's been another COLD day in Beijing! We started our morning with another yummy breakfast at the Executive Club lounge. We met our guide and the Good family around 9am in the hotel lobby, and headed out on today's adventure - The Great Wall!

We had to drive about an hour and a half, but made a pit stop on the way - a quick visit to Starbucks! To our surprise, it is almost identical to the United States. None of us actually got any coffee, we just picked up some neat souvenir mugs!

We drove deep into the rural area outside of Beijing, and up into the mountains before arriving at the Great Wall. As we stepped out of the van, a steady snow started falling. Our plans were to take the ski lift up and tobaggan sled down, but it was closed do to icy conditions! Instead, we took a cable car up. We got a work out walking to the cable cars though - straight up hill for a good 15 minute walk....in the snow!

We walked up the HUGE stairs to get onto the wall. It was beautiful in the snow, but the visibility wasn't great! We had hoped to do some walking/climbing but it was just too slippery! Instead, we took several pictures and played it safe by just hanging out right outside the wall.

Mom and I wore our matching Auburn shirts today, and took off our coats and outer layers to make sure we could say War Eagle from the Great Wall of China! Such a fun memory!

We had one adventurous soul in our group! Will climbed for about 45 minutes, and got some amazing pictures! (I'll add some of them later!)

After the long hike down the mountain, we headed back to the van and ate lunch just a few minutes down the road. We ordered spicy beef, fish, pancake bread, sweet potatoes, spicy green beans, fried rice and broccoli! It was delicious - but it was hot hot hot! Spicy here is different from spicy at home - in a tongue numbing kinda way! Even so, it was amazing!!!

We drove the hour and a half back to the hotel, and then headed out on a little girls shopping trip with Sarah Good! The 3 of us braved the Beijing streets without a guide! We went back to the little shopping area that our Guide, Flora, showed us the night before. We were able to purchase a few small gifts, but it was quite the experience. People are just pushy and in your face. You cant even look at things without the store or booth owners yellling the only few English words they know! We heard a lot of "Hello! (or Hallow as they say it!) Panda Hat?" We got what we needed, and headed back to the hotel!

We ended the night with a little dinner at the hotel and packing! We are flying to Nanning tomorrow! We meet our guide in the lobby at 8:40am to head to the airport!

China Day Two - Tienanmen Square/Forbidden City/Hutong Tour

We started our morning out at 4am - my eyes were wide open after only 4 hours of sleep! I spent some time organizing pictures and blogging before the sun came up. We showered and were dressed and ready for breakfast by 7:30. Thanks to a very nice upgrade, we are able to have breakfast (and dinner) everyday at the executive lounge.

We were able to meet the Good Family from St. Louis at breakfast. Sarah and I connected several months ago via our Lifeline China group on Facebook. We have been on the same timeline for much of this process. When we both got Travel Approval on the same day and decided we both wanted to tour Beijing before getting our kiddos, we decided it would be great for our families to tour together!

After breakfast, we met our guide Flora in the lobby. We bundled up and headed out into the 22 degree air! Our first stop was Tienanmen Square. Flora was great about telling us all about the history of the Square. While we were there, we also were able to visit Chairman Mao's mausoleum. He was laid to rest in a crystal coffin, and Chinese nationals still go to pay their respects and lay flowers at his memorial. I shushhhhed by one of the Chinese soldiers because I was talking. Oops.

After walking through Tienanmen Square and taking lots of pictures (some with our selfie sticks...we are tourists after all!) we headed to the gates of the Forbidden City. I was totally mistaken about this place. I feel like I've only ever seen pictures of the front of the Forbidden City - this place was massive! We spent several hours walking through all of the different buildings and learning the
history of the old city. 

For lunch we stopped at a dumpling restaurant where we enjoyed shrimp and pork dumplings, spicy green beans, fried rice, pork noodles, and a lamb dish. Everything was delicious and NOTHING like American Chinese food. 

After lunch, I got in trouble again! I'm 2 for 2 in that department today! We made a stop by the public toilets. In case you didn't know, the Chinese have whats called a "Squatty Potty". Usually the public restrooms will have at least one "western toilet". Well, it took several minutes for the 4 of us girls to use the one toilet and we might have been laughing a little too much at the logistics of Chinese people using said "Squatty Potty". The bathroom attendant turned the lights off on us and gave me an awful disapproving look. 

Next we drove into the older party of Beijing - the Hutong area. Since the Olympics, the have started a Hutong tour. We were able to visit the home of Ms. Fran and see how she lives. She was so kind to have us in her home, tell us about her families history, and share with us her talent. She plays this beautiful instrument that I cant remember the name of!

After leaving the home, we hopped on board a rickshaw - a 3 wheel bicycle carriage - for a tour of the Hutong area! Mom and I must have been heavy because our driver was huffing and puffing and groaning the whole ride! 

Before heading back to the hotel, we stopped at the bank to exchange money. This was an experience! Mom almost got knocked over by a pushy Chinese man - there are no gentlemanly manners here! We had to get our passports copied and then we were assigned a number. When your number is called, you can go up to the teller who is behind very thick glass. After about an hour, we had our money exchanged and we headed back to the hotel. 

We finished off the night with a little shopping around the hotel and then dinner in the executive lounge. I was asleep by 8:30 while mom was still Facetiming with Emma Kate and Whitney. I couldn't hold my eyes open any longer! Tomorrow is the Great Wall! Looking forward to seeing one of the "wonders of the world"!

China Day One - Travel Day

This morning started out early. After waking up at 3am, I was able to get dressed and pack a few last minute things before Dad and John David drove us to the airport. 

We left for the airport a little after 5am. We got to the airport earlier than normal because its the "busiest travel day of the year". Thankfully the Birmingham Airport was pretty much a ghost town. We unloaded our luggage, and then huddled in the freezing cold weather to pray over our journey. 

We were able to check in easily. My big suitcase was 51.5 pounds and thankfully the sweet lady at American Airlines let me slide. (We have some reorganizing to do before we fly again!) I was able to tell her all about Hallie Grace and talk with her about adoption! We got through security quickly and grabbed some Chic-fil-A for breakfast before boarding our first flight to Charlotte. I absolutely love these TLS Motherlode Weekender backpacks we are traveling with, but THEY.ARE.BIG! I got a good workout shoving mine under the seat in front of me on the tiny plane! 

We arrived in Charlotte and had a little over an hour to get to our next gate. The airport was CRAZY! Hello Thanksgiving travelers!!! We made it to our gate 5 minutes before it was time to board. The flight from Charlotte to Chicago was uneventful. I was able to use some free WIFI to check the How Hallie Graced Us facebook page! I was so encouraged by all of the people praying, sending messages and even writing out complete prayers! I will treasure these things forever. 

After arriving in Chicago, we found our next gate quickly and headed out to find a place for lunch. My new friend, Amiee, also arrived in Chicago around the same time. Amiee is adopting a 10 year old boy, and we connected via Facebook several months ago. She has been such an encouragement to me and an amazing prayer partner during this journey. She is also a labor and delivery nurse, and we share a mutual friend! It was so good to finally hug her neck! We had some lunch and then headed to our gate for the long flight to Beijing! 

Mom and I were seated on Row 21, 2 seats on the right side of the plane. It was crowded, but thankfully we didn't have to deal with disturbing others if we needed to get up and walk around. Just after takeoff, they gave us a warm washcloth to "clean up" with and then served dinner. It was actually pretty good - Chicken with Orzo pasta, salad, bread, and a brownie! We savored our last few diet cokes with ice! (Diet coke will be extremely difficult to find in China - and no ice! If you know me...this is a problem!) After dinner, we took our sleeping meds of choice and were able to get about 4 hours of sleep off and on. 

One funny story - I woke up from a dead sleep to the flight attendant passing out drinks. I thought I would just have her fill up my water bottle and fall back asleep. The next thing I know, another flight attendant is shoving a boxed "snack" in my face. At this point, mom woke up from sleeping pretty hard. The lady asked about a drink and so she asked for Diet Coke but she had run out. So, thinking it was breakfast time she asked for orange juice. We opened our little boxes to find a TURKEY SANDWICH! I got so tickled. Still not fully awake, mom said "Oh I get it....it's Thanksgiving...this is our turkey!" and then kept saying "But i thought it was breakfast!" I started laughing so hard that it got out of control. You know that delirious laugh that you can't gain control of??? Yeah that was me. Causing a scene. On the airplane. Over a turkey sandwich. Happy Thanksgiving.

We were able to sleep a couple more hours before "breakfast". We seriously ate 4 meals on this flight. I think they just kept everyone all carbed up to keep them quiet. We landed in Beijing about 20 minutes early. It was so cold in the terminal we could see our breath! We navigated our way through the airport to immigration. It's so funny to be a "foreigner" here. We cleared customs with no issues and headed to baggage claim. ALL of our luggage arrived! Thank you, Jesus! This has been a big fear of mine! 

As we were exiting customs and looking for our guide, the most God ordained event I've ever seen took place! I'll post more about it once I'm able. Just know that adoption is an amazing thing! 

We met our guide, Flora, and she took us to our waiting driver outside. Flora works for Lifeline and will be touring us around Beijing for the next few days. She got us all checked into our hotel, told us a little about the area, what to do and not to do and left us! We will meet her tomorrow morning at 9am!

Our hotel is amazing!!! Finally all my work travels are paying off. Being able to use Marriott points and my platinum "status" has left us VERY well taken care of! We got settled in our room and then headed to the Executive Club Lounge for drinks and snacks! We were able to facetime with family at home, and then have some authentic dumplings before heading to bed! 

Thank you guys for praying! We will be touring Beijing until Sunday, when we fly to Hallie Grace's province! 

Until next time, 

Lauren