July 15 - Travel Day

July 15 - Fort Lauderdale to Shanghai

Today we began our China adventure as we were escorted to the Siem Reap airport by our Cambodian guide Mr. Chantah. We left the hotel about 9:15 and arrived at the small airport at 9:30. Interesting to see twenty check-in stations, none specific to any airline but each had an LCD board and when our check-in opened the logo and flight appeared. It wasn't difficult (nor was it very clear cut) to get to our check-in. I was delighted to discover that while we would have to go through customs upon arrival in Guangzhou, China we would not have to pick up our luggage and take them through customs. We had "comfortable" economy class seats about fifteen rows back from the flight. These flights are like the US flights some ten years ago or so as all electronic devices must be off during take-off and landing and your smart phone must remain off the duration of the flight - but an iPad or notebook, and a laptop can be opened in-flight. We were surprised about a half hour in when the cabin service began and we were served a full hot lunch AND a cold box lunch. WAY too much food. We landed at about 3:15 pm China time (which was an hour later than Cambodian time), our flight having taken about 2 1/2 hours.  Now, I've taught World History, and International Relations and always did a lot of lessons on China, but I'd never heard of Guangzhou, so I assumed it would be a small city with a very small airport. NO! It was massive - triple or more the size of Fort Lauderdale, at least comparable to Atlanta if not bigger. As we exited the plane I saw a girl holding a sign with our next flight on it and she put a sticker on us to help others to direct us.   

We walked a good ten minutes before finding customs, cleared that without issue and then walked

another several minutes before arriving at a security check. Everything went through. Unlike Atlanta where you take a train to the other terminal, here they had a golf cart which sat eight, and you boarded up and they took you for about a five minute ride through wide, modern corridors. As we got off we walked through the B Terminal which had three extensions of gates. Much like the Siem Reap and Tokyo airports it was like walking through a mall which, oh by the way also has airline gates! As we found our proper walkway Kim checked the sign and said that our flight was delayed two hours. There were many restaurants, and had we not eaten a big breakfast AND had lunch on the plane we might have sat down to kill time. But, as is our normal practice I wanted to get to the gate first. I looked at the posted time and it didn't say delayed. Within fifteen minutes they were boarding and I was unsure if it was us or not because they showed two different flight numbers. So I asked, and yes, it WAS us! Lucky we didn't sit down! When we got to our seats we were surprised - I'd forgotten - that we again had "premium" seating.  These were identical to the seats we'd had on the 12+ hour flight from Chicago to Tokyo, and this was for an 1 hour and 45 minute flight. Oh we were so comfortable. AND we had our own personal television. We sat at the gate an additional twenty minutes before takeoff so I had time to watch an episode of "CSI" and "Elementary" before we landed. Again, like the flight from Siem Reap when service began it was a full meal! Piping hot with several side dishes as well. We both remarked that China Southern Airlines (and Japan Airlines) - which I'd never heard of - were very similar to the "cadillac of airlines" from our experience, which was Quantas from our Australian trip. I must say, that it was so "weird" for me.....I was watching these American television shows and was back in "my comfort zone" like I was at home, but then I'd look out the window and see the landscape of China below me.....I'm in CHINA! Hard to wrap my head around where we have been and are! We landed in no time, and now would come the big test - what kind of greeting would we get? Because the "greeting" in Saigon had been so unsettling, would that follow the same pattern? I thought not because our travel agent had set up a personal limo driver and we'd gotten a very detailed email as to what would happen.

We followed the crowd, no customs as this was a domestic flight, and got to the luggage area. Very clearly marked. It was interesting that a sign was on the luggage belt indicating that the upcoming bags were first class and business class luggage; then a little bit later there was another colored sign indicating it was economy class. Our bags were among the first. No one waiting immediately outside luggage, but in the lobby area through the exit dorrs, there she was, front and center among the crowd with a large sign, "Mark Love." She welcomed us to Shanghai and led the way to the pick-up area where our limo driver arrived shortly; our greeter insisted we leave our luggage and the driver would take care of it; as he put our luggage in the trunk our guide opened the doors and wished us well. Our ride was an "E-class Mercedes Benz" and was first class all the way!  Our guide had told us the trip would take about 45 minutes and she was right on. It was interesting that as we drove it was 8:30 pm and there was a LOT of traffic into and through the city. So many lights and large buildings, much like driving through a major US city like New York or Atlanta. We pulled up to the Ritz Carlton and as we came to a stop another lovely Chinese girl, Echo, was beaming as she opened our door and said, "Welcome to the Ritz Carlton. Leave your luggage, we will take care of that, come with me please." She chatted with us about our trip as she escorted us through the lobby and to the check-in. Very clear English speaking staff checked us in - our room, thanks to the outstanding work done by our travel agent Nancy Nelson of Dreamvacations, was a one-night reservation as the Viking cruise doesn't start until tomorrow BUT it will be our same room associated with the cruise and included in our package, so there will be no moving out after a single night. Echo chatted with Kim while I did the necessary paperwork and then she led us to the elevator. Dropped us off here, oh no! She got into the elevator, punched our floor and escorted us to our room. She then pulled out a map for us and as we gathered around the desk she pointed out things we might like to see and-or-do tomorrow. Finally she left us her phone number and said to call her, even though she was off tomorrow, "do not feel like you are bothering me, I WANT to help you" if we needed anything or had any questions. We took a photo to send off to the family to let them know we had arrived and soon called it a night! Let the China Adventure begin!

Be sure to read my final comments below these photos......

For those who follow our adventures closely and actually follow the links to the photos and read the journals, I just wanted to give a special shout-out to our travel agent Nancy Nelson who's made so many of our dream vacations come true (i.e. Australia/New Zealand, Alaska four times, Euro river cruises - three of them, the just completed SE Asia cruise, and now this one). Several people have remarked to me about how fortunate we are to do all we do, and NO ONE is more appreciative of our good fortune than we are. But for those wishing they could follow similar dreams, I've found it's not nearly as hard or as expensive as you may think. To start you need an excellent travel agent to guide you and provide the expertise. No one and I mean NO ONE is better than Nancy. Contact her and she can find what you are looking for and / or something in your price range, if not both! Secondly, we've discovered that once you begin to travel you can travel at a much reduced cost IF you know your way around how to do it. And to do so you must be a planner! For example......our recent "Columbia River Cruise." Our flights were "free" as we'd saved our points on Southwest Rapid Rewards - no cost to join, and we use their credit card to build points when booking flights with them; the cruise itself, Kim was "free" as we used our Bank of America rewards card to build up enough travel points. For those of you in our age bracket - when I began collecting Social Security last fall, we had been living comfortably on Kim's income and my retirement, so it was another "bonus." The first six months of social security checks - all went straight to savings and paid for the Avalon SE Asia cruise package. Finally, I encourage you to - if you are interested in travel - to spend some time (or better yet, contact me, I LOVE to do this stuff) looking through the various web sites of the travel companies. If you follow them you'll soon learn they have deals. For example, Kim and I are going on a Rhine River cruise next spring and our round-trip airfare was less than $300 each, because we booked it when there was a special going on. Our second river cruise to France, because we'd sailed with Viking once we got an email offering us round-trip air to France for $95 each!

Tomorrow we meet our Viking guide and should get information for the upcoming days. The official start of the cruise is tomorrow, July 16, and it is designated as the arrival day, so there are no plans for the day. But Monday we begin our excursions here in Shanghai before flying to Wuhan on Tuesday to board the ship and begin the actual cruising!