Wed Apr 23, 2014 (China)
Four people with 8 check-in luggage and 4 carry-on. This is the amount of "junk" you have to bring for your Asian family back in china. (Last post I forgot about grandma - she came too, but got dropped off @ Guangzhou)
Flight was at 1PMish @ YVR. Thank god for the Canada line -didn't have to drive all the way to Richmond (got dropped off @ Waterfront station). This was a super long flight! We requested a mandatory transfer flight so that we can drop our grandma off at Guangzhou and help her retrieve the luggage, in addition to searching for our uncle and aunt that will be picking her up.
The airline that we took was Air China; I was told this airline sucks because the seats are hard and there are barely and leg room; contrary to what other people had told me, I thought it was okay except the fact that there was quite a bit of turbulence. The flight was around 12-13 hours and once we got off the plane at Guangzhou, you can definitely feel the heat. It was difficult to breathe at the airport and I was sweating profusely. There's like no AC.
I was not impress with the Guangzhou airport for many reasons. The employees at the airport were unwilling to help, the airport itself is super hot, employees are just standing there and chatting with each other and ignores you when you come up to them to ask questions; but most of all, the employees who drives those mini cars to transport you to your destination are everywhere throughout the airport - nobody really goes on those things. I didn't know that it cost money, no wonder they kept on asking if we need a lift.
When we finally met up with our uncle and aunt, we handed over all 8 regular size luggage and 2 mini luggages to them. We also most of our money to our grandma for safe keeping, I would say this was around $10,000+ CND, so it was mandatory that she protect her purse as well as possible. I was just extremely petrified and worried that something may happen on the bus, since she has to transfer from bus to bus to bus, and it was an approximate 3 hours ride to the city.
We had 1.5 hours between our transfer flight to Beijing, so it was mandatory that we move as quickly as possible. The airport was gigantic and we only had 30 minutes before we need to check-in again, and who knows how long the line was. There were a lot of running around asking for help and getting lost, but somehow we managed to arrive at our destination.
Our flight was on Air China again, which took approximately 3 hours to get to Beijing. We arrived a bit past 12 AM, and once we got off the plane we had to look for our tour guide, who supposedly was supposed to hold up a sign. We couldn't find him and had to borrow a phone from someone so that we can locate him. When we called him, he was only a couple of meters away from us. The sign he was holding was just a piece of regular 8x11inch paper. Great. 30 mins wasted.
Our flight arrived late, so the rest of the tour was already at the hotel. Our tour guide had to stay at the airport to wait for two more passengers because their flight got delayed also. lol. He said he was at the airport for HOURS. hahaha. He brought us to the waiting area for a taxi. The line extremely long, like a line to get inside a Katy Perry concert. We waited for approximately an hour, good thing there were a lot of taxis, but people here blatantly budge in front of you; and if you hate cigarette smell, then this is a nightmare! When the taxi came, the tour guide told him where to go and he drove for at least 15-20 mins, it was scary because it was 3 women in the car with a scary gangster looking man, who knows where he would drive us. When we got to the hotel, the fare was 80 yuan, but we did not have change on us, so we gave him 100 yuan. I thought he wouldn't give us change, but he actually took his wallet out, and my mother said to just keep the 100 yuan. He looked quite happy, he actually helped us unload our luggage from the trunk. I guess the extra 20 yuan is actually quite a lot of money to them.
We arrived at the "Great Wall Sheraton Hotel" in Beijing at around 2AM, we quickly unpacked and took a shower and headed off to bed. Breakfast starts at 7AM and we have to meet up with the rest of the tour at 8AM. Thus, we had to wake up at 6-6:30AM everyday. What torture.
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| Sheraton Hotel - 3 beds (1 super sad folded up bed) |
Yes, you have to pay tips for the day that you are on the plane. $10 USD/person
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