{Goodbye China}

For now…we will be back!

We spent the morning just chillaxing & packing. Dan did most of the packing this time and it was MUCH appreciated :)

We are ready to head home. Ready to see my girls & get into a new “normal” routine.

After stopping by to pick up our paperwork from the consulate, we headed to the train station. I was a little leery about riding the train, but it was AWESOME! Connie stayed with us until we went into the restricted area. But we only waited in the restricted area for about 10 minutes before we went down the escalator to board the train. And that was really easy. You do have to carry all the luggage yourself (as it’s really expensive to check it) but it’s not bad. Once you get on the train, there is a designated area for it all. Then you just find your seat & sit back to enjoy the ride. I experienced my first squatty potty this entire trip…and it was SO NASTY!!

It was cool to see the scenery on the way to Hong Kong. I didn’t get the best pics b/c the train was fast & all I had was my cell. But you get the picture.

Once in Hong Kong we made our way through security (which was fairly quick & easy). They did scan mine & Caiden’s temps, but let Dan go through. Once in the terminal we stopped at McD’s to get something to eat, then figured out how to use the metro to get to the hotel. It would have been an hour ride in a taxi and about $30 or so. Instead we did the metro, which still took about 40 minutes but only cost about $10.

We were dead tired once we made it to the Regal Airport Hotel (which is nice, but WAY overpriced!!!) You are definitely paying for convenience as it’s attached right to the airport. And it was nice the next morning to just get up & walk across, have some breakfast, come back, check out, then check in for our flight. No taxis, no worry about getting lost.

We had to go through security a 2nd time right before we boarded the plane. We had some extra Hong Kong dollars so we decided to get some drinks/snacks & Dan wanted a Tsing Tao (Chinese beer). Well unfortunately security wouldn’t let us take it on the plane. It was unopened & purchased after we went through security, but they still took it from us. Dan was PISSED! And so was I…$8 for a bottle of beer & they took it. They tried to take my Coke that had about 1/3 left and I was so mad that I drank it right in front of them. I told Dan he should have done the same with his beer!

The trip home was not as nice. We got delayed on the plane for an hour or so. The plane was not near as nice as the one we flew into Shanghai. Much older, and no seatback entertainment :( But we made the best of it.

Caiden did AMAZING! Slept, ate, walked around a bit. No crying at all. So much different than with Kalia.

Due to the delay in Hong Kong, we barely made our next flight. It takes awhile to get through immigration, then we half-ran to the next terminal (had to go through security again!) and made it to our next gate about 10 minutes before boarding. We were so tired on that last leg. Caiden slept the entire way except for the last 30 minutes. I kept dozing off, but wasn’t comfortable & needed to keep an eye on Caiden since Dan didn’t get to sit next to us. We landed around 6, rented a car & hightailed it home. We were so ready to see our kiddos, and I know they were excited to meet Caiden. Home at last…and it feels so good!