Traveling to China....12,000 Miles Later!

We arrived at LAX at 9:30 pm (Pacific Time), and it was pretty overwhelming (no celeb sightings by the way).  Apparently it is a very old airport, with a lot of add-ons to the building.  It was hard for us to navigate to where we were supposed to be.  After realizing that because we were flying international, we were supposed to be in a completely separate building outside of the main airport (Tom Bradley Terminal) we were on a mission to find this terminal, and fast!.  We managed to make it there, and our next airline to board was China Southern.  We thought we had plenty of time before boarding the plane, but everyone kept telling us to hurry....and that we were going to miss the plane.  PANIC time!! This could really NOT be happening!!  A rep came out of nowhere and asked if we were looking for China Southern (we say she was our guardian angel).  She walked us to where we needed to go, we made it through security, and we were finally boarding the airline.  Whew!!!!

About to board China Southern!

 

Yay! Bo finding our seats!

 

Bo and I have never seen a jet this big.  We had close to 600 passengers on board. China Southern's service was outstanding!  From the yummy dinner, snacks, televisions on the back of each seat with a lot of movie, music, game options (we kept saying how much Brin and Savy would've LOVED that!), a warm rolled up cloth to wash your face after the long flight, a group chinese yoga stretching routine (that even Bo participated in) it was a great flight.  It was a VERY long flight, however.  It was about 14 hours.  I woke up from a nap during the flight, and it honestly felt like we should almost be in China.  Wishful thinking! Bo said we were halfway there!  They served us breakfast at about 3:00 am (China time).  The choices were an omelet, or congee (steamed rice, shrimp, etc.).  We opted for the omelet.  We landed an hour earlier than expected, and were full of excitement. 

We went through a very quick walk through customs, and off to baggage claim we went.  We waited, and waited, and waited....and no sign of our luggage.  Most of the other passengers had cleared out after getting theirs, and after seeing the same suitcases passing by, I knew it wasn't a good sign.  We started talking to another passenger waiting for his (come to find out he's from Sarasota....small world!).  Then we spotted Caroline's suitcase coming around the corner.  Praise the Lord!! All of her food, bottles, medications, bibs, toys, books, diapers, clothes, etc. were packed ever so thoughtfully into that suitcase. When ours never showed, I was surprisingly calm.  Must've been all the prayers. We just had to laugh about it!

After going to customer service at the airport to report our lost luggage, they assured us that it would be delivered to our hotel the next morning.  We then started to walk out to find our guide, and saw our names, Robert and Candice Conerly on a sign.  We were finally able to meet our guide, Lily.  She is as nice as can be.  I had asked some other moms on a private China Facebook group that I'm a part of if they had every used her before, and I had heard some wonderful things about her.  They have all proven to be true!!

I'll update later today about our first full day in China.  We are here!!!!! Praise God!