I was pretty much packed the night before, which meant that after getting up at 4am there wasn't a lot to do between breakfast and pick up at 12:30. Boy did the time go slow.
I had the usual issues at reception. I had left the cleaning ladies a generous tip and a whole bunch of unopened goodies that we never used. The guy (from Switzerland, the german part, his words not mine)that was checking us out informed me that here was a flannel (face cloth) that couldn't be cleaned and that I would have to pay for it. It was a dollar, whatever, the point was that I had wiped tanners face with it after we, sorry he, had chocolate pudding. Chocolate pudding? You can't clean chocolate pudding from a small towel? It seems that just have to get you for something.
We packed ourselves into Mr Zhou's mini-van and off we went.
As in Guangzhou, we got rushed through the airport and through to the departure lounge. After, of course bidding a fond farewell to our travel guide, Jennifer, who was excellent. She was a fountain of information about the places that we visited and was always concerned for our well being.
I went through first and waited for Mike and Cheryl and Maelin, and waited, and waited. Now one would think, and I know she won't mind me saying this, that after 2 previous failed attempts at bringing liquids onto an airplane, Cheryl would have given up trying. Well, I can say this, she has perseverance. Once she had been stripped of the 4 gallons of liquids she was carrying (exaggeration is always allowed on a blog) they made it through to the other side.
It was really sad. My flight was leaving in 45 minutes and was at one end of the terminal and theirs wasn't leaving for nearly 3 hours and was at the other end.
So we had to say goodbye. I can safely say for all of my family that if we could have hand picked 2 people with which to share the greatest journey of our lives We would not have been able to choose two better people. As it happened we had no say in it, it was just fate. We will not only be forever bonded with Mike and Cheryl but also with their beautiful daughter Maelin. Who, is officially Tanners first girlfriend.
As we live on the West coast and they on the East, we've agreed that in a couple of years we'll all meet in the "middle". We also agreed that Mexico is in the middle.
And now the adventure begins....................
1 comment:
You're right Tony - she's persistent, to say the least. We also went through the same thing in Toronto, AGAIN, on the way home...where did she get more contraband liquids, you might ask...on the flight from Beijing to Toronto, somehow!
Thanks for the nice comments. We felt that we all were a good fit, and we know we've made friends for life of you and Tracy. We also agree that Mexico is close enough to "the middle"...can't wait!
Maelin is looking forward to a play date (supervised of course)with her first boyfriend.
Mike, Cheryl & Maelin
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