Day 1 - ...How long was that flight???...

We left on Sunday morning 4/29/07 and arrived in Guangzhou (GZ) China on 5/1/07...YIKES! The flight from Birmingham to LAX was uneventful but we had a long layover in Houston before flying on to LAX where we caught our flight to China. Rick and Ryan (Bob's brothers) came to LAX to meet us and to have dinner while we waited to fly to China. THANKS GUYS...WE LOVE YOU! Our flight left at 11:50 p.m. which was insane. The entire flight was through the night and it was dark outside until about an hour before we arrived in China. Sam kept asking..."is it the next day yet Mama?" and at one point I actually asked my mother "are we were there yet?" he he. Although everyone had informed us of how long the flight was, we were seriously not prepared mentally.
We made our way to the train station in GZ to take a train to Hong Kong. We waited there a couple of hours for our train. We could have caught an earlier train to Hong Kong, but we have had to sit with the "worker class" group and we were frankly not up for that after 36 hours on a plane.
Here is our list of a few things that we "loved" about our first day and a few things that we "loathed"...(Pink Dragonettes take note...)
We love China Southern airlines and business class!
We love individual TV screens in flight and aaahhhh those hot towels that they bring around along with the slippers to wear during the flight - pure joy. If I were much of a drinker, the free in flight beer and wine would have been a hit.
We loved FINALLY landing in China and having no problem whatsoever in customs or in the airport....
We loathed the rubber eggs that they served for breakfast in flight...
We loathed the absolutl beater of a flight that took us a day to get over.
The Womens bathrooms...no indoor plumbing yet they spend the money to put ceramic around the hole in the ground...need I say more?
The fleecing of the Americans. Rosalie (my mother in law) went into a restaurant and paid $4 for a bottle of water that our guide came and bought for 50 cents!
Off to bed for a big day in Hong Kong.