Flights & Stuck in Atlanta

What a busy day (s) (42 hours to be exact) of traveling!

On Thursday 3/14 we flew from Hong Kong to Japan and then from Japan to Atlanta and then Atlanta to Austin...

So the question of the day is....how did Lottie do?!

Well Lottie did AMAZING, she is an expert traveler & never made a peep!

The first flight was 3.5-4 hours and it was in the morning time-so Lottie sat in our lap played and happily watched Disney movies.  She watched Cinderella and Finding Nemo!  We arrived in Japan to discover our 2 hour layover was extended to a 6 hour layover, boy were we bummed.  We were so happy from our successful first flight we were ready to take on the 12 hour flight, and disappointed with the delay.  Luckily the delayed flight took off on its 2nd departure time, we were so ready!

The second flight now delayed 4 hours was late in the afternoon, we settled into our seats, and Lottie did even better then the first flight.  She satin our laps, and played.  She drank her evening bottle and went down to sleep for 6 hours straight.  She woke up and we fed her and she fell back to sleep!  Can we say amazing baby?!  The flight was harder on us as we had more trouble sleeping yet we were exhausted!

Landing in Atlanta, we knew we would be cutting it close to get through immigration and recheck our baggage.  Our assumption was correct after waiting for immigration for about 45 minutes we realized we would be missing our flight to Austin.  After moments on the phone with a Delta representative we then realized we were stuck in Atlanta for the night! Talk about disappointment! We were so tired, basically had been up for 24 hours straight, we were stinky, and so ready to be home!  After a 3.5 hour wait in immigration, we missed our homecoming celebration and introducing Lottie to her Grandparents. Thankfully Delta took care of everything, bought dinner, and put us in a very nice hotel.  We didn't make it to Austin but will be landing at 10 am on Friday morning.  It will be so nice to be home!

The Garden Hotel-Guangzhou

The Garden Hotel  an impressive 30-story building in downtown Guangzhou, 
Garden Hotel Guangzhou offers 828 rooms including 42 suites. The Garden Hotel Guangzhou,the modern architecture is distinctly characterized by traditional Chinese decoration and impressive works of art. An outdoor swimming pool, tennis courts, squash court, a comprehensively equipped health club and an extensive shopping arcade are all on the facilities's list.

The Garden Hotel Guangzhou has 14 dining halls specializing in Cantonese and Sichuan cuisine as well as French and Italian food. The seafood restaurant atop the hotel is certainly the best treat after a hard day's work in the busy city.

Enjoying good reputation for affluent cultural background and excellent service, The Garden Hotel, Guangzhou sets another milestone by winning the prestigious Platinum Five-Star Award issued by the China National Tourism Administration. The Garden Hotel Guangzhou is one of the three hotels in China and the only national brand hotel in South China to receive this significant award, which is the highest hospitality award in China.
Garden Hotel Guangzhou,a luxury platinum 5-star hotel in the city centre of Guangzhou in the People's Republic of China, The Garden Hotel Guangzhou is centrally located on Huanshi Dong Lu, in the heart of Guangzhou's prosperous business district. The Garden Hotel is also within easy reach of many of the tourist and leisure attractions of Guangzhou including the historic Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall and Yuexiu Park as well as some of the best shopping, dining and entertainment in town!

We loved staying at The Garden Hotel.  We truly felt like royalty & every amenity was 5 star!  All the flowers in the lobby were real, we watched them change them out in the evening.  It was truly amazing.

Pearl River Cruise

Our last night in Guangzhou, we spent the evening on a Pearl River cruise taking in the sights and sounds of GZ.  The cruise included dinner so before going to the top of the ship to take photos and enjoy the sights we enjoyed our last dumplings in China,  The city lights up and the colors were amazing and it was a special way to spend our last evening in Guangzhou.

Guangzhou Zoo Part II: The story

We spent the morning at the Guangzhou Zoo, sadly Baba has caught a flu type illness and decided to stay back at the hotel.  So Lola and Mama took Lottie on the subway and headed out to the zoo.  It was a beautiful day, a perfect day for baby's first trip to the zoo.

The zoo was small but there was very little crowds and we could get up close and personal with the animals. We saw tigers, bears, monkeys, peacocks, and we even were able to feed the giraffes and we got to see the pandas!   We all posed next to our Chinese zodiac; Lottie and Sarina were too cute next the bunny statue, too bad we didn't see any smiles.  It was a very fun morning and Lottie enjoyed strolling around and seeing all the animals. 

Guangzhou Zoo Part I: The animals

Pandas

Guangzhou, China

Guangzhou (Chinese: 广州) — known historically as Canton or Kwangchow — is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province,People's Republic of China. Located on the Pearl River, about 120 km (75 mi) north-northwest of Hong Kong and north-northeast of Macau, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port.  One of the five National Central Cities, it holds sub-provincial administrative status.

Guangzhou is the third largest Chinese city and southern China's largest city. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 12.78 million. Some estimates place the population of the entire Pearl River Delta Mega City built up area as high as 40 million including Shenzhen (10.36 million), Dongguan (8.22 million) and most parts of Foshan (7.19 million), Jiangmen (4.45 million), Zhongshan (3.12 million) and a small part of Huizhou adjoining Dongguan and Shenzhen, with an area of about 20,000 square kilometres (7,700 sq mi) (about the same size as Slovenia). In 2008 Guangzhou was identified as a Beta World City by the global city index produced by the GaWC, the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.