On our way to Guangzhou....

This morning we said goodbye to the World Trade Hotel, which has been our home away for home for the past week.  Our guide Echo picked us up at 9:00 am and took us to the airport to catch our flight to Guangzhou.  Goodbye was bittersweet.  We have made many wonderful memories in Taiyuan, but I think we are all ready to move onto the next leg of this journey.  

One of the best things about Taiyuan was our guide, Echo.  We were incredibly blessed to have her.  Echo taught us so much about China and about Chinese culture.  Better still, over the last year, she has forged a relationship with Abby.   She is the one who has visited the orphanage to request updates for Holt.  She has spent time with Abby on several occasions before our arrival.  You can tell that she genuinely cares for Abby.  She has been invaluable in helping us communicate and has shared many things with us about Abby's life in the orphanage.  We are truly sad to say goodbye to her.

After arriving at the airport, Echo helped us check in for our flights and made sure we cleared security without problems.  Once through security, we waved goodbye to her and made our way to our gate.  

We boarded the plane at 10:50 am and sat on the runway until 12:50 pm, when we were finally cleared for takeoff.  Thank goodness because things were getting a bit dicey....Josh was hungry, Will was frustrated he wasn't sitting in first class, and Abby had lots to say, none of which I could understand!

Once in the air, the flight was pretty uneventful.   We arrived in Guangzhou just a little later than scheduled, got our luggage, and easily found our guide, David.  

David took us to the hotel and helped us check in.  We are staying at the China Marriott...we love it so far!  Once we got settled, we were starving so we headed out for dinner.  We were all thrilled to find a McDonald's right across the street from our hotel.  Funny what a week of Chinese food will make you crave....those McDonalds French fries were AWESOME!