The good thing about being busy with all the new babies was that my farewell wasn't a drawn out affair. There was just too much going on so I said a quick goodbye to everyone & then Amanda, Micky (Amanda's assistant) & Lila (carrying my girl) came out to the taxi to wave me off. It felt surreal leaving China just as it felt leaving home a month ago. It feels like it all went by so quickly. Too quickly.
There is nothing exciting to say about the flight to Beijing. The hotel I stayed at was a small room but very new & modern. I called them from the airport to get the hotel shuttle to pick me up but the language barrier seemed too much of an issue so I found my way to the taxi rank. I had the hotel name & address written in both English & Chinese (thanks to Sophia at Starfish) but the driver still didn't seem sure & he certainly didn't speak English. So I called the hotel again & handed him the phone - problem solved!
The shuttle took me back to the airport Tuesday morning for the 10 hour flight to London. A round the world ticket can be very frustrating. As it is Qantas/British Airways I have to fly via London every time I go somewhere in Europe. So even though I was going to Amsterdam I had to get off at Heathrow first (after flying over Amsterdam), there may be a valid reason to this madness but I have no idea what it is. I spent the flight watching the end of "Marley & Me" (I didn't finish it on the flight to China), eating, watching "The Reader", eating, watching "Hotel For Dogs", eating, watching "Revolutionary Road ", eating & watching "Bride Wars". It really feels like all that work I did in the last 18 months getting fit & losing weight may slowly be going down the toilet.
Customs in London was a lot stricter than China & I got a decent pat down after beeping when I went through the beeping thing-a-me-jig. Then I had to wait around for my flight to Amsterdam. Of course my battery was flat on my laptop so I couldn't work on my blog which was a pity as I wouldn't be so far behind now. So I played my electronic Sudoku to pass the time (& Sarah told me not to take it - ha!)
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