Days 16 and On - The End of This Trip

I arrived back in the good ole' USA yesterday (April 27) afternoon thanks to two wonderfully comfortable Korean Air flights (connecting in Seoul, South Korea) and an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Portland. As usually happens, the last few days of the trip get shorted when it comes to the blog details -- and that's what I'm going to do this time too! However to summarize the last few days:

On Saturday, April 24 I got up early at the hostel to catch a cab to the Xi'an airport to fly to Guangzhou (a little over two hours -- like flying from Seattle to San Francisco), taking an airport bus from the beautiful airport to the Guangzhou East Railway station, taking the train to Shenzhen and then a city bus to the district of Yantian where I met up with Staci/Martin and 3 other couples -- fellow English teaching program friends. This connection allowed me to join in with the four couples in birthday celebrations for all the girls, staying the night in one of the couple's apartment, enjoying some great meals and fun (karaoke, bowling, drinking/eating on the street at 2am in the morning) and seeing a little more of Shenzhen. All was great fun -- and a few of the many photos I took are posted here. In addition, Staci wrote more about the weekend in her blog posting here. As you can tell from the photos -- I had an absolute blast hanging out and getting to know the core group of "family" that Staci/Martin have enjoyed during their China experience.

There is always more I could write -- but I could never capture all of the wonderful experiences I enjoyed on this trip to China. It was truly a "trip of a lifetime" with my daughters -- and another fantastic experience to enjoy more of the life/food that Staci/Martin have enjoyed during their stay there. I have truly fallen in love with traveling to China -- and even as the planes brought me back to the US -- I was already thinking about when I might go again. I've already added another trip to China to my bucket list -- and am keeping in mind that Staci and Martin are still there until July -- and my Visa doesn't expire until October! Hmmm -- I'm already hoping air fares stay cheap -- so stay tuned -- and don't be too surprised if I restart this blog with yet another trip to China in the not too distant future!