Guangzhou, China - OMG Hotel!!!!

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Skype to daughter - 'Hello, Freya, I'm in China!'. Hadn't said, apparently. She was a little bit speechless, which doesn't happen often.

Information first: Can't get facebook on eother iphone or notebook - maybe it is banned here.

Transitting through Guangzhou with a stopover.



I have a 14 hour, overnight stopover here, as it was the cheapest flight I could find. The internet was full of conflicting information about this process, as follows:

a. you are not allowed to leave the airport at all

b. China Southern pay for a hotel if your stopover is more than 8 hours

c. they don't do the above

d. you can leave the airport, but only if you have a Chinese visa ( I don't)

e. you can apply for a transit visa if your stopover is less than 24 hours

The company I booked the flight through said c. China Southern didn't reply to my email asking. Tripadvisor said a., b. (sometimes) and d. I hate that! Somehow I found and printed a transit visa application off the internet (can't remember where from) and filled it in in advance and IT WAS THE RIGHT ONE!!!!! However, I had a crisis of confidence about the free hotel so booked the Pullman at the airport, £70 a night, which made my cheap flight not-so-cheap! I could get 6 nights in Saigon for the same price, with breakfast.

So I was feeling quite weary about all of this, but in fact it was easy. You go to the transfer desk, with (v important) your boarding card from your previous flight and the onward one, passport, completed transit visa form (they have these but it saved time having done it in advance) and hotel booking (agoda). Then they stamp your passport and off you go, downstairs to level 3 (follow exit signs), go to the domestic terminal, out through door 12 (where it is signed) and the hotel is dead opposite - 2 mins walk. Big, big hotel all lit up at night - easy to spot. If you haven't booked a hotel then you wait and they organise it and take you to one, taxi there and back, and free breakfast.

So I was feeling a bit sorry for myself over the unnecessary £70 until I walked into a little bit of heaven. I booked the cheapest, a superior room and oh boy is it superior! I have 4 rooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 huge TVs, lovely free smellies (and am going to take them all with me!!!), 6 pillows to choose from, slippers, iphone dock, blah, blah. Oh, and weighing scales but we will skirt round that thorny issue and avoid them. I pranced around like a kid at Christmas. It is the second-best hotel room of my life (only to the Hilton in KL, and that for the view). Had a Pringle Incident to sort out before retiring to the bar - the lids on Vietnamese pringles are not at all robust and tight-fitting, like in the UK, and somehow my nearly-full big tube managed to empty its entire contents into the inside of my bag. This was not funny or clever!

In the morning I stroll back to the terminal for the last gruelling 12 hour leg and back to the cold.

Incidentally, in the bar the music playing is Auld Lang Syne - go figure! No idea how much a beer is - 48 somethings, whatever that translates to.......

See you all soon.

xx

PS - 48 somethings is £5 - grief!!!!

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Comments

[frankxiong]

Superior?
As I recalled, Pullman should belong to 5 star hotel? It's sounds more like a junior suite. btw, I think southern airline may have a budget on the free hotel that they gave you.

[RachelAPlease]

I booked the cheapest room on booking.com, so was very happy indeed! Maybe i looked old and respectable enough for an upgrade.... Others on the flight who went for the free room option from china southern said that it was absolutely fine, breakfast and transport included, but they had to wait nearly 2 hours for other flights to arrive before they were taken to the hotel. It was finding reliable info about it that was the problem, but I guess they don't want people sleeping on the floor in the terminal!