We set off from home, via Mum and Dad’s & drove up to Heathrow. It was an easy journey despite the heavy rain and we made it with plenty of time to spare. Mum and Dad dropped us off at Terminal 5 and headed up to Stroud/ Cheltenham to see Gran.
Terminal 5 is nicely laid out and the check in etc went really smoothly. We checked in then had some lunch as we were too early for baggage drop. While we were eating we noticed that the man who’d processed us had given us seats 4 apart from each other and not told us! Nice way to start a honeymoon! The lady at the baggage drop was able to seat us together after a few phonecalls so that was sorted. Security went smoothly although Andy was ‘randomly selected’ for a full bodyscan so he got lead away by a security guard. We had a wonder around the duty free shops (horribly overpriced – we couldn’t see many savings at all), then boarded the shuttle train to the B gate area. Once there we were sat opposite a very ‘interesting’ man who kept complaining that if they said the gate was open it should mean it was open - not that we had to queue there. We worked very hard at avoiding eye contact as we didn’t want him to befriend us for the cruise – you know how I always get them!
As we went to board there was a loud beep when she scanned my boarding card. Oh no! What’s gone wrong now!? It was lovely surprise tho – turns out they’d overbooked the economy cabin and we’d been randomly selected to be upgraded to World Traveller Plus! Two very chuffed people here! The flight was fine – nice and peaceful and uneventful. I watched the Twilight film ‘Eclipse’, Andy watched the new ‘Karate Kid’ and ‘Toy Story 3’ and we tried to get some sleep.
Once we’d landed in Beijing and got through the airport (funky roof, heat/ fever scanners and a long train ride to the baggage collection) we were met by the Princess rep, deposited our main bags, and were transferred to our Hotel – the Doubletree Hilton Beijing. It’s a 50 min journey in clear traffic. We gained an extra 20 mins due to the inevitable traffic jams. The room is lovely – well it’s more like a suite really with a separate lounge and table area. There was an option for a tour to the Olympic Park shortly after we arrived but we decided to have a quiet afternoon and catch up on some sleep. The House Keeping team rang to wish us a happy honeymoon and covered the bed with a special red throw and scattered real red rose petals over the bed and bath!
Tea was in the Sui Yuan – the Cantonese restaurant in the hotel (we declined the western style buffet downstairs). They had a special set menu for people on the Princess Cruise and advised having the bigger menu (for 1 person) between 2. I’m so glad we did as it was HUGE!!! We didn’t finish that nevermind one each! It had loads of courses including wrapped baby fish, spicy cabbage, tofu soup, battered fish with cashew nuts, spicy beef, mushrooms with celery, pak choi, fried rice, Bejing Duck with bean sauce & pancakes followed by a walnut dumpling cream desert and fresh fruit! We were totally stuffed! The chef and waitresses came to the table to carve and serve the duck pancakes which was cool.
We had a short walk around the block to walk off a little of the food and then settled in for an early night. It’s 8 hrs ahead here so only 1pm UK time but we’re both very sleepy. It’s an early start tomorrow as we’re off on a tour to the Great Wall before being taken to the port and boarding Diamond Princess. I wish we had more time to see things, but I think that’s going to be the main problem in all the places this cruise. Our appetites will definitely be whetted for more.
I'll work on photos another day as the net is VERY slow here!
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