Great report, Lauram! Details mixed with fun, e.g. "where the luggage goes we must follow." Love the description of tourists of multiple nationalities, watching the blood moon and eclipse. Sounds like a scene from a movie--all that was needed was uplifting background music!
Welcome home for when you arrive!!

Watching the super bowl in our hotel room! Shangri La is very comfortable

awww thanks so much - maybe some day with our similar interests our travels will intersect. hope you are over the jet lag and readjusting to everyday life

awww thanks so much - maybe some day with our similar interests our travels will intersect. hope you are over the jet lag and readjusting to everyday life

What can I say, the Embassy Suites is not the Shanngri-La or the Penninsula (oh for a hotel representative to help with the luggage!) but it is good to hear American accents and that casual friendliness we excel in. Looking forward to our fight to Albuquerque tomorrow and then 3 hour drive through our lovely southwest desert home to La Casa Rosa.

We woke up this last morning to watch the superbowl in our hotel room and oh what a game it was. My husband says that it is obvious that every time the Eagles make it to the superbowl we have to go to Thailand so that they will be sure to win. Sounds reasonable to me. We had half an hour left before departure, just enough time to check out one of the gold shops near the hotel and buy my husband a new wedding ring (his got lost putting up Christmas lights)

Can't say I'm any more of a fan of Southern China Air after the last leg. We got to the airport 3 hours early only to wait half an hour for them to open the check in line. They somehow seemed very confused about the whole process. There were a lot more places to eat/shop in the International terminal so after we were through passport control/security we used up our Baht on gimmicks and food.. The plane was half an hour late loading - but when they loaded they loaded effeciently and it actually landed on time in Guanzhou after a bumpy flight. then rush rush rush through Chinese border control, more security, sit in super crowded Air china lounge, - the flight on business class home was smooth and pleasant enough, food was ok but not as good as I've had on other overseas carriers. but we were were glad to just be done with the trip. And now to bed....

And thank you again for posting such an enjoyable trip report.

Thank you for posting this delightful trip report! The pictures add so much to this too. I love visiting Southeast Asia, but totally agree about the hard beds. I often ask for a mattress topper or egg crate to be put on top of the mattress - that works some of the time. I'm still amazed at how often hotel reviewers report "comfortable beds" but when I get there the bed feels like I'm sleeping on the ground!

Thanks for reporting your China Southern experiences. Overall, would you recommend them? They seem to have some good deals on business class flights to SE Asia.

Hi gr 21 - I don't think I would use Southern China airlines again simply because the website was so hard to use and it was so hard to reach customer service. The deals were definitely good, but even so the amount of money involved was a lot, and the anxiety of not being able to confirm that we had seats (after getting emails that said that there was a problem) made for some difficult nights. It was all ok in the end, but we had no way to confirm that until we reached the airport. just my take on it. Enjoy your next trip....

Thanks for replying, Laura! I would definitely worry if I didn't have confirmed seats and couldn't reach customer service. Sounds like it's better to look elsewhere for good flight deals to SE Asia.

Skytrax has several top rated carriers to SEA. They include;
ANA
Asiana
Cathay Pacific
Eva Air
Singapore
Thai

Thanks Jacketwatch - next time!

If you are not familiar with this website check it out. I love it!

http://www.airlinequality.com/