China is getting far

Goodbyes and on the road alone the two of us

Today, we have to catch a plane and yet, I don’t have to get up early. For three days now I’ve been able to sleep as long as I want, and it feels good. Waking up around 10:30, I see no one. When I’m barely up, dad arrives. He did some last minute shopping before our departure for Inner Mongolia. We then have to get our luggage ready and I hurry to help him. That’s also what traveling together is about. The luggage is finally ready when I go see Liu Jia and Yang Dong to ask if they’re coming with us to the airport. At first, Liu Jia says no but since I insist, she speaks with Yang Dong and they finally accept to accompany us. After a few minutes, dad arrives with money to pay Yang Dong and Liu Jia and also the purchases they’ve made for us in Beijing. Dad does the accounting and since I’m good at counting money, he gives it to me to double check the amounts. So every time, I count twice after he does and that’s fortunate because dad makes a mistake. I tell him and he corrects the amount. He gives the money to Liu Jia who in turn counts it until the amount is right. Finally, we are ready. We asked the taxi driver to come at 10:30, but we arrived in front of him an hour later, so the driver asks us to pay a supplement. Dad hesitates to give it to him because five minutes after driving, his car starts so get smoky and dad isn’t happy. We pay him and run to another taxi that stopped after we flagged it down. Since dad doesn’t want to miss the plane, he asks the driver to go as quickly as possible. The driver dashes ahead and even drives on the sidewalk. On the highway, dad asks Liu Jia to check which terminal our plane departs from, because going to the wrong terminal could cost us our flight. She calls a number that gives out information and asks from which terminal our plane leaves for Hohhot. After five minutes, she leans towards the driver and tells him that it’ll be terminal 2. Dad is relieved even though he’s still concerned about making the plane, but I’m confident as usual. After 20 minutes of watching road signs with the word “Airport” go by, we finally arrive in front of the real airport. We hurry to unload our luggage from the taxi and ask where we check them. Before the young woman even has a chance to finish answering us, dad thanks her and runs to the designated area. We hand over our luggage and head towards the passport control. This is where we have to leave Yang Dong and Liu Jia. We embrace them both, thank them and say goodbye until we can’t see them anymore.