Kanga And Wombats Adventures

Tripadeal China- Too Good to be True?

We didn’t mean to do it! Really!

But Tripadeal’s offer of 10 days in China, $2999, 2 for 1, including airfares…It’s a no brainer right?

Day 1

* Warning. This post contains nudity.

We haven’t departed from Sydney airport at a decent hour for a long time. We’re usually stumbling through the terminal at 4am, with very little open and not much going on.

Today, by 9am, it was buzzing. And it’s changed. Very glitzy, very glam.

You can watch the planes from comfy chairs through generous windows. In fact, looking out, we could have been in China already!

China Southern Airlines impressed. The friendly Check-in lady told us our destination tonight, Chengdu, was renowned for its delicious hotpots and tofu. We couldn’t wait! When we arrived at the gate the staff apologised that one of our seatback screens was broken and they would have to move us. But it was ok, they gave us a row to ourselves, and even came on board to check we were ok.

Flight of about 9 hours was ok. However, our ‘stopover’ at Guangzhou became a bit longer than expected!

After blitzing immigration and providing a full set of fingerprints (damnit, looks like I won’t get away with nicking the hotel ashtray!), we discovered our second flight to Chengdu had been cancelled due to bad weather.

Such a shame, as the next available flight was not until 3pm the next day, meaning we’d miss seeing the pandas.

But by then we’d met up with the other Tripadeal tragics and formed a gang. Our self-styled leader Robyn, a veteran of Tripadeals, took charge. After an hour wait while they tried to locate our bags, Robyn had transport and hotels booked and before we knew it, we were heading to town in a minibus, being fed and watered, and enjoying a cool, not cold, beer.

Back in our hotel room, we discovered a peculiar set up in the bathroom. A glass wall between the shower and bedroom had a roller blind on it. Kinky!

It all made sense! We were staying at the Grandpeak Hotel!