Chapter 36 Trip to China

It was already morning when they reached the Beijing Capital airport as they had travelled through the night. Derick had already woken up from his faked sleep, Dana then handed each of them a bottle of vamscren she had in her carry-along bag to protect them from the sun when they would highlight. They gulped it down while waiting for other passengers to come down from the plane. It was a large airport, Joana had even read somewhere that the Beijing Capital International airport was the busiest in the world, you could tell this was true by the large crowds of people going in different directions. Never had she thought that something like this would bring her here to come and experience it herself. They came down from the aircraft and went into the terminal, they walked for a while before reaching the arrival area, where the passengers met with their various country hosts and pick-ups at the airport.

Their tour guide, Mirabelle was already holding a placard waiting for them there. Dana read the sign from afar and spotted her immediately.

“Hello, I’m Dana, are you the one from the agency?” She said as she walked up to her.

“Hello, yes, my name is Mirabelle, you’re Dana Smith, right?”

“Yes, I am, and this is my family, we’ll be touring Beijing with you as our guide,” she indicated to the rest of the coven and Joana and Hillary smiled at her. Edmund and Derick were still behind helping to carry the rest of the luggage along with the porter.

Holy crap that’s a lot of stuff for a small vacation, Mirabelle said in her mind, but if only she knew she was thinking out loud.

“Ok then,” Mirabelle said. “Let me call another taxi, I have one prepared outside for us but I don’t think we all can fit in with the load, the company didn’t give me an exact number for the people I was supposed to guide, forgive me.”

“It’s ok,” Dana said, smiling.

So, they all headed outside the airport as Mirabelle began phoning for another taxi, in a matter of minutes, the second driver arrived.

Derick, Edmund and the porter helped to arrange the load in the boots of the taxis, they split themselves into two; Joana, Derick and Mirabelle would go in the first taxi, while Dana, Edmund and Hillary would go in the second one.

Mirabelle gave the second driver the hotel address and they all got into the cars and drove off.

The city of Beijing was truly a sight to behold and Joana couldn’t have agreed more when Dana said this would be the best place for their vacation. The city was buzzing with life and nothing but futuristic skyscrapers dominated the Central Business District. They passed a lot of buildings, parks, hotels, bus and train stations, you could tell that this was a popular tourist attraction as there was literally nowhere you would go here that you wouldn’t find people.

It didn’t take long before they reached their destination, and the two taxis parked in the lot of the Rosewood hotel and they all came down from the vehicles, the hotel staff then came outside and began taking their loads into the building.

“We’re here guys,” Dana said to them while looking up at the tall building. “It even looks better than it does on their website.”

When Joana saw the hotel that they would be staying, she wanted to pee her pants, how would Dana afford to pay for this place for all of them to stay? She wondered.

“Don’t worry,” Dana told Joana. “You know I never have bragged to you about the generous inheritance my father left for me before he died, and it’s because I haven’t gotten a chance to spoil you.”

Joana nodded with a sigh of relief. If there was anything she knew about Dana, it was that she always thought things through before she did them.

Mirabelle began taking them upstairs after they had checked in and began giving them a small tour of the hotel.

The Rosewood hotel, one of the finest Beijing has to offer, built in contemporary sophistication and has many delectable features including upscale rooms and suites, it has six restaurants and bars, an exclusive manor club, a top-notch fitness studio, a pool as well as a spa. The hotel also owns a few decorated halls where you could hold your sophisticated meetings and events.

She then led them to their rooms after their small tour. Dana, Joana and Derick were each given their own rooms while Edmund and Hillary requested to stay together in a larger room, right down the hall. The other three rooms were right beside of each other, it made Joana feel good that she could easily meet Dana if she needed anything but it also made her feel bad that she was so close to Derick. Back in the castle where their rooms were so far from each other, it was much easier to avoid him.

Mirabelle gave them each a brochure which contained the tours and the times they were expected to be ready. Their first tour would be the business street and it was scheduled for this evening, then they would dismiss Mirabelle and find a place to feed before finally heading back to the hotel.

“Can’t wait!” Dana and Hillary said excitedly as they began to unlock their doors in the hotel lobby. The porters had already placed their luggage in their rooms.

“Good, the brochure says night tours start at 8:00pm, is the time ok for you?” Mirabelle asked them.

“It’s perfect!” Dana answered her before turning to rest of the coven. “What about you guys?”

“I guess it’s fine,” Derick responded while Edmund and Hillary nodded, he then turned to Joana whom he noticed hadn’t given an answer yet. “What about you Joana?”

“I think it’s ok too,” she said a bit nervously.

“Then 8:00pm it is, I’ll meet you all at the hotel reception at 7:50, I wish you all a good time ahead, and before I forget, welcome to China! The land of legends.”

“Thank you, Mirabelle, it feels good to be here,” Hillary said as she and Edmund said a temporary goodbye and then entered into their rooms, Derick entered his too and Mirabelle left to go and prepare things ahead for their tour, Joana and Dana were the only ones left in the hallway, Dana moved closer to Joana and placed her two hands on her shoulder, she had one last thing to say to her.

“Ok now, Joana we’re in China now, and you’ll get to meet your dragon soon,” Dana said to her. “But please promise me one thing tonight.”

“What do you want me to promise?” Joana asked with a puzzled face.

“Promise me you’ll forget about your worries and just have a good time tonight.”

Dana was about to go inside but she needed to get an answer from Joana before she did so.

Joana, after thinking about it for a while then gave her answer.

“I promise.”