We got up at 4:45 and got moving easily enough, said good-bye to the kitties and then our friend Preston came by at 5:30 to take us to the airport. Check in was quick and then we waited for about an hour and a half. There was a little bird flying around the terminal and landed on a seat next to Trinity.
I almost had a picture of it, instead I have a shot of some people sitting which looks kinda weird- why are you taking pictures of strangers?- but really there was a bird there...
So, we got on the plane to Chicago and were split up, I sat next to talky-smelly-sweaty-guy and the girls were behind me a couple of rows. Once I got bored, I vandalized the in-flight magazine and left it behind, so others could be impressed with my wit. Shana later told me Trinity was having some anxiety and didn't want to go and leave the kitties behind, but apparently purchasing a snack pack on the plane healed all wounds. Thank you snack pack! I told her she could have had T-S-S guy, and she said she would have traded. So now she is one up on me. I am sure the score will soon be evened.
We got into Chicago and it was really easy getting to the next terminal, so I had time to have a Chicago dog before the real trip. Shana had a bit of an "I don't know..." expression, but in times of junk food consideration, I had to ask myself, "what would my dad do", and it was good. 9^)
Boarded the plane to Beijing at long last and it was long lasting. I saw that Iron Man 2 was going to be the in flight movie and it ended up being the only movie that wouldn't work :( Something about the video tape, yes video tape, United is not on the cutting edge regarding the tech. Our flight path took us straight up through Canada, near the north pole and down through Siberia, couldn't see anything though as we were in the middle section.
We finally landed about 3:40 pm Beijing time and were able to at last peel ourselves off of the thinly coated park bench (or church pew) known as an economy plus seat. That was a loooooong trip. It was so long that your rear gets numb, so you shift and then that part get numb and then you shift again and so on.
The airport was pretty impressive in that it was so massive, and that was only terminal 3. It was opened in time for the Olympic games. We met our guide on the way out after a brief panic, because we had not communicated where to meet her, so there was a moment where we were like, "ideas on the next step?". The last minute nature of our departure made preplanning almost impossible, but it worked out, we met our guide and then made our way to the hotel.
By the way, Beijing is not some densely-coated-hazy-polluted-bicycles everywhere mega-opolis. It is very modern (have not seen or smelled the pollution and quite beautiful, but more on that later. It is huge, though. 17 million people, +3. Coming up next time: frogs, sea intestines, gooey ducks, and silk work chrysalis for dinner - plus Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, ricksaw through the HuTong and Kung Fu on the Great Wall.
I almost had a picture of it, instead I have a shot of some people sitting which looks kinda weird- why are you taking pictures of strangers?- but really there was a bird there...
So, we got on the plane to Chicago and were split up, I sat next to talky-smelly-sweaty-guy and the girls were behind me a couple of rows. Once I got bored, I vandalized the in-flight magazine and left it behind, so others could be impressed with my wit. Shana later told me Trinity was having some anxiety and didn't want to go and leave the kitties behind, but apparently purchasing a snack pack on the plane healed all wounds. Thank you snack pack! I told her she could have had T-S-S guy, and she said she would have traded. So now she is one up on me. I am sure the score will soon be evened.
We got into Chicago and it was really easy getting to the next terminal, so I had time to have a Chicago dog before the real trip. Shana had a bit of an "I don't know..." expression, but in times of junk food consideration, I had to ask myself, "what would my dad do", and it was good. 9^)
Boarded the plane to Beijing at long last and it was long lasting. I saw that Iron Man 2 was going to be the in flight movie and it ended up being the only movie that wouldn't work :( Something about the video tape, yes video tape, United is not on the cutting edge regarding the tech. Our flight path took us straight up through Canada, near the north pole and down through Siberia, couldn't see anything though as we were in the middle section.
We finally landed about 3:40 pm Beijing time and were able to at last peel ourselves off of the thinly coated park bench (or church pew) known as an economy plus seat. That was a loooooong trip. It was so long that your rear gets numb, so you shift and then that part get numb and then you shift again and so on.
The airport was pretty impressive in that it was so massive, and that was only terminal 3. It was opened in time for the Olympic games. We met our guide on the way out after a brief panic, because we had not communicated where to meet her, so there was a moment where we were like, "ideas on the next step?". The last minute nature of our departure made preplanning almost impossible, but it worked out, we met our guide and then made our way to the hotel.
By the way, Beijing is not some densely-coated-hazy-polluted-bicycles everywhere mega-opolis. It is very modern (have not seen or smelled the pollution and quite beautiful, but more on that later. It is huge, though. 17 million people, +3. Coming up next time: frogs, sea intestines, gooey ducks, and silk work chrysalis for dinner - plus Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, ricksaw through the HuTong and Kung Fu on the Great Wall.
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