February 9/10: We made it! What a trip. The problem started in Minneapolis with snow and wind at 7AM. We were late by 1/2 hour with de-icing and the first announcement on the plane was that we were scheduled now to land at 11:20 am in Los Angeles. That gave us about 15 minutes to catch the Tokyo flight. The flight attendant I questioned said it was normally an hour between international flights! We just hoped it would work out. We arrived at 11:15 and, as we taxied to the gate, the announcement came on that there were travelers on board that needed to catch an international connection with only a few minutes to spare and they asked the passengers to wait and let us by! Whatever bad feelings we have had with Northwest over the years just disappeared with that one act of good faith. We dashed off the plane unimpeded, ran the 5 gates nearby and made it on to the 747 with 5 minutes to spare. The gate person said they were making sure to get our luggage, so we boarded with a sigh of relief and settled in for the long flight.
Long flight was an understatement! It took 10 1/2 hours, 3 movies and 3 meals before we saw the island nation of Japan across the Pacific Ocean. With stiff muscles but full stomachs, we arrived in Tokyo at 4PM Sunday with 2 hours to spare for the flight to Beijing. The security line was really long in Tokyo and they checked your passport and boarding pass at the security table rather than earlier so there was a backup. We made it thru and got to the Beijing gate with an hour wait.
The flight to Beijing was on a new A-330 Airbus with your own personal screen for movies etc. Although we were both tired, we did manage to watch our 4th movie of the day and had yet another meal. The four hour flight got us in to Beijing at 9:15 PM Sunday night. So we left Minneapolis at 9AM Saturday and arrived at 9:15PM Sunday. What happened to Sunday? We lost a whole day!
After landing, we walked thru the Beijing airport and went thru customs. We were surprised how clean the airport was and there were many signs for the Olympics. Jackie Chan (actor) and Yao Ming (NBA basketball) are everywhere on ads.. Were very excited to see all 4 pieces of luggage after the trip and then were greeted by Billy and Jingyi at the exit point. Jingyi is beautiful and Billy looked great. They brought us a fresh bouquet of flowers and had a driver lined up from Billy's work with a large van to carry all of our luggage. It was great. We took about 20 minutes to get to the Marco Polo Hotel which is near Billy's office and apartment. The room is very nice and we spent one hour calling family and talking on Skype. Billy then stayed with us and Jingyi stayed at his apartment because of the 1 1/2 hour subway ride back to her home at midnight.
As we flew in, we could see fireworks all over Beijing. It is the Chinese New Year and people can set off fireworks until midnight tonight Monday (without being arrested!) for the celebration. Billy and Jingyi have sparklers we plan on setting off tonight. Right next to our hotel, there were fireworks until 1AM last night right out our window - just like July 4th at Pinewood! It was beautiful - but almost reminded of hearing the news correspondents in Iraq with the war and shooting we would hear on TV as they reported at the beginning of the war. If it weren't fireworks, it would have been eerie.
It couldn't be vacation without Tom's cell phone ringing at 2AM. I told Meg it works here! It was a Realtor calling about a listing I had 3 years ago! He said I sounded tired. I said he was calling me at 2AM in the morning in Beijing, China!It was 12 noon in Minneapolis. Meg couldn't believe it.
Today is exploration. I'm watching the BBC weather report - I'm used to seeing the report for Minnesota. They are telling me about a cold front in Iran moving across Pakistan and Afghanistan which will affect the weather here in China later this week. Yikes does that put it into perspective where we are! It's beautifully clear today and about 30 degrees.
Long flight was an understatement! It took 10 1/2 hours, 3 movies and 3 meals before we saw the island nation of Japan across the Pacific Ocean. With stiff muscles but full stomachs, we arrived in Tokyo at 4PM Sunday with 2 hours to spare for the flight to Beijing. The security line was really long in Tokyo and they checked your passport and boarding pass at the security table rather than earlier so there was a backup. We made it thru and got to the Beijing gate with an hour wait.
The flight to Beijing was on a new A-330 Airbus with your own personal screen for movies etc. Although we were both tired, we did manage to watch our 4th movie of the day and had yet another meal. The four hour flight got us in to Beijing at 9:15 PM Sunday night. So we left Minneapolis at 9AM Saturday and arrived at 9:15PM Sunday. What happened to Sunday? We lost a whole day!
After landing, we walked thru the Beijing airport and went thru customs. We were surprised how clean the airport was and there were many signs for the Olympics. Jackie Chan (actor) and Yao Ming (NBA basketball) are everywhere on ads.. Were very excited to see all 4 pieces of luggage after the trip and then were greeted by Billy and Jingyi at the exit point. Jingyi is beautiful and Billy looked great. They brought us a fresh bouquet of flowers and had a driver lined up from Billy's work with a large van to carry all of our luggage. It was great. We took about 20 minutes to get to the Marco Polo Hotel which is near Billy's office and apartment. The room is very nice and we spent one hour calling family and talking on Skype. Billy then stayed with us and Jingyi stayed at his apartment because of the 1 1/2 hour subway ride back to her home at midnight.
As we flew in, we could see fireworks all over Beijing. It is the Chinese New Year and people can set off fireworks until midnight tonight Monday (without being arrested!) for the celebration. Billy and Jingyi have sparklers we plan on setting off tonight. Right next to our hotel, there were fireworks until 1AM last night right out our window - just like July 4th at Pinewood! It was beautiful - but almost reminded of hearing the news correspondents in Iraq with the war and shooting we would hear on TV as they reported at the beginning of the war. If it weren't fireworks, it would have been eerie.
It couldn't be vacation without Tom's cell phone ringing at 2AM. I told Meg it works here! It was a Realtor calling about a listing I had 3 years ago! He said I sounded tired. I said he was calling me at 2AM in the morning in Beijing, China!It was 12 noon in Minneapolis. Meg couldn't believe it.
Today is exploration. I'm watching the BBC weather report - I'm used to seeing the report for Minnesota. They are telling me about a cold front in Iran moving across Pakistan and Afghanistan which will affect the weather here in China later this week. Yikes does that put it into perspective where we are! It's beautifully clear today and about 30 degrees.
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