Back to the Beginning

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

With no need for the alarm I had set for 4:30 AM, I was up, showered, and urging David to get cracking. We had stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn at RDU, and would leave our car there during our trip.  Their van whisked us to the airport, and we checked our bags and got our boarding passes in short order.  I had tried to print those before we left home, but because China requires a Visa, they could not be printed without a document inspection.  Our flight to Chicago was uneventful, and since we had a four hour layover there, we settled in to the United Club, where I got my first Bloody Mary of the trip. They didn't really have much in the way of a proper breakfast there, so we went in search of that.  I tried to talk David into taking the bus over to Terminal B, where Wolfgang Puck has a restaurant, but as I wasn't successful, I settled for a greasy omelet from a stand.

Our flight was running a little late departing, but nothing major.  We're flying Business First, so we boarded with group one and quickly found our seats, only to be totally shocked that they are facing the rear of the plane!  Imagine sitting in your seat and looking out the window at the front of the wing and the intake of the jet.  The sensation of taking off was interesting, to say the least.  While the plane was boarding, we enjoyed a glass of wine and got acquainted with our home for the next fifteen hours, the Boeing 777.  Our seats reclined to various positions, including completely flat for sleeping, and of course, we each have a personal entertainment system.  David was watching a movie before we even took off!  Our flight attendant, Lena Horne-Harris, was delightful, but did not regale us with an aria.

Lena presented us with our menus for the flight, and we selected our salad, entree, and dessert from the choices.  Of course, now that it's two weeks later I don't remember much about what we ate, but for airplane food it was pretty good.  Being right next to the galley we got really personal service, and David and Lena hit it off immediately.  After dinner he got up and when he returned several minutes later he had two glasses of Amaretto, which were the perfect ending to the meal, and had the added benefit of making us sleepy.  The cabin lights were dimmed, we reclined our seats, and off we went into lala land.  Ok, not really, but we tried.  I think we got about four hours of broken sleep, which was probably about the right amount to allow for adjustment to the time change in China.

All of China is on the same time zone, and it's twelve hours later there than on the East coast when we're observing daylight saving time.  That may seem odd, as the time gets earlier as you head west, but at some point you cross the International Date Line, and suddenly it's the next day.

Breakfast was served about an hour and a half before our arrival in Beijing.  I chose the omelet with ham and potatoes, and David had the Congee, a Chinese porridge.  I guess he was trying to get into the trip, but it looked pretty nasty to me, and I'm not an unadventurous eater.  Besides, a Bloody Mary goes better with eggs than with porridge.

After breakfast, we get cleaned up and before we know it (yeah, right!) we've landed in Beijing.

And it's already Thursday afternoon.