Monday AM……
WOW. This has been one of the easiest trips that we have ever made. Our flight from Seattle to Beijing was almost perfect. The only small problem was that it was really cold so I spent the time wrapped up in two blankets!!!
I learned another travel tip here. First of all, Michael doesn’t ever use his pillow so I am normally fighting to hold on to two pillows. This time, I stuffed one of the pillows inside the case of the other one and had one larger pillow….much more comfortable!!!
We could tell that we were tired because both of us slept for about four or five hours of the 11 hour journey. This is particularly unheard of for Michael. He normally works or reads the entire time.
One funny thing that I forgot in yesterday’s post….. When we were going thru security at the Atlanta airport we walked down a corridor and then had two different options for which line to pick. Several people ahead of us were confused and having trouble figuring out what to do. One of the workers yelled out “don’t over think this…..just pick one!!”
We arrived in Beijing, made it thru immigration and our bags were some of the first ones on the carousel. I think that we were the first set of travelers to leave the terminal.
As we walked out, we found a kiosk to purchase a Chinese SIM card for our phone, and then used that phone to contact the man from the hotel who was picking us up.
We met up with him and enjoyed a 10 minute ride to the hotel. The driver had a small bell hanging from his mirror and it was fun to hear it tinkle every time that he turned a corner.
At check in, Michael was handed a phone and told that we had a call from “a friend”. It was Jialin….our wonderful liaison in Kunming. She just wanted to know that we had made it ok …..SO sweet!!!
The hotel is part of the “Days Inn” chain and is very nice. We immediately fired up our computers, “Skyped” with our kids and then crashed in bed. I was worried that we might have trouble sleeping but we were both OUT within about 5 minutes!!
This morning, we went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast and proceeded to walk PAST all of the “Western” food (omelets, toast, bacon/sausage, pastries) and instead headed for the Chinese cuisine. Our wonderful breakfast consisted of fried rice, fried noodles, Dim Sum, Spring Roll, two veggie stir-fries….one with carrots, cauliflower and celery and one with celery and tofu (even the tofu was good!!), and an unknown fried meat patty. It was all wonderful!!!! We sat for quite a while, enjoying cups of coffee and tea and then headed back to the room to pack up for our next trip.
….NOTE…..I had been unable to post this earlier because my Virtual Network wasn’t working. Apparently they have started blocking the one that I was using. BUT…..I was able to buy another one so hopefully I am good to go now!!!!!