The Road to China

June 8th - What a time for the car to act up---on my way to Dulles to catch my flight to China. I called my daughter halfway around the beltway to warn her. She put her husband on alert, he may have to come get me if the car quit. But the gods were with me and I made it with plenty of time to spare. The 13 1/2 hour flight from Dulles to Beijing is a new one, but the plane was the old 747 without the amenities that the newer planes offer. There were no individual screens to watch your own movie. I wouldn't recommend it to others unless you fly business or first class.
My two seat mates appeared to be minority chinese from their dress. Neither spoke English but they shared their gum with me. They also asked me to fill out their entry forms for them.

Upon arriving in Beijing I exchanged some money and bought a grande skim latte from the Starbucks. Throughout my trip I was always glad to see a Starbucks.

My next task was to figure out how to catch my domestic flight to Hangzhou. The Beijing airport lists your flight on a screen with the area such as F or G where you can check in. My flight was up there so I queued up. Upon reaching the counter, the young lady told me I had to go to the Air China desk to confirm my ticket. They looked at it and sent me back to check in. I returned to the same young lady who informed me my ticket was cancelled! I said "no way." I kept envisioning myself stuck in Beijing with no way to notify my husband who was waiting in Hangzhou. With the help of a supervisor my reservation was found and a boarding pass handed over.

After a short wait I was on my way to Hangzhou. The flight was only a couple of hours and Tim was wiaiting at the gate. I had arrived.