In Beijing NOW!

We are in China! I can't believe we are here. We are both excited and exhausted. The flight from Newark to Beijing wasn't only a non-stop flight - it was a never ending flight! Wow! I knew it was going to be long, but you just don't realize HOW LONG 15 HOURS IS! The flight itself was good until we got to Beijing. They were having storms in the area, so they routed us around Beijing (which, of course, added not only time but lots of turbulence as well). Rodney had the window seat and saw the plane get struck by lightning TWO times! YIKES! Everything aches after sitting so long on a plane. We were VERY lucky that the flight was not completely full and we had the 3 seats in our row to ourselves. We almost bought an extra seat, and decided against it. If you are contemplating getting a third seat, all I can say is DO IT! That flight would have been MUCH worse if we only had 2 seats. We had plenty to eat and drink on the flight. They were giving us something every few hours. My favorite was the mid-flight snack. It was a chicken pattie sandwich and a cute little container of Haagan Das vanilla ice cream. Yummy!

Anyway, note to self(Chris): even if your feeling OK, take your motion sickness pills every 6 hours as directed! They worked very well, and I did take the second one while we were on the plane, but I was feeling fine so I didn't take a third one, thinking everything would be fine. Boy, was I wrong! When we hit that turbulence around Beijing I started feeling very nausous. I made it through, though, and I will definately take them on schedule for the trip home.

I had been up since THURSDAY morning around 8. I did not even go to bed Thursday night because there was just so many little packing things that I hadn't finished. I figured, no problem, I'll just sleep on the plane. WRONG! I cat napped a few times for 15-20 minutes, but that was it. Rodney got about 3 hours sleep Thursday night, and I thought for sure he would sack out for hours on the plane, but he barely slept either. We just couldn't get comfortable. We made it to our hotel and instantly just crashed! We debated about going out to eat with 2 of our groupmates who had arrived in Beijing Friday, but we both fell asleep. I slept about 4 hours and I am wide awake, so I am posting here. Rodney is still sleeping. He may sleep all night! I'm afraid I got my little nap, and I'm probably up for the night, since it is actually morning time back home.

I have a few picture that I'll try to post later.

We tour Beijing the next two days. Should be fun!