off we go

The day finally arrived and the three of us are heading to China. The 14 hour flight from Toronto to China would prove to be interesting. Although we pre-booked our seats, (an aisle seat for each) we ended up with an aisle, middle and a window seat. Oh great! We did settle in and now waited for take off. Our aircraft included our own entertainment system. No more looking over someone’s large head to see a movie half way up the aircraft. This system had some great features such as assorted TV programs, XM radio stations, movies etc…. What a bonus! Oh yes, and did I mention this was a new aircraft! The flight crew were nice, Captain seemed nice, (I have to say this, he is the one in charge) and a plane load of passengers. The takeoff went well and we are now in the air. I am really looking forward to my earphones. They came and eagerly I plugged them in. I unplugged them and plugged them in. Unplugged and plugged them in. Yep, you guessed it. ‘Houston’ we have a problem. No sound. Needless to say, there were other who had the problem. The flight attendants tried and tried and to no avail our system was not to be. Thank you Nintendo! The rest of the flight proved to be uneventful. Beijing here we come. All went well through customs.

It was nice to see Tina and Mark, and our tour guide. Our next stop the hotel. What a huge city this Beijing. We are getting our first taste of China’s rush hour. Unbelievable!!!! Organized chaos. Vehicles are everywhere. Cyclists everywhere. Everyone wanting to be in front of the next guy. Everyone who was driving was trying to squeeze in between each other, if that didn’t work then they started to use their horns. I am sure they think that this would solve all their problems. I am also sure they honk because everyone else is. About an hour and a half later we finally make it to the hotel - what a nice hotel it is. I’m impressed. We go to check in and oh yes, the rooms were canceled. Go figure. We were late. Oh great, here we go. They say, when God closes one door another even better door will open. It sure did. From 2 double rooms (I would be sharing) being cancelled, we now have 2 singles and 1 double. That means I have my own room!! Perfect!

Once we finally checked in it was smooth sailing. We decided to look for some food. We decided to walk around our hotel to see what we could find. Let’s just say, we ended up back in the hotel for a beer.