We are here!

Exhausted, hungry and all that jazz – but we are here! The flight was very long (as expected), but completely uneventful. All in all, I’m still glad we did the direct from Toronto thing. 13 hrs is a long time, but for me it is still better than a break followed by another long haul.

This photo was taken May 3 at about midnight after we finished the last minute packing frenzy.

The day went something like this:
- got up @ 4:30 am to be at the airport by 5:30
- checked in and turned out that all the worries about baggage weight, size etc. were pretty much for not. The woman who checked us in didn’t seem to bat an eye. Now, that may be because we were quite under the limit for international flights (which is 70 lbs.) We’ll see how we do on the way to Guangzhou
- flew to Toronto
- got on the plane for the big ride…which consisted of 3 movies + a bunch of TV, 2 full meals and one snack (noodles or a sandwich)
- got a couple hours sleep on the plane.
- Arrived in Beijing!

Note to all of you traveling later – bring snacks and lots of bottled water and/or other drinks on the plane!!! We only had a couple apples and one bottle of water each, and that is not enough to get you through the long waits between food/drink service runs.

Here is some of the gang waiting for luggage in Beijing airport.

Our hotel is GREAT. Lobby is wonderful, room is small but very nice, staff are super helpful. Gotta jet because we are going out to get some snacks and do a little exploring and walking in the sunshine to try and get us used to the time change.

Steve is adjusting really well, but I feel like I have a head full of fog…. Then again, I've slept about 5 hours in the last 48, so I guess that's not a surprise.

p.s. We can post, but we can’t view blogger. Please excuse any formatting errors….