Pennsylvania to Beijing Airport

Well, it’s 5:23 AM on Saturday, August 19 in Dalian, PRC. This entry probably won’t go up for a bit due to our lack of internet access but I wanted to write before I forget the details. I am also splitting the entries up because otherwise this post would be enormous and no doubt encourage our loyal readers to seek greener blogging pastures.

We got up at 6 AM in Pennsylvania and enjoyed a delicious breakfast prepared by my mother – turkey bacon, cinnamon roll bites, and fruit. A very good way to start a day of international travel. It took about an hour and a half to get to Newark from Bucks County. There was a little stop and go traffic on US22 but not bad. My dad pulled up to Continental departures at the C terminal and we got out and said our goodbyes. It was terribly hard as it always is. The current plan is to be here for a year and I know that moment of hugs and last minute declarations of love and concern is burned in my head for the duration. There’s something about saying goodbye that heightens your memory and allows you to relive those last few seconds with loved ones (and thus experience the heartache all over again). I know it was hard for my family to see us go to China so it was very tough. C went through the same thing a few days earlier when she left her parents in Buffalo.

After the tears got jerked away during our farewells, we went inside and checked in with our bags. We checked four total and our two biggest ones just sneaked in under the 50 lb mark. Actually they topped 50 but the attendants let us check them without an extra fee anyhow. We made it through security in about 10 minutes – it was a cakewalk. Everything logistical went well on the trip. As a tribute to leaving our homeland we sought out a Starbucks (iced grande coffee for me and a soy chai latte for C), and then wolfed down some Dunkin Donuts. Chances are we will lose 20 lbs in China so we indulged a bit. The flight boarded around 11:25am EST and took off around 12:45pm EST. The night before when we checked in online we were able to snag seats in row 16 – which is the first economy class row. We had seats up against the bulkhead meaning we had a terrific amount of leg room compared to most of economy class.

The food in economy class was so-so. Our meal choices were sirloin steak and salmon for lunch, then for our pre-landing snack it was dim sum or an omelette. C and I both went for the steak and the dim sum. The actual meat wasn’t too bad but the accompanying salad was a bit brown around the edges and the dim sum was unremarkable. The biggest refreshment issue was the availability of liquids. The current security situation of course prevented us bringing a bottle of water on the plane and we were constantly harassing the attendants for more.

We didn’t sleep a wink of course – it doesn’t matter how much leg room I have if I can’t lay flat. To pass the time we monitored our flight status on the heads up display, watched Mission Impossible 3, enjoyed each other’s company and pretended to sleep. Oh and C went bonkers without her lip gloss available. That’s one of life’s little conceits for her so she was quite angry at TSA for outlawing it in carry-ons. Otherwise the flight was unremarkable and LONG. Once you’re flying over Siberia you’d think you’re almost to China – wrong – another 2500 miles! We did okay for the first 8 or 9 of 14 hours but the remaining 5 seemed interminable. It was also the 8 hour mark where C developed motion sickness and spent much of the remainder doubled over in her seat. She’s proud that she didn’t lose her lunch though!

The plane landed smoothly in Beijing around 1:45 PM China time. Maybe it’s in my head but the bigger planes (like our 777-200) seem to land effortlessly, while the smaller A320s and 737s feel like they will shake apart. We had filled out the 2 available customs forms on the plane, and grabbed our carry-ons and disembarked – we were in Beijing Capital Airport, but not to Dalian by any stretch as my next entry will describe!