This flight would be the first time either of us had flown internationally. I have been on long flights before, but nothing like this. I think the longest flight was about 4 to 5 hours. This flight was going to last about 17 to 18 hours. The first leg of this trip was going to be from Raleigh Durham International to Detroit. From there, we had to fly to Japan and board another plane to Beijing.
The flight up north was uneventful. It was a short hop, then we had to wait to board a Northwest Airlines plane. It was a big plane. Our seats were towards the middle.
There was snow on the ground. It did not affect our flight. The airport was interesting. They have a people mover, like a subway car that goes back and forth on the terminal.
As we waited, we looked for fellow adoptees. It was not that easy. Many of the Caucasians were on a school trip or just a regular trip to Indonesia. At this point, I started to get nervous. I was worried that I was going to spend most of the time in the bathroom. I had some medicine to counter any issues. I felt that once on the plan and up in the air, I would be fine.
Once the boarding commenced, we had to grab all our bags, get out our tickets and present our passports. The plane had two areas for loading. There was the fast pass lane(First Class) and then there was our section(the cattle herding section). Our seats were towards the back and in the middle. I was hoping for a side seat, but that is not where our agency placed us. This flight was during the infancy of in chair entertainment. Which means that we had the old style projection and the music that cycles about 12 songs per channel. None of which were very entertaining.
For those who do not know me, I love movies. I was looking forward to seeing what they had to offer. From what I can remember, it was not very good. They had about 5 movies scheduled. It was on their time schedule. You could not pick what you wanted to see. I wish I could remember the movies. I think the trip there was not as bad as the trip back.
The thing I hate most about these flights is being cramped. We usually brought too much stuff. Depending where you sit, your bags in the upper compartment could end up in another section. On top of that, the person in front of you decides to ride the whole trip with their chair reclined. That makes eating a problem.
When we made it to Japan, we were happy to get off of the plane. They made use deplane and walk onto the tarmac. Then we were corralled up a flight of stairs to a very crowded room. Once there, we discovered that we had to go through another security check. It was not fun. We had our bags, it was hot and crowded. We were happy when we made it through.
On boarding the flight to China, it was a cake walk. The flight was half filled. We could identify people who were adopting. At least one family. The other group of people we saw were missionaries, I think. The rest look like Chinese businessmen.
I loved this plane. It was nicer than the one we flew over in. It had armchair tv's. We could pick the movies we wanted to watch. I believe, I got to see most of Wedding Crashers for the first time. Angie was exhausted and tried to sleep. I always find it hard to sleep sitting up.
At the Beijing airport, we got off the plane. It was empty. All I could think of was Communist Russia. There was airport security around, but not many people. Angie really had to go to the bathroom. She went in while I waited with the bags. When she was done, she told me that they had a hole in the ground to use as a toilet. I will refer to as a squat pot. I did not care to use one. I waited for the hotel, hoping that they had western toilets.
When we got through the passport/visa checks, we went to retrieve our bags. Once collected, we made our way to the lobby of the airport. Just like all of our airports, this is where the people were waiting on their friends, family, and fares. We scanned the people looking for Great Wall Adoptions. Then we saw the flag. It was carried by our Guide. Her name was Veronica. She would go on to be present at all three of our adoptions.
She had us gather our things and follow her to a small passenger van/bus. Then we proceeded to go to the hotel. After getting our room assignments, we were told to get some sleep because tomorrow we had a full day of touring planned in Beijing. On our floor, I noticed that the ceiling was low. I probably could have lifted my arms and touched it. I wondered if all hotels were like this.
When we fell into bed, we were exhausted. I thought I was going to sleep through the next day. At about 2:00 to 3:00 am, I was wide awake. I could not go back to sleep. I would say this is the first time I had experienced jet lag. I don't remember what we did, but Angie was wide awake also. We might have turned on the TV, but I know there was not much to watch. They did offer one or two western channels. I believe it was CNN. The rest was in Mandarin and may not have even been showing, due to late night and signal resting.
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