We flew out of MEM at 6:30 am. I had started getting stuffy the night before, and I was determined to take an Advil Congestion before the flight. Unfortunately, a lack of sleep makes me nauseated, so I could only get down 2 nabs to take the medicine. Not a great combo, resulting in me not having sinus issues on the plane but being very queasy. I actually slept for the whole 1.5 hour flight.
We arrived in Chicago at 8:30 am, and thankfully my system had leveled out. Y'all, ATL really has a leg up on so many airports when it comes to terminal-to-terminal transport. We were driven across the "airplane parking lot" in a shuttle. It felt like we were a ridiculous pawn in a board game. We also saw a plane being towed in accompanied by emergency vehicles. You can imagine Doug's response. Once settled in the international terminal, we used the 3.5 hour wait to get in a good bit of walking in anticipation of the sitting to come. I also had to purchase a 2-pack of ink pens since (cross fingers that this is the only thing) I forgot to pack one. The price ensures I will never make that mistake again. The ridiculous thing is that I removed an entire handful from the backpack that Leigh-Ann lent us. Shaking head.
I knew that we were in the second to last row on the plane from Chicago to Beijing, but I refrained from telling Doug until the last minute. He's a little like Elliott in that I have to sometimes strategically tell him things ;) I did feel bad that he somehow missed the last 6 months of conversation about the price of plane tickets, and he thought we were not in Economy. Then he kept trying to convince me that surely the seats were somewhat biggger (they are not). The back of the plane had its advantages (near 2 lavatories and some extra space for stretching) and disadvantage (felt the takeoff, landing and turbulence more), but overall it was a great location.
Our seatmate (window) was a nice man who only once violated my arm rest space. I, on the other hand, (middle) may have accidentally violated his space more than once. Doug (aisle) only elbowed the flight attendant's rear end that one time (giggle). Erica thought we should wear compression stockings, much to the disgruntlement of Doug. Can't you just see us pulling those on in the gate area in the Chicago airport? :) She also stressed, as did a faculty member I work with, the importance of moving around on long flights. I'm pretty sure Doug never wants to hear me say, "Get up and stretch your legs," ever again.
I really thought that as tired as we both were that we could get some serious sleep on this plane. Wrong. Doug slept maybe an hour near the end. I never slept more than an hour at one time, but I had the advantage of his shoulder. He never could get into a comfortable position. I wish I had a picture of my grasshopper legs in nearly every position I could imagine. The man next to me was surprisingly limber as well. Doug, not so much.
We mainly passed the time watching movies on our seatback screens. Just for a historical record, Doug watched 21 Jump Street, Hunger Games, and Sherlock Homes. I watched The Devil Wears Prada (finally) and This Means War. And surprisingly I didn't even finish one book on my Kindle. Every time I tried to read my eyes would betray me, and the one-hour nap would begin. We very much enjoyed watching the map of the plane's progress throughout the flight. I (and the NE couple we've since met) assumed we would fly as the crow does straight across the Pacific from Chicago to Beijing. Instead we arched up through Canada, over Alaska, and back down. Imagine a semicircle because that's exactly what we did.
I must say the food was pretty good on the flight. They fed us a hot lunch (beef pot roast ala slightly elevated frozen meal, salad, roll, and brownie) about an hour into the flight, a snack (lemon cookie, pop chips, and a mini HERSHEY BAR!) about halfway through, and another hot lunch (melted turkey sub, chips, cookie) two hours before landing. They also provided water pretty frequently, which we always partook of - I'm all about some hydration!
We landed in Beijing at 2:20 pm local time on Thursday, June 28, but our bodies were on 1:20 am Central time. We were able to navigate to Immigration easily, then to baggage claim. Yes, there is English signage. As told, our guide had our names on a piece of paper just through the security exit. It was us and a couple from NE, very nice people. Our guide was Woo, and he looked like a Chinese Doug! :) I also had the pleasure of seeing a Chinese mullet! It took ~40 minutes to arrive at our hotel, Beijing Novotel Peace. Very nice. We were all pleasantly suprised at how much vegetation there is in the medians and along the roadsides. And though yes it is a big city, we all also commented that the traffic isn't as bad as we thought. Doug pointed out the Guatemala City was worse.
Our guide not only helped us check in but also saw us all the way to our rooms. One odd thing: one room key goes in a slot just inside the door to activate the power. I guess this cuts down on wasting electricity?
We knew we needed to stay awake to stave off the jet lag, but we were so mentally tired. We went to the lobby bar/lounge area and enjoyed the view of the street outside and people watching. But my eyes started drooping, and I was convinced that since we were so behind on sleep that we could go to bed at 6 pm local time since we needed to get up at 5:30 am to get ready for our Friday tour. Well, I woke up intermittently afraid we would oversleep. But we both have been up for good since 1:30 am. Oh well, surely hiking The Great Wall will prepare us for a good night's sleep tonight?!
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers!
I certainly know what you mean about the sleep. I always stress to stay up because you never know how you'll react. I am like you and Doug; no sleeping in the plane for me and only a few hours when I di finally get flat. But as soon as you get adjusted, you'll be headed home. Yay! Prayers to y'all!
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