After a restless night of barely sleeping, we pried Simon off the suitcases and got ready to go. The limo picked us up at our house around 4:15 am to take us to the air port. We said goodbye to the cats. I over fed Lucy who was lying in her bed in some kind of food coma while Simon could barely look at us he was so disgusted we were leaving. There was another couple in the limo on their way to Florida to get married and a woman flying out on a business trip. After talking about China adoptions and planning destination weddings we were finally at the airport and it was beginning to feel real. After checking in our luggage, clearing security and buying some breakfast food and coffee, we were ready to board the plane. A storm had just passed through Indianapolis so our flight was smooth sailing. The layover in Newark was about four hours. We met another couple who are with our travel group and boarded the plane. This is the part no one was looking forward to. The plane was huge but not full. The trip did not feel like 12 hours. We really lucked out. The food was tasty (seriously) and there were free movies with over 100 to choose from. Since I normally do not watch movies that is all I did. We followed the sun so it never got dark outside. So, we would nap, eat, watch a movie and then nap again. Kind of like how you wish you could spend a weekend day if you had the time, only not quite as comfortable. Swine flu is a big concern over here. We had to wait on the plane when we landed in Beijing for the health officials to take everyone’s temperature before we could get off the plane. They took some kind of device and pointed it toward our forehead which read our temperature so what we imagined was going to take an hour took less than five minutes. We also had to fill out a form of where we would be staying. Apparently if someone on our flight close to us comes down with swine flu we could be pulled into quarantine for up to five days! We literally passed five security points where people looked at our paperwork before we made it to customs. At the last check point I was pulled out of line and had to sit in a side room with a mask over my face and a thermometer under my armpit. No explanation other than I would be sitting there for five minutes. After I clearing that check point, we were home free. A few notes on Beijing. Since the Olympics Beijing has improved tremendously. They are planting 1 million trees per year to help with air quality and it seems to be working. You could see the sky. The streets, where we are at least, are very clean and not nearly as crowded as we were expecting. I have attached pictures but will be taking many more. 4 more days until we meet Ian.
