After our night in Hartford we all met bright and early in the hotel lobby, ate a quick breakfast and then hopped in the van for the airport. We found they had overbooked the flight to Beijing so we were glad we got there plenty early! After our bags were x-rayed we moved on to the gate area and lounged around for about an hour until boarding for Chicago. That flight was bumpy and most of us were sleep deprived so it was a rocky start.

Mary led us on a power walk through concourse C over to B (we had less than an hour to make our connecting flight and check in). Amazing that a woman with such short legs can move so fast! We all kept up (had a great race on the moving sidewalk) and made it to the gate in plenty of time. They checked us in as a group and after a short wait we boarded. Most of us were seated in two middle rows in the back of the plane (have you ever REALLY looked at those first class seats? I for one was pretty jealous after the first 8 hours in the air. They are almost as big as some Japanese hotel rooms :-))

On the Beijing flight there were many movies (personal screens at each seat), music channels to listen to and of course whatever entertainment could be devised. I noticed a vigorous word game taking place at one point which consisted of naming an animal that begins with the letter the the previous player's animal name ends with. Kangaroo=ocelot, etc.

Some of us were smart and didn't set our watches ahead for Chicago, which meant that we were on Beijing time (our time + 12 hours) from the minute we got on the plane (if one takes into consideration that we left at 9:30 in the morning on the 17th which meant it was 9:30 at night on the 17th in Beijing. Mid-flight, as one's inner clock gets confused this concept is easier to accept; at 9am it seems silly.

Tomorrow the Great Wall!!!