Hello from Beijing China

Well we made it...We are here FINALLY!... It all seems so unreal....

OK this is going to be short because we are exhausted but I had to post right away when I was able to open blogger without any trouble at all.

We started our day with our parents leaving us at the airport. As we walked through security and turned back and saw the 3 of them there crying and waving it was to much and we both lost it. We cried all the way to the gate, all tears of joy....We started out at 3:45am Eastern time when our alarm woke us for the day.. Out of the house by 5:30am.. flight left for Chicago at 9:07. We met the rest of our travel group in Chicago were we had some bonding time for several hours. Everyone is so nice and it was really nice to put a face with a name... The flight to Beijing was PACKED! and took off at 12:38pm Central time. As I said the flight was PACKED! we were luck enough to get 2 middle seats in the middle row (hear the sarcasm right?) LOL... really though the two people sitting on the end rows were very nice and tolerated us getting up frequently to stretch our legs. We had 3 meals and 2 snacks and did not sleep a wink the whole 13 hour flight. We watched The Bucketlist and Definitely Maybe for movies and the discovery Channel for a while. All in all the flight was good and went by quicker then we had imagined...So I have some tips for those of you waiting to travel...

1. As soon as you have your tickets call for your seats do not wait until 24 hours before the flight like they say you have to. If you have children traveling with you tell them that they will make sure you are together.

2. If at all possible do not fly United... Plane was a mess, Flight attendants were rude....If you do fly United pay for an extra seat or upgrade if possible to economy plus.

3. Do not take anything on the plane with you are as little as possible when I say it was cramped that is an understatement. I took magazines could not concentrate to read. Brought Uno cards never played them, brought the i-pod never took it out. Just plane on sitting there in amazement for 13 hours....they have ear phones and XM radio on the plane

4Avoid the noodle soup bowl... Our friend Alice told us that but we tried them anyway they are really bad...


OK we are going to go exchange some money with Zhou (pronounced Joe) and check out the Lobby here at the Holiday Inn Downtown Beijing...

Big hugs from China we will post again tomorrow night our time (12 hours ahead of US Eastern Standard)..

Love Susan and Riz
3 more sleeps to Sophia

Oh P.S Riz said and YES the beds are ROCK hard
P.S.S. I cam e right in the room and brushed my teeth with tap water LOL DAH..Exhaustion