The Journey Begins.

(names have been changed to protect.. oh who am I kidding! LOL!!)

 

 

Here we are. 

Twelve people traveling together.

To experience another country.

another culture.

another life.

 The first flight was smaller, the next flight (as shown above) was larger. 

And longer (13 hours). 

Since there was 12 of us, the chances of having more of us together on a flight was great. 

I am on the window, and then we are 4 more deep. 

We had a lot of laughs on this trip.... and many started on this flight.

 The three gals smiling in this picture and the one in pink is just 4 rows back. 

These gals were the majority of the giggling all the way to Tokyo (where we awaited our last flight).

 These three gals spent the majority of the long flight SLEEPING! 

I do not know how they did this. I slept all of 15 minutes!!

 At different points, I would open the window and take a gander... 

this is somewhere in British Columbia. 

(I only know this because they have GPS on the TV screens during the flights, telling you where you are.)

TOO COOL

 COASTLINE! 

Welcome to the open waters.

 After 3 flights and 22 hours of travel time, we made it to Beijing, China. 

It was 11:30pm local time (10:30am back home)

When we arrived, our ride was not there to pick us up yet. 

We were fine, just hung out, and tried to make sure our buddy, Bert, was on his way.

At 12:30am, we found Bert and his friend Mark. They loaded up 12 people, 24+ bags, and few pillows and 1 Guitar into one 11 person van and 7 person wagon. It was also RAINING! And since we hadn't seen or felt Rain in weeks, it devoured it! 

Keep in mind, if you ever travel to China, that you need to arrive in the regular working hours. 

Otherwise, you will spend 2 hours looking for a hotel.

Wthe one you had reservations at decides to not take you 

and 5 other hotels say they are full, 

or turn off the lights, 

or lock the doors.

So at 2am,

we all were welcomed into Bert's house 

to sleep on the floor, 

in bunk beds, 

and on couch cushions. 

And it was the best sleep, 

SERIOUSLY. 

And bless his wife for rising in the morning and making a yummy breakfast for 12 American strangers.

We did get into a better hotel that next morning and we started 

Day One of our 48 hours Marathon Sight-Seeing in Beijing.

Stay Tuned.....