To Beijing- Tuesday, July 26- Weds., July 27, 2016

   It wasn't long after  we adopted them that we decided we would take the girls back to their birth countries someday.  We thought that when they were 13 years old, it the would be a good time to do that.  They'd be old enough to remember and appreciate trip by then.  But when it was Anna's turn in 2013, she said she didn't have an interest in going back to Russia so we went to Paris, Britain, and Ireland instead.  This summer, Emma will turn 13, and while she didn't really want to see Wuhan and the orphanage she came from, she did want to see China.

     We made a list of the things we wanted to see.  They were mainly in Beijing-- the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, and so on-- and Xi'an where the Terra Cotta Army was found.  We heard Disney was planning on opening a new park in Shanghai this summer too, so  naturally that was on the list.  We found a company, Globus Travel, that had a trip that covered all of those, and so for about a year we have been planning through AAA and paying towards it.

     From what we've been able to read in advance, the Chinese government blocks many of the websites we usually use.  Once we get behind the "Great Firewall of China," we won't be able to get to Facebook or Blogspot, which means that Scott is planning on writing a journal on pen and paper first, and then posting it on Blogspot when we return.  We have tried to blog daily for all of our big trips since 2006, ten years ago, so already that feels very weird.  Scott has had many dreams where he's on a trip and has fallen behind in the blog, so it's very much a part of the travelling experience now.  At least his carry-on is lighter, since he's not bringing a computer or an iPad.

     Julie's dad picked us up this morning and took us to the airport.  The girls seemed embarrassed when Scott killed time at the Buffalo airport by visiting Pokestops to help his Pokemon Go game.

     The flight from Buffalo to Chicago went without a hitch.  Our layover at O'Hare was short-- just enough time to grab a Chicago style pizza for lunch,

     Then came the long part of the trip-- the flight to Beijing which took over twelve hours.  Fortunately, the 747 was not full.  There were empty seats near us, and we got to spread out a little bit, eventually taking up seven seats instead of four.

     The Great Circle Route took us within 200 miles of the North Pole.  (That might be the furthest north we've ever been.)  Since we flew west, we followed the sun, but even though it was always bright outside, the inside of the plane was darkened for much of the trip.  There's a lot of ways to look at how long the day was.  Our bodies experienced it as one 36 hour long day.  It certainly didn't feel like it, but we arrived in Beijing a little ahead of schedule, at 2:40 PM, which was actually 2:40 AM on New York time.

     Once off the plane, we went through the immigration lines, rode a train to baggage claim, got our luggage, and sent the big ones through a scanner at customs.  There were lots of families waiting with cameras and signs past there, but it didn't take us long to find the guy holding a sign for "Julie A. Frank."  Knowing we'd want to make it easy, Julie had pre-paid for this driver service from the airport to the hotel in central Beijing, a ride that would take 45 minutes to an hour.

     One of the first things that the girls noticed about China was the heat.  It's in the 90s and hazy.  They also noticed that the Chinese don't use air conditioning as much as Americans.  Anna, who just got her learner's permit when she turned 16 last week, seemed to be paying attention to the driver and the cars around us.  He beeped his horn a lot, and there were a lot of good reasons to, as cars swung in very close to us.

     Our hotel is a Novotel, a chain we used in Europe.  Their rooms are only two person rooms, so the girls have a room of their own like we had in Paris.  After finding our rooms, we lumbered down to the hotel's restaurant.  We tried to keep it simple because Julie and Scott each weren't feeling tops.  We ordered two small meals to share, but even then it cost about ¥300 (or more than $50.)   Emma's expensive hamburger carried on a tradition in our family of buying expensive hotel burgers after a transoceanic flight.  Even so, the burger and Anna's turkey sandwich both tasted "funny."  Julie wasn't sure that the turkey wasn't actually fish.

     The girls' first impression of China: It's hot, and they don't like the food.