MARCH 11th
Our Boeing 777 left the gate 13 minutes late due some minor maintenance issues so we were well settled into our seats, 11A & 11B, prior to departing the gate. We had both changed into more comfortable sweat outfits for the 13 hour flight. At 9:39 our fuel laden 777 lifted off the runway for our 6570 mile flight to Beijing. Question: Which direction to you fly to get there? Bet you said west. You are wrong!! We flew in two directions-first north then south as went polar route. That is by far the shortest way to get there.
There are actually three of us making this trip. A few years ago we met a young lady on a Royal Caribbean cruise who also lives in Dallas. We became very good friends and Jeanie was with us last fall on our Rome to Galveston transatlantic cruise. Well, Jeanie has a little stuffed Chick Filet cow that travels with her and it’s name is “Cow Cow”. How orginal! So I told her that CC would like to go see the Great Wall of China so she sadly let us borrow him. You may be seeing some pictures on the blog with our new friend, CC.
Not long after takeoff the inflight service began with hot nuts and drinks. That was followed by some nice smoked salmon as appetizer and nice big salad with hot breads. The wines flowed generously throughout dinner. Rebecca enjoyed chicken stir fry for her entrée and I opted for a very nice 8 oz filet that was cooked a perfect medium rare. Cow Cow did not like my entrée choice very much. For dessert more wine and a big hot fudge Sunday with whip cream and nuts.
All this time I had been watching the newest James Bond movie, SkyFall, on my personal screen in seatback in front of me. After dinner we each took half of an Ambien (sleeping med), motored our seats into full flat mode, pulled blanket over us and went to sleep. It was not the best sleep but we managed to be out for 6 hours. We are now 1 ½ hours from landing and the flight attendants are about to serve us a light meal. Rebecca will have chicken with asian noodles and Uno’s pizza for me.
I love the Boeing 777 and was a Captain checkairman on it for several years. No, I still do not miss flying after being retired now for 5 year and 12 days. I’m doing fine riding in the back now. It was a nice smooth 13 hour flight but now hoping that our luggage will all be waiting for us in baggage claim after immigration clearance.
We landed at 1150pm and was at gate by midnight. The airport terminal was MASSIVE and very nice. One advantage of arriving late at night is there were no other flights at that time. We walked for a long way to get to immigration officials but as we were among first off plane we did not have to wait in line. They checked our passports, visas, and photographed us then we took a long train ride to another terminal where baggage claim was. HURRAY! All our bags made it! There was no Customs. Our driver was right there waiting for us and he took us to parking garage and loaded our luggage into his van. It was now 12:50 so just 50 minutes from plane to van. Not bad considering size of that terminal. The airport here is 2nd largest in the world (Atlanta is largest) in passenger traffic. We arrived at our Hilton hotel at 1:15am.
The front desk staff was sooooo nice. We are being treated like royality by everyone in the hotel. I had booked the 3 nights stay using my Hilton points so was not costing me anything. I decided to upgrade our room to a suite for only $50 additional per night. Believe me, it is worth it. Beautiful! We finally turned lights out at 2:30am. I did not sleep very well and we were up at 7:00am. I am up on top floor now in the club lounge waiting for Rebecca. It is a perk of my being “diamond status” with Hilton. You should see the breakfast spread they have up here. I have photos of our suite and the lounge. Our private guide and driver are to be here to pick us up at 9:30 for our day of touring.
Checking into the Beijing Hilton.
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