Turns out Blogger.com and all associated blogspots are forbidden here the People's Republic. Fortunately you can post via email. Hope it works. Someone email us if they get this.
Let's see...One car, three planes, one tram, one bus and a three-hour nap spread out over 26 hours. Can't wait to do that again on the trip back. We left for the airport Thursday morning at 6:00 and finally crawled into bed at 11:00pm on Friday, in Beijing. That's something like 7 or 8:am in Portland. I think. It might depend on whether you're using the metric system.
Here's how the trip played out:Aaron's parents picked us up dark and early to get us and Christina's parents to the airport. (Thanks Mom and Dad): We flew Horizon up to Seattle. It was Tessa's first time on a plane with propellors so that was cool. Also, something worth remembering: The Horizon terminal has complimentary Starbucks coffee.
Once we landed in Seattle we hurried off the plane so we could wait 5 hours for our next flight. Here's another travel tip: If you have to eat at the airport, do it where the options are. We spent most of our time waiting in the food court area with the nice view and shops, but decided to wait to eat lunch until we got to the International Terminal. Bad move. Bye bye options. Hello $7 pre-wrapped sandwiches. We finally boarded our Korean Air flight that took us to Seoul. Eleven hours of fun. Tessa was incredible though. What a champ. She absolutely loves traveling. Christina was amazing with her. Over the pasts several months, she's been snatching up little toys and surprises on ebay to help get Tessa through the long stretches. Tessa, of course wised up to this so she was constantly asking when the next toy would be revealed. I tried watching Transformers 2 on the 7" screen in the seat in front of me. Probably not the viewing experience Michael Bay had in mind.
We landed in Seoul and caught our connection to Beijing. I can't believe I just wrote that. We've been waiting for this for a long time. The one hour 40 minute flight to Beijing was a piece of cake. Getting through airport was a breeze too. The customs process consisted of us walking through the empty lane that said 'nothing to declare'. Cool.
Our guide Lineker (hope I'm spelling that right) was there to meet us and took us to a bus. We picked up some other adoptive families who like us, were too tired to be social, and headed to the hotel. Once at the hotel, the Radisson SAS we decided to get situated and unpack. That sounds organized, but what this really means is that our bags explode. Just clothes and paper and toiletries everywhere. It's carnage. No one should have to experience that.
I helped Tessa get ready for bed. Bad move. After the long trip, my wits were about as sharp as a toddler's favorite crayon. That is to say, pretty dull. Anyway, it's recommended that you don't drink the water here. It's fine for brushing teeth and cleaning fruit but notfor chugging down liters of the stuff. Well, Tessa has a nighttime routine of jumping up to the sink after brushing and taking a few sips from the tap. I just blearily helped her hop up to go through her routine. Meanwhile a perfectly good bottle of drinking water was trying to get my attention only 6 inches away. But I was focused on helping Tessa be able to do what she's familiar with. No distracting me with health and sanitation. No sir. I'm a man on a mission...to get my daughter sick.
Apparently there was no harm done. It's Saturday morning and she's the same Tessa. Today we have a very long day of traveling. On the docket are Tian'anmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace and a pearl factory. We'll be sure to snag some pictures and videos for today's blog posts.
Blessings,
Aaron, Christina and Tessa
Let's see...One car, three planes, one tram, one bus and a three-hour nap spread out over 26 hours. Can't wait to do that again on the trip back. We left for the airport Thursday morning at 6:00 and finally crawled into bed at 11:00pm on Friday, in Beijing. That's something like 7 or 8:am in Portland. I think. It might depend on whether you're using the metric system.
Here's how the trip played out:Aaron's parents picked us up dark and early to get us and Christina's parents to the airport. (Thanks Mom and Dad): We flew Horizon up to Seattle. It was Tessa's first time on a plane with propellors so that was cool. Also, something worth remembering: The Horizon terminal has complimentary Starbucks coffee.
Once we landed in Seattle we hurried off the plane so we could wait 5 hours for our next flight. Here's another travel tip: If you have to eat at the airport, do it where the options are. We spent most of our time waiting in the food court area with the nice view and shops, but decided to wait to eat lunch until we got to the International Terminal. Bad move. Bye bye options. Hello $7 pre-wrapped sandwiches. We finally boarded our Korean Air flight that took us to Seoul. Eleven hours of fun. Tessa was incredible though. What a champ. She absolutely loves traveling. Christina was amazing with her. Over the pasts several months, she's been snatching up little toys and surprises on ebay to help get Tessa through the long stretches. Tessa, of course wised up to this so she was constantly asking when the next toy would be revealed. I tried watching Transformers 2 on the 7" screen in the seat in front of me. Probably not the viewing experience Michael Bay had in mind.
We landed in Seoul and caught our connection to Beijing. I can't believe I just wrote that. We've been waiting for this for a long time. The one hour 40 minute flight to Beijing was a piece of cake. Getting through airport was a breeze too. The customs process consisted of us walking through the empty lane that said 'nothing to declare'. Cool.
Our guide Lineker (hope I'm spelling that right) was there to meet us and took us to a bus. We picked up some other adoptive families who like us, were too tired to be social, and headed to the hotel. Once at the hotel, the Radisson SAS we decided to get situated and unpack. That sounds organized, but what this really means is that our bags explode. Just clothes and paper and toiletries everywhere. It's carnage. No one should have to experience that.
I helped Tessa get ready for bed. Bad move. After the long trip, my wits were about as sharp as a toddler's favorite crayon. That is to say, pretty dull. Anyway, it's recommended that you don't drink the water here. It's fine for brushing teeth and cleaning fruit but notfor chugging down liters of the stuff. Well, Tessa has a nighttime routine of jumping up to the sink after brushing and taking a few sips from the tap. I just blearily helped her hop up to go through her routine. Meanwhile a perfectly good bottle of drinking water was trying to get my attention only 6 inches away. But I was focused on helping Tessa be able to do what she's familiar with. No distracting me with health and sanitation. No sir. I'm a man on a mission...to get my daughter sick.
Apparently there was no harm done. It's Saturday morning and she's the same Tessa. Today we have a very long day of traveling. On the docket are Tian'anmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace and a pearl factory. We'll be sure to snag some pictures and videos for today's blog posts.
Blessings,
Aaron, Christina and Tessa
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