We made it!

We made it.  I cannot believe it but we made it.  I do not have access to Blogger so I'm sending these posts via email.  Hopefully they will show up. Depending on how many pictures I send, I may have to post more than once.

We arrived at CVG around 6:00 on Thursday morning (right now it's 11:00 p.m. on Friday evening so it's 11:00 a.m. on Friday morning at home.)  When we checked in the ticket agent told us there were plenty of seats on an earlier flight so we took them.  We arrived at O'Hare around 7:30 a.m. only to discover that our flight to Beijing had been delayed by two hours.  We spent time walking around, talking with other families and playing cards.

Our flight to Beijing was uneventful.  Each of our seats had it's own monitor and we could watch movies or track our progress on the map.  That was cool – it would rotate through a series that included a map of where we were, how long we'd been in the air, how many miles/km we covered and how many we had left to go, the outside air temperature in F and C.  It was just really neat.  We were served two lunches and a snack.  I thought the food was great but then I don't think too poorly of most food.  Our first lunch was a choice of chicken terryaki with rice or beef with potatoes.  The chicken with rice was great.  Our snack was Chinese noodles with vegetables – also quite tasty and our second lunch was a turkey sandwich with yogurt – again, quite tasty.

Prior to debarking the flight, a team of three medics came on board and took our temperature.  If an individual had a temperature, the individual along with his seatmates would have been taken and quarantined.  We were fortunate – everyone on the plane made it through.  However, we did not make it through the second temperature check point so swiftly.  When we were allowed to leave the plane, we gathered our things and then waited for the rest of the group to catch up.  The terminal was all windows and the sun was still fairly high in the sky.  When we went through the security checkpoint, Scott was pulled aside and taken behind a curtain.  I had no idea what was going on and there wasn't anyone to ask.  About five minutes later he came out with an agent and a mask on and asked for his passport and the documents we were required to fill out on the plane.  Finally after what seemed to be an eternity, he came out from the screen and was allowed to leave.  We think that because he was standing in the sun while waiting for the rest of the group – he developed a temperature and was a "hot spot".  Allison, our guide, informed us that the Chinese people are taking the Swine flu very seriously and are taking many precautions so the illness does not enter China.

We finally made it through the airport with everyone who was supposed to be there and I think everyone's bags made it as well.  At least, I didn't hear anyone say anything about a lost bag.  We have a fairly large travel group with us and at least two more families will be joining us in the morning.

The airport terminal we were in was huge – and fairly empty.  Allison told us that the terminal we were in was the newest.  It was certainly very modern and stylish.  I took a few pictures but nothing to do it justice.  We drove through part of Beijing on the way to our hotel.  It was interesting to see the many similarities between China and America.  Many of the cars were the same and the people driving drove with the same ambition that American's drive with. 

Tomorrow we are scheduled to see Tianneman square, the Great Wall and the Olympic site.  I'm looking forward to seeing them. 

The first picture of just JD and I is at CVG.  The other pictures are from the airport at O'Hare.  The picture of Scott and JD on the stools is at Wolfgang Puck's café in Terminal B.  Again, the food was very tasty and I would definitely recommend it.