Getting To Beijing -- Saturday - 08 March 2014

As I write this blog post it is Saturday - 08 March 2014 -- we are on United Flight 821 from Boston to San Francisco.  Now you might ask why aren't they in Beijing?  Weren't they supposed to leave on Friday?  Yes we were -- but we didn't.  Let me go back to Friday morning.

Phil and I were to be on a 6:40 am flight to Newark and then a noon flight to Beijing.  I was awakened Friday morning by light coming through the window -- immediately I knew we had overslept -- it was 6:30 am.

I jumped out of bed like a crazy woman calling Phil's name to wake him up -- and to announce the dismal news.  Never have we ever overslept when we travel -- we're early to every flight and get up in the middle of the night with no problem. M The reason we overslept I discovered was that I had set the alarm on my phone for 3:45 pm instead of am.

So --- I immediately called United and miraculously got through to a good agent without too much trouble.   She said all the flights to Newark were booked so she couldn't get us to the noon Beijing flight on Friday but she could rebook us -- at no charge -- on the same route for Saturday.   The only change was we would leave Boston at 8:30 am.  I took it and started counting my blessings -- and told Phil he could stop checking train schedules to Newark as he had been frantically doing since he heard the news.  Once that was settled we started to calm down and realize that this was not the end of the world.  Since we originally were going a day early --we would not miss any of the tours in Beijing.

So what to do with a free day --  I started working on our taxes --- Phil took a walk -- we both napped ---we had a nice dinner in the city and went to bed early.  We set two alarms.

Fast forward to Saturday morning -- we're up, dressed and ready to go out the door when Phil had a few minutes to check his e-mail while waiting for me.  All of a sudden I hear,  "You better take a look at this e-mail from United."  I couldn't believe my eyes.  United had at 2:00 am changed our route to Beijing because they cancelled the 8:30 am flight to Newark.  The new route:   Satuday evening flight to Dulles in Washington, DC then on to Chicago where apparently we were expected sleep overnight at the airport --- then a Monday morning flight to Beijing.   Panic set in again -- after a conversation with our travel agent's emergency people -- we decided to go to the airport to discuss this with a real person.  

It turned out to be a good decision since we were able to get on a 7:30 am flight to San Francisco and a noon flight to Beijing -- arriving within an hour or so of our "second" original time.  Apparently -- it was easier for United to get us from Boston to San Francisco than from Boston to Newark for a noon flight to Beijing.

I can now report that both flights were long but uneventful -- our ride from the airport was long -- one hour -- since it was rush hour (yes they have rush hour on Sunday) and the Kerry Hotel in Beijing is fabulous.  

GRAY is the one word that I would use to describe Beijing -- judging from our ride into the city.  The pollution was not awful but it provides a dull backdrop to the city.  The people are wonderful and not gray in the least -- but friendly and smiling. 

Tomorrow we visit the Great Wall --- we are so glad to finally be here!

Thanks for Reading!

Pat