The Longest Day!

We got off to a slow start yesterday. We were an hour late leaving Omaha but we had plenty of connection time in Chicago so we were able to just amble to the international terminal. We had some sandwiches and drinks so we just had to get some chips and we had a quick meal right before we boarded.

As we were eating, a VERY LARGE group arrived to be on our flight. They were all wearing the same T-shirt wich had the name of their group "Highland Park High School Band" and "China 2009" on it. I eventually asked someone how many were in their group. About 75! That includes adult sponsors. While we were boarding I met one of the directors and asked if they'd been invited. He said they were. Ten years ago they had been invited also so now they were invited back. They will be doing 3 concerts in Beijing in a week!

We decided that if you ever have the choice to be on the same plane as a band, DON'T! They didn't take the hint when the cabin lights were turned off! Nice enough kids, but noisy!

Just under 6 1/2 hours into the flight we crossed the International Date Line. A lot of the time we'd look out the window and there was "a whole lot o' nothin'"! I got a couple of pictures of the areas north of Canada where you could see water AND snow differentiated. And it NEVER GOT DARK!

Our first meal I thought was VERY good for airline food. I had chicken & rice. Tony had beef & pasta and thinks he maybe should have gotten the chicken.

We arrived in Beijing at 2:45 pm, 30 minutes earlier than scheduled. That's quite a flight! We were sooo tired of sitting! After going through Immigration, we got our bags, walked through Customs (literally just walked!) and found our sign with our name on it. We got checked in at the hotel at 4:30 pm. Our guide, Penny, told us she'd see us in the morning since we were so tired.

We took a short nap, came down to the lobby to exchange some money and write this post.

We're going to bed now! We're 13 hours ahead of you in Nebraska!