Let's skip a day

March 23, Sunday (Easter)
Day 1- We met up with the charter bus to LAX at our local mall and wouldn't you know who was allllllllllll most late?- our type A (with a capital A) person from the sister city- but I won't mention Herr.. name. I was even on the cell calling them, since the bus was ready to leave- just as they pulled in, in that yellow taxi.
We left on Eastern China Airline, flight MU586 at 1:30 PM for an enduring 14 hour flight to Bei Jing by way of Shanghai.

**We crossed the international date line, so we arrived around midnight (23:30) the next day (Day 2)- they are 15 hours ahead of west coast time and 12 hours ahead of east coast time (figure that one out!!).

We were met by our Bei Jing guide, Allen, and transferred to a 5 star hotel- The Great Wall Sheraton Hotel. I was able to sleep on the 2 hour leg from Shanghai to Bei Jing and it allowed me to fall right into place sleep wise- no jet lag!!

From my sister Judy-
Sunday, March 23 ~ Happy Easter! We awoke at 5:30 AM to catch the bus up to LAX. We met Corrine and Marlow (Carol's sister) and Joan and Duane (Mark's neighbor) at the airport. We had a tremendously long flight, but it was as pleasant as possible and the stewardesses were extremely accommodating. Quite a few movies were shown and we were served two meals and one snack. After 12 hours, we landed in Shanghai and switched planes for our final two hours to Beijing. A bus finally transferred us to the beautiful Beijing Sheraton Hotel. We arrived around 12:45 AM, met our tour guide, Alan,and then went to our rooms - totally exhausted.