Calm Spirit / Ying Yu Jade China Trip 2009

Flight to the Other Side of the World-China

Orlando to IAD, and IAD to Beijing, China. When we checked in online, we upgraded our coach seats to premium economy for the flight from Washington, DC, to Beijing, to give us "up to" five extra inches of leg room. But when we were at the boarding gate, we were able to upgrade to business class for a charge about half the price of regular business class. The plane was barely half full, which was a surprise because flights to and from China are usually full with standby waiting. And I understood why I had so much trouble trying to book our flights myself, online, because the airlines don't have daily flights to all cities in China now. If you're going to China and not going with a tour, and flying domestic in China, it definitely helps to use an experienced travel agent who knows how to book China flights.

We arrived Beijing Capital airport mid-afternoon. It certainly has changed and takes a lot longer to get through immigration to baggage. There's a tram to baggage, but since the Olympic games they run only one and it's likely you have to wait for one or two, about 15 minutes each trip. We breathed a sigh of relief to see our luggage made it with us, then found the long and circuitous route to find the taxi lane. I had Chinese money left from the last trip, so I didn't have to change money at the airport, which doesn't ave a good exchange rate. We stayed at Novotel Xinqiao and I asked the hotel to send the name of the hotel and address in Chinese, which I printed and gave to the taxi driver, which was very helpful since no one at the taxi lane, or the driver, spoke English to make sure we went to the correct hotel.

"Old China" shop window in "new China"

From the online reviews of Novotel Xinqiao I expected problems with both English and courtesy, but the desk staff was extremely helpful, spoke good English, and made it easy to check in. After we went to our room, we walked around outside the hotel to look for bottled water, Qingdao beer, and a restaurant. We were starved. We had lunch shortly after we departed, then 13 hours later they gave us a light snack, so we needed to eat. Beijing really "cleaned up" for the 2008 Olympics, and most of the small restaurants, businesses and shops around hotels are gone. More about that topic later. We were too tired to walk around trying to find a restaurant, at in the hotel at a Chinese style restaurant which was very good. Then of course couldn't sleep at night, because the time difference is 12 hours. Neither of us slept more than an hour on the flight, and neither of us slept well the night before we left, so three days without sleep was not a good way to get off to a busy shopping day.