Our Arrival here at last!

  Thursday, January 5, 2012

We landed at 10:00 pm, China Standard Time, or CST, after a 12 (!) hour flight. It wasn’t that bad of a flight, though, as Tracy had wheedled her way into getting us three seats all to ourselves so we could stretch out. And, of course, on the international flights you get the little screen in the seat back in front of you that has movies, TV shows, games, etc. to keep you from going completely crazy. Though we were tired since we’d been flying since 6:00 the previous night (Seattle Time), and we had only had about an hour nap each, we were still very awake for the customs adventure (which is always a bigger deal in your mind than it turns out to be in real life), and the drive to the hotel, which took about 45 minutes.

Now, a bit about the Grand Hyatt Beijing. We are just down the street from Tiananmen Square—in fact, the next subway stop from the one on the corner of our block is for Tiananmen. Presidents stay here. CEOs stay here. Dignitaries from everywhere stay here. So, if I added to that group that the Gaudios stay here, well, we could play that old Sesame Street game—you know it, sing it with me now, “Three of these things belong together . . .” This is an amazing hotel. The pool is one complete floor by itself. The room is the size of an apartment. Don’t believe me? Google it. Freakin’ amazing!

So, we got to the hotel, checked in, and crashed (in that order).

I (Tracy) did need to add a picture of the Hogwarts-esk pool. It has a ceiling that changes color and even has a night sky with constellations