We finally arrived!

This morning didn’t start too bad.  We both woke early, I checked the flight status online and found out the trip from Ohare to Beijing was delayed two hours due to maintenance on the plane. 

We arrived at the place we usually park our car near the airport.  I pulled up to the booth and was told the lot was full.  I didn’t like using a new place but found one nearby. 

Check-in went well.  We found that we couldn’t upgrade because everything was booked.  The guy behind the counter said he could give us an exit row seat for no charge.  We jumped at that.  I’m now sitting in my plane seat with my legs stretched out.  The only downfall is that we are 5 feet from the bathroom doors.  I don’t mind though, I’m a people watcher.

Once on the plane at Ohare we sat in the plane and couldn’t leave the gate until some thunderstorms passed.  Apparently by OSHA rules workers, have to wait a certain time period to go back to work on the tarmac after a thunderstorm.  All in all we were delayed 4 hours and ten minutes.  We met 2 couples at the airport that are also adopting in the same province as Adriana.  They are very nice and we might be able to meet up for dinner during our stay.

I have to say that Cindy and I were very impressed with Ohare airport.  It was clean, the bathrooms were spotless and smelled great.  Cindy said that she walked into the bathroom stall and there was a plastic covering over the toilet seat.  She said you waved your hand past a motion sensor and the plastic covering rotated 360 degrees to a brand new one.  Thank goodness she didn’t ask for the video camera.

We had left Chicago at 5:20pm.  It’s now 9:16pm.  We should arrive in Beijing at around 6:20pm on 5/12/2011.  The flight time from Chicago to Beijing is 13 hours and 8 minutes.  I’m glad we opted to go a day early.  I wouldn’t want to check into the hotel late in the evening and then have to wake up early for a full day of touring. The pilot said we will be flying 60 miles from the North Pole and flying across part of Russia. 

We haven’t slept on the plane yet but hope to get some sleep soon.

Signing off for now…