UMTravels

The forced march is over! Great fun, but exhausting. Found “David” in the dining room and turned in my evaluation and an envelope with his tip. After the usual Beijing breakfast which mow includes a Berliner we are on the bus by 8:20am with the people staying at the other hotel already on board.

“Dick” is, in fact, our escort this morning. He can only show us where to find our luggage and point us towards the first of two customs clearances. It is a zoo. I can only imagine what it will be like for the Olympics in 2008. So, clear one customs – that takes away all the friends and relatives seeing people off, which gets you to the check-in counters. I go to the front of the line expecting to see a Premier/Premier Executive/1K line – but all I find is Business Class and First Class. I chose the Business Class line. The Economy Class line snaked its way through the departure hall – no wonder they want you there three hours early. There was only one person in the Business Class line so it was a quick trip to the counter. When I enquired about using miles or purchasing an upgrade for the Beijing to San Francisco flight, she sweetly informed that my fare wasn’t upgradeable – but that she’d give me a free upgrade to Business. I thought I’d just hit the lottery! A free upgrade on an eleven hour transpacific flight – unbelievable. Happen once on an Atlantic flight years ago, but not since. When I looked at my boarding pass – she had written OPUP – which I assume is short hand for Operational Upgrade – meaning the flight was probably completely full (outboard certainly was) and they needed more economy seats. Then through immigration, then through a different customs (and a different form – thank god they handed those out at the hotel last night), and then through security where I had to leave my water and half a small water bottle of scotch behind (after taking a swig of each).

I had actually made it from the front of the airport to the duty free section is about thirty minutes. Most of that time was waiting in the security line which was extra heavy for people traveling to the US because of the foiled British airports plot. At duty free I bought a carton of Sobronie Cocktail Color cigarettes – they are all garish colors with gold tips. Very flamboyant.  The off to the gate for yet another liquids check.

Plane was an hour and a half late getting off due to mechanical stuff – and they stopped serving champagne to us after our first two or three glasses…and the air conditioning wasn’t working and I can only imagine how it was in the back of the plane – in the front all the cabin attendants had cloth napkins filled with ice wrapped around their necks to keep them from dropping over wearing their uniforms and it being a hundred and five or so. Thank god for the 36” seat pitch in business to keep you away from the sweating people in front of you.

Cute young Chinese rocket geek next to me – reading (in English) a book on rocketry 2010-2030, looks almost like a theoretical textbook. Assuming he was headed to either San Francisco or Los Angeles for school – looked of that age (and guess that he was a last minute fill in the blank business passenger).

Flight uneventful, which is how we like them. Shrimp appetizer, salad, pecan encrusted chicken breast with red pepper cream glaze, the peach dessert in a latticework pastry, the scotch, the two different red wines, the cognac, and more scotch. Like I said, I thought I’d hit the lottery. Mid-flight snack of some bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches (in the back they had “Cup O’ Noodles”) and the morning meal was a broccoli frittata with a fruit plate. Got some catnaps in, along with three movies – Mission Impossible III, The Insider, the that shaggy dog movie with Tim Allen – only the best in entertainment on airplanes these days – what happened to Chocolate and other foreign films I used to see.

Our delayed departure meant that I had missed my Seattle flight – but I had a text message on my phone that they had rebooked be on the 12:45pm flight – of course that meant that my bulkhead aisle seat was converted into seat 10B – a middle seat, but at least it was in economy plus. Not that it mattered – I was out like a light until drink service – got one glass of Diet Pepsi down before it was lights out again until the end of the trip. I think I needed some sleep time.