We have made a safe landing

After literally 24 hours of traveling, we landed safely at 9:30pm in Beijing. That was 3 planes and two layovers, but we are none worse for the wear and we are all in one piece. The children did phenomenally, much better than we or anyone could expect. They did a good amount of sleeping when it would have ordinarily been their bedtime and of course, as good parents, we helped them out with a little bit of Benadryl. That one leg (Minneapolis to Tokyo) was a killer for me though....I could not get comfortable to get a good chunk of sleep. But again, we all made it and we are all very happy to be here. Jimmy who is our dear friend from Florida, arranged to have his daughter Jessica pick us up at the airport and she brought a friend as we needed two cars. I had this brainstorm that we would stay at a traditional Chinese hotel. When we got there, after traveling down dark alleys with just one lightbulb at each little shack, we decided that it was a little too traditional for our taste! It was very old and beautiful, but with small room air conditoners but very musky and complete with all the smells of wood and incense. All the smells you imagined if you read Memoirs of A Geisha. LOL.

We then navigated into the center of the city and found a nice hotel, checked in and all had showers and a good nights sleep. Even if it was 1 am by now!