In China
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Thursday, October 21, 2010 We're off to a slow but good start. A few minor glitches today but no major ones thankfully. Given the propensity of DIA's TSA crew to go as slow as they possibly can lately, we tried to arrive well in advance of our flight time. Traveling frequently has its privileges so we were able to jump up to the front of the security line. Glitch #1, zone B. I forgot to check in 24 hours in advance. Now we were worried about getting 3 seats next to each other and enough overhead room for our carry ons. The service with Southwest is pretty good, but the whole competing-for-seats thing is for people that are far more spontaneous than I. Glitch #2, peanut butter. Alright, April and I are peanut butter addicts. Not going to lie about it, we love the stuff. Peanut butter is the nectar of the gods. When added to jelly or chocolate, it is absolutely Heavenly. Mmmmmm, peanut butter. Apparently however it qualifies as a "liquid or a gel" and we had to relinquish it to an intrepid TSA officer (I actually knew this but *completely* spaced it and put it in a carry on). I think April was in shock with the knowledge of having to go the next two and half weeks sans peanut butter. In fact, after our last experience in China, we actually brought along a fair amount of snacks. One of those suitcases in the picture is filled with them. This is partly because it's expensive to eat out 3 meals a day and partly because we're just not that into fried goose hands or sandworms and want an alternative.

Glitch #3, flight delay. We were scheduled to fly at 9:45pm to San Francisco for the first leg of the trip. The flight was now delayed until 10:35. Kinda minor but then the pilot noticed some frost on the wing which teed us up for an impromptu de-icing. Ordinarily at DIA, that's a 20-30 minute excursion. Thankfully this time it was mere seconds comparatively. Glitch #4, the pants. April forgot her comfy warmups for the flight to HK. Not too big of a deal really but a glitch nonetheless. So if those are all the glitches we experience this trip, we're good! We finally arrived in SFO at 12:20am. Because of the delay we couldn't get the shuttle to our hotel so we had to take a cab. Shortly after arriving at the taxi stand, our cab driver, Joe Pesci, showed up to take us to the hotel. Even though neither of us said it until we got to the room, we both had the thought that Joe Pesci himself had taken a duty as a cab driver just for fun. That's how much this guy looked like him, and all I could think of was his famous lines from the Lethal Weapon movies. Cabs are getting a lot pricier in SFO these days because the hotel was only 5 miles away and it cost us $20. Go into the city and it will cost you an even $50 most times now. Oh, about the luggage, it looks like a lot but really isn't. We're in China nearly 3 weeks and in addition to your clothes and important paperwork, you have to bring orphanage gifts and of course some extra chow. Since Gemma is 9, we have also brought all kinds of things to do like a bracelet making kit, art supplies, games, etc. Okay, it's 3am and I've been catching up on neglected work. Time to hit the rack. We fly at 1:35PM Pacific Time for Hong Kong, which will be a 14 hour and 25 minute flight.

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