MADISON, Miss. (Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2008) – Paperwork, repeated telephone calls and travel planning have dominated the first two days of Thanksgiving week while I finalized plans for travel next week through LotusTravel, our travel agency in Washington state.
First: Our travel dates have changed slightly.
Pam and I will leave Jackson at 8:53 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 2, on Northwest Flight 2979 bound for Detroit. There, we will change planes and take Northwest Flight 25 for Tokyo at 1:45 p.m. when we will relax in the comfort and confines of coach seating for a 14-hour flight complete with what we expect will be breathtaking, gourmet meals prepared and served on board.
In Tokyo we change over to Northwest Flight 29 bound for Beijing. Finally, after nearly 24 hours of travel, we will arrive in Beijing at 9:40 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 3 (which – here is where it gets tricky – is actually Wednesday morning here in Mississippi).
Anyway, with my roundtrip flight finally booked (we return to Jackson on Thursday night, Dec. 18) late Monday, my focus then shifted to travel within China. After discussing our options with Lotus on Monday, we received our complete itinerary (and bill, of course) this afternoon.
Man, this is draining, confusing and frustrating – all at once. Besides planning our travel, I also had to wait at the house all day Monday for FedEx to deliver an overnight packet from Holt International Children's Services containing our official travel approval document from China.
We need the official travel approval for the trip, hence my inability to leave the house at all on Monday because the document needed my signature (and you know if you miss a FedEx package that requires a signature you never know when you will see it again).
Now that travel is complete, and my bank account thoroughly wiped out, I can shift my attention to taking care of things here at home during the time we are out of the country.
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While in Beijing, we plan to take a few tours and capture as much high definition video footage as possible (to replace the more than 10 hours of video we took and lost from our 2006 trip when we got Camryn). We will visit the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven and a few other places.
We passed up a few other all-day tours, including these that would whet anyone's appetite for food and sights:
- Thursday, Dec. 4: Tour Wal-Mart and Sam's Club in Beijing, using my membership to see what bargains I can pick up in China and then return to Sam's Club in Jackson ready to tell the manager "What do you mean you don't price-match? I can get it much cheaper at the Sam's Club in Beijing." Lunch at Kentucky Fried Chicken lunch buffet (only 20 yuan for all-you-can-eat including the colonel's famous Chinese recipe). Evening performance of "Phantom of the Opera" live on stage (the Broadway touring company makes a quick stop in Beijing before heading to Mumbai, Kiev and Orlando, Fla.).
- Friday, Dec. 5: Free day. May catch a film at the China multiplex where you can hear more than one film while watch the one you paid to see (we do have a lot in common with other nations). Dinner at Picadilly Cafeteria.
- Saturday, Dec. 6: Tour Dollar General, stop by CVS Pharmacy. Afternoon snack time featuring scorpions and grasshoppers on a stick.
Serously, though, Pam and I do plan to take in Wal-Mart while in China. We visited and shopped there last time and found it fascinating (we have done the same thing when we've traveled to Mexico). I honestly don't think there's a better way to get a inside glimpse at life in other countries than to see what is selling at Wal-Mart.
And they do sell scorpions and grasshoppers on a stick on the streets of Beijing. Now don't ask what the taste like because I just can't bring myself to crunch and much on friendly little grasshoppers who spent much of the day impaled on wooden skewers.
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In the photo on the left, Pam, left, poses with Camryn, our daughter, on Halloween night 2008. Camryn, who turned 3 on April 5, is excited about her brother and can't wait for us to return home with him. It'll be interesting to see how she handles being away from us for more than two weeks while we are in China.
Copyright 2008, Terry R. Cassreino
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