Sunday, February 24, 2008

Day one of the Chinese Connection

The alarm went off at 3:45 am this morning and I rolled out of bed to head to GSO.
The flight to IAD (Dullis) went smooth and my seat partner had spent 5 months in Beijing. He gave me a few tips about the city which I appreciated a lot.
He had a Rolex knock off that he bought there and he took it off and handed it to me. It looked real.. felt real... Well... I suppose not to you guys who blew the $4000 - $12,000 on the real thing.. however, it was a nice watch regardless of who made it. I asked him how much he paid... $32.00 then he showed me his Columbia Sportswear winter coat, and told me he had paid $45.00 for it.
This should be fun!

I am currently sitting in Dullis airport with no ticket, no boarding pass, and no one at the All Nippon counter to check me in. It is still early though, only 8:32 am so, I am not worried yet.
My flight leaves at 11:45 and the sign says it is on time, so it must be true.

The AT&T wireless USB aircard is working really well, with a whopping 1976 download speed and 356 upload. I wish it wasn't mega-expense to use in China, but I suppose the dirt cheap knock off merchandise will make up for the inconvience... Not to mention The Great Wall.

Yea, I am now ticketed and all set to go!
My flight boards at 11:25 and waiting with the general public is just no fun! Wait... Business class gets me access to the Air France lounge. Complete with soda, juice, pastry, and of course, rice balls, oh, and some pickled sushi looking things that make me want to just cancel the whole trip right now. 
The coolest part of the whole lounge thing, is that there is a back door entrance to the gate, so no waiting in lines wishing you were in zone 1 but waiting to hear them call zone 5.

More to come!
Steve

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Dude!

Have a great trip - sounds like an adventure already, keep us posted!!

A~