Departure Time Is Here

Ni hao
The toes are ready for walking the Great Wall and places beyond.

Bear, GFs and I will be leaving for Chicago around noon today spending the night and departing on our flight Wed. The flight to Tokyo will take 16 hours and the flight from Tokyo to Beijing will be about 3 hours. Whew! We'll either be crabby as hell or zombies. Knowing us the latter will be true. We have a direct flight from Shanghai to Chicago on our return. That flight is only about 12 hours.

I am sure everyone is glad that today has finally arrived. I am also sure that I have driven them nuts. Thanks to all of you that have lovingly endured me...and my count down...for the past year and especially the last week. I promise not to rent out the Hayworth center for a command performance so everyone can look at my pictures projected on a wide screen TV monitor. (I'll have small ones on each table)
hou hwei yio chi

'Bear' Necessities!

I've been reading a lot about the squatty-potties around Asia. I remember encountering them in Istanbul about 20 years ago. Of course I was 20 years younger and in much better shape. I guess all of those squats that I have been doing at the gym will come in handy. I understand that we need to have our own personal stash of necessities. Got mine.

Have spent most of the day reading and looking at pictures of China. There seems to be such a juxtaposition in just the architecture alone. One building will be very modern...in fact the skyline of Beijing reminds me of Chicago a bit...then right next to a modern building is a Hutong (narrow streets or alleys) filled with old buildings. (Note: these pictures are free stock imagaes from Dreamstime)

Adventures in China 2009

I am about to embark on a trip of a lifetime which I have been planning since May 2008. I will be traveling to China with three girlfriends...Kristi, Janie, and Mary. Our travel adventures will begin in Chicago on July 15 where we will board an American Airlines flight for Beijing. We will change planes in Tokyo, Japan and will have just a few hours in the airport. Enough time to buy a souvenir or two...no, not a tacky t-shirt...a classy one.
I'm really not looking forward to the long flight, but I've got several books to read and of course my DS games.

Our itinerary will begin in Beijing and we will travel south to Shanghai visiting Zhengzhou, Kaifeng (the Disney World of China with an historical bent) and Xian (terracotta soldiers) among other cities. Of course we will see the usual tourist sites in each city.

As you can see, Baby Bear has is back pack and is ready to go. For those that don't know Bear's story...he has been on every trip that I have taken in the last 25 plus years. He has even slept with a few of you. Bear was a gift to me as a traveling companion when my husband couldn't accompany me on a trip..and the rest they say is history...in the making