Beijing/Bali Trip 2013 Day 1: Cold Showers and Engine Lights

Both Jenn and I did our best to go to sleep early last night to get ready for a long travel day. We woke up this morning at 4:30 AM and both were ready to take on the day. Well that mood lasted all of about five minutes when our hotel room's shower didn't have warm water. In most circumstances we would have called down and had the hotel fix the issue but we were on a time crunch. Jenn who had her whole morning mapped out, down to the very last minute braved the freezing cold shower. Not the best way to start your morning.

We checked out of the hotel at 6:00 AM and took their shuttle to LAX for our first flight on Alaska Airlines to Seattle. Everything from the shower on was going really smooth. The shuttle arrived a few minutes after we checked out. Jenn got us checked in quickly and had our bags shipped all the way to Beijing so we didn't have to pick them up in Seattle. The security line wasn't as bad as I anticipated since it is the 12th anniversary of September 11th. My bag got pulled to the side but at least I didn't for once, so that's progress. I got a carmel latte at Coffee Bean and we only waited a half hour and boarded our plane.

And then as we are taxing down the runway the plane just stops. “Lading and gentlemen this is your captain, we have an engine light on and will need to taxi back to the terminal.” Both of our hearts dropped. The first thing out of my mouth was not again. Twenty to thirty minutes of updates with potential plane changes to keep your fingers crossed. Jenn and I started working out all sorts of different scenarios on how we were going to make our connecting flight to Beijing. But luckily this story has a happy ending and the mechanical crew said it was a computer error and we were on our way.

A lot of the time was made up in the air and we landed twenty minutes later then expected. When we arrived in Seattle we made our way to terminal S which is on the other side of the airport. We made it to the terminal and chose the only restaurant available, Dungeness Bay Seafood House. Jenn sticking with the strictly American pre-trip diet had a burger and fries. I went with the captain plate which had fried shrimp, calamari, and halibut. It was actually a really good airport lunch.

After lunch we checked in and got our boarding passes and walked around the terminal a bit to wait for our flight. We boarded our Hainan flight at 1:30 PM and were pretty surprised how empty the plane was.

The plane is setup two seats, four, two and so we took a two slot. Luckily for us the seat directly across from that was open so we took turns getting two full seats to lounge on while the other had a nice aisle seat. Another perk was the food was actually edible, well at least the lunch was. Unlike most airplane food which I would give a negative billion for taste/quality I might give this a one or two. We both had a beef and rice plate for lunch which wasn't bad. Dinner on the other hand went back to the old review standard of negative a billion; un-edible.

Jenn finished an entire book (Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella) on the flight while I fidgeted from my phone, to the iPad, to my Macbook Air, to even watching the lousy selection of TV and movies on the plane. One thing that we did notice was that even though this was a daytime flight, the plane was completely silent. I mean dead silent from take off to landing. Not sure if it is the Chinese culture or a subdued and half-empty plane but I've never been on a quieter plane.

We arrived in Beijing, China at 4:30 PM (an hour early) and rushed off to customs expecting some horribly long and drawn out process. However we walked right up, he looked at our passport and visa, stamped it, and let us through. We then proceeded to pick up our bags and then off to wait in a line for a taxi. I figured most taxi drivers would understand if I said JW Marriott but no that was a mistake. We got in a taxi with a gentlemen who had no idea what Jenn and I were saying. So he pulled over and found someone to help translate what we were saying and we were on our way. Boy did we pick the wrong taxi driver. This guy was easily the worst driver I've been in a car with. I remember when Jenn and I took a taxi in Paris and thought the drivers there were insane, but that was amateur hour in comparison. Our driver thought the rules of the road did not apply to him. He drove on shoulders, he drove in two lanes, he would honk at people even when he was cutting the off. It was an intense hour drive from the airport to our hotel the JW Marriott.

Luckily we lived to tell the tale and made it to our hotel in one piece. We checked in with the overly friendly staff and got an incredible room on the 11th floor overlooking the city of Beijing. At this point we were flat out exhausted. We took a video of our room, ordered room service, and unpacked a little.

For dinner Jenn got her infamous spaghetti bolognase, and I had a club sandwich. It hit the spot and allowed us to go to sleep at around 8:00 PM Beijing time.

Only a couple of hours after we fell asleep we started to hear some extremely loud booming noises coming from outside. And wouldn't you know it we opened up the shades and a huge thunder storm was going on outside. It only lasted a half hour and we were back to sleep regaining our strength for tomorrow when we begin to tour the city.