The traveling: 24 hours of daylight

Our flight over was actually quite comfortable. We left Salt Lake City Monday at 6 a.m. and arrived in Xi'an Tuesday evening at 8:00, China time. I probably slept a total of 45 minutes the entire 24-hour trip. Only twelve of those hours were spent flying from San Francisco to Beijing (the longest stretch). I was surprised we didn't fly across the ocean, but instead, flew up the west coast, including Alaska, across Siberia, Russia, and then into China. It seemed surreal, looking out the window as we flew over these countries that I'd read so many books about over my lifetime describing people's struggles, imprisonments and inhumane treatment. We never saw night, but chased the sun all the way to China.

The only low point of the trip was our Beijing airport experience. We had a 2 ½ hour layover, but spent the entire time searching and hunting and eventually running. I can't begin to describe how huge Beijing airport is (and beautiful, with well-dressed, uniformed Chinese young adults throughout to assist all the Olympics' traffic). We went through customs, got our baggage, spent time filling out a lost baggage report, and pushing our remaining luggage, and wandered the wrong direction searching for the domestic airport for our remaining flight to Xi'an. (We were given the wrong directions, but now that I think about it, the young man we asked probably didn't understand a word of English.) By the time we found where we should be, time was running out. We checked our baggage and the airline workers warned, "Hurry! Hurry!" Next stop was security who didn't understand "Hurry". In Beijing, airport security check means opening every purse, wallet, carry-on, etc. and checking everything clear down to the inside seams. We were all frisked (or whatever you call it when they stand you on a pedestal and run the magic wand over you.) By now, our plane's all loaded (except for the four of us; we're traveling with the Kimballs, the other BYU couple who will be teaching at our university.) After security, I took off running first, heading the pack of four to board. As I'm racing down the terminal towards the boarding desk, the worker sees me running from a distance and calls out "Are there four?" I huff and holler, "Yes, four." She looks relieved to know her four missing passengers are found. After the race, we boarded a full airplane two minutes before proposed take-off, but ended up on the ground for an hour. There was quite a backup of planes, waiting their turn for take off.