We got up on the morning of the 22nd and took the hotel shuttle to the airport after enjoying the breakfast buffet at the Embassy Suites.  We departed L.A. at 11:50 a.m. on Saturday 12/22 and arrived in Beijing at 4:40 p.m. on Sunday 12/23.  While at the airport in L.A. Andrea found her Oscar for best daughter.

Travel was pretty uneventful and Andrea was pleased she had her own entertainment system on the seat in front of her.  This also pleased us as there were very few “are we there yets?”  We were on a Boeing 777 which was pretty comfortable in coach for the almost 13 hour flight over.  In Beijing we were met by one of the guides for the larger Gladney group we will join on Christmas day who took us to our hotel.

Andrea had a blast at our one day stopover in L.A. which was spent at Disneyland. We stayed at an Embassy Suites near LAX and rented a car the first thing in the morning for the drive to Disney. The Budget car rental location was just across the street from the hotel which made life easy.   Andrea still prefers the rollercoasters and simulators to the tea cups and “it’s a small world” (which I can report we did not ride so thankfully no song stuck in my head for the next three weeks as we tour China).

She did still get a kick out of giving various Disney characters big hugs, playing the fiddle with a cast member and visiting Santa. She insisted we go swimming after we got back to the hotel in L.A. so, as she said, she did not pack her swimming suit for nuth’n. So after returning the rental, we headed to the pool. Fortunately an indoor pool since the temperature was ranging between the 40’s and 60’s even in L.A.