Day-40: Thursday, March 13, 2014
China Time Zone
Beginning Location: Beijing, China
China Time Midnight: Flying over northeastern Russia
Beginning Location: Beijing, China
China Time Midnight: Flying over northeastern Russia
Eastern U.S. Time Zone
Interim Location: Dulles International Airport, Virginia
East Coast U.S. Midnight: Norfolk International Airport,
Virginia
Well our final day in the Far East was upon us. Fortunately we would have a relaxing schedule for the day though as a result our arrival at our Kitty Hawk home would be late.
Our travel group had three hotel departures to the Beijing airport. The first group of 12 had to awaken early to get away by 0700, basically for mid-morning flights to the U.S. and Canada. The second group was one couple that were leaving just an hour or so before us, bound for Chicago. Our group of 9 were all bound for Washington DC on United Flight #898 (non-stop PEK to IAD) departing Beijing at 1825.
So we had a leisurely wake-up and ambled down to breakfast around 0930 meeting up with other late travelers. After breakfast we hung out in our room and repacked some of the bags. We would be checking five bags, two of which are bumping up against the 70 pound weight limit, clearly we were bringing back part Asia as we didn't approach the baggage limits coming over in early February.
By 1430 we were ready to go. The hotel bell staff retrieved our bags and we met up with our guide May and our fellow travelers in the hotel lobby and soon moved on to our travel van.
It took about 90 minutes to get through the Beijing traffic and reach the airport; seemingly a little close for an international flight, though in the end all was well but the airport shoppers amongst us had very little time to spend the last few Yuan in their possession at the duty free shops.
May accompanied us into the Beijing terminal to get us through the check-in and baggage process but had to stay behind as we passed through the immigration and security screening check points.
The international terminal at Beijing was new for the 2008 Olympics. It is a beautiful structure and designed to accommodate many more passengers than it would be seeing on this day.
After a slight "where's my passport" panic we boarded our flight to the U.S. at 1745 and settled in for what would be a 13+ hour flight to Washington. We were airborne by 1830. Sunset in Beijing was observed as we departed.
As our midnight approached we were flying at 35,000 feet over northeastern Russia between Markovo and Ugolny in the Anadyrsky District near latitude 65 north and longitude 174 east headed northeast for the Chukchi Sea of the Arctic Ocean. The new air terminal at Ugolny, Russia, a former Russian heavy bomber base currently serves as a diversion airport for trans-Pacific polar commercial air routes.
Sunrise was observed at 0115 over the Chukchi Sea north of Cape Lisburne, Alaska. At about 0130 (China) or 1330 (East Coast U.S.) we made landfall over North America just west of Barrow, Alaska.
Our flight arrived as planned at 7:40 PM (U.S.), about 30 minutes early into Washington Dulles Airport. Though we were ready with our nifty "Trusted Traveler" cards it didn't really matter. When we entered our cards to be scanned, we were rejected as "trusted travelers", seems that our fingerprints didn't match up to the records on file. No matter, the immigration and customs lines were nonexistent and without delay we had transferred our baggage and moved on to our domestic flight to Norfolk, United Flight #5697 (non-stop IAD to ORF) departing Washington at 9:55 PM.
But, not so fast, weather in the Northeast would impact our travel. Seems that our incoming aircraft was delayed at Hartford due to, shall I say inclement weather, wind snow, ice, lightning, hail, thunder all wrapped up in "Winter Storm Vulcan". We hung out in one of the United lounges until it closed at 10:00 PM and then settled into seats near the departure gate for our flight, now having been delayed for something over 90 minutes, though the good news was that the flight had not been cancelled. Finally about 11:30 PM we were on board and on our way to Norfolk where we arrived just as the clock struck 12 Midnight.
So, technically tomorrow will be our final day as we will arrive home early Friday morning eastern U.S. time.
Tomorrow we'll close-out the travel reporting and summarize the travel statistics. Soon thereafter hopefully in the next several days we'll publish a final blog post with thoughts about Southeast Asia, the Far East and the trip in general.
Well our final day in the Far East was upon us. Fortunately we would have a relaxing schedule for the day though as a result our arrival at our Kitty Hawk home would be late.
Our travel group had three hotel departures to the Beijing airport. The first group of 12 had to awaken early to get away by 0700, basically for mid-morning flights to the U.S. and Canada. The second group was one couple that were leaving just an hour or so before us, bound for Chicago. Our group of 9 were all bound for Washington DC on United Flight #898 (non-stop PEK to IAD) departing Beijing at 1825.So we had a leisurely wake-up and ambled down to breakfast around 0930 meeting up with other late travelers. After breakfast we hung out in our room and repacked some of the bags. We would be checking five bags, two of which are bumping up against the 70 pound weight limit, clearly we were bringing back part Asia as we didn't approach the baggage limits coming over in early February.
By 1430 we were ready to go. The hotel bell staff retrieved our bags and we met up with our guide May and our fellow travelers in the hotel lobby and soon moved on to our travel van.
It took about 90 minutes to get through the Beijing traffic and reach the airport; seemingly a little close for an international flight, though in the end all was well but the airport shoppers amongst us had very little time to spend the last few Yuan in their possession at the duty free shops.
May accompanied us into the Beijing terminal to get us through the check-in and baggage process but had to stay behind as we passed through the immigration and security screening check points.
The international terminal at Beijing was new for the 2008 Olympics. It is a beautiful structure and designed to accommodate many more passengers than it would be seeing on this day.
After a slight "where's my passport" panic we boarded our flight to the U.S. at 1745 and settled in for what would be a 13+ hour flight to Washington. We were airborne by 1830. Sunset in Beijing was observed as we departed.
As our midnight approached we were flying at 35,000 feet over northeastern Russia between Markovo and Ugolny in the Anadyrsky District near latitude 65 north and longitude 174 east headed northeast for the Chukchi Sea of the Arctic Ocean. The new air terminal at Ugolny, Russia, a former Russian heavy bomber base currently serves as a diversion airport for trans-Pacific polar commercial air routes.
 |
| Airport at Markovo, Russia |
 |
| Airport at Ugolny, Russia |
Sunrise was observed at 0115 over the Chukchi Sea north of Cape Lisburne, Alaska. At about 0130 (China) or 1330 (East Coast U.S.) we made landfall over North America just west of Barrow, Alaska.
 |
| USAF Radar Station at Cape Lisburne, Alaska |
But, not so fast, weather in the Northeast would impact our travel. Seems that our incoming aircraft was delayed at Hartford due to, shall I say inclement weather, wind snow, ice, lightning, hail, thunder all wrapped up in "Winter Storm Vulcan". We hung out in one of the United lounges until it closed at 10:00 PM and then settled into seats near the departure gate for our flight, now having been delayed for something over 90 minutes, though the good news was that the flight had not been cancelled. Finally about 11:30 PM we were on board and on our way to Norfolk where we arrived just as the clock struck 12 Midnight.
So, technically tomorrow will be our final day as we will arrive home early Friday morning eastern U.S. time.
Tomorrow we'll close-out the travel reporting and summarize the travel statistics. Soon thereafter hopefully in the next several days we'll publish a final blog post with thoughts about Southeast Asia, the Far East and the trip in general.
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