In Which I Describe my Transit from Washington to Beijing

Friday 31 May

The adventure has begun. Since I squeezed three weeks of clothes and other necessities into a single – and consequently – heavy carry on, I opted to try to arrive at the airport several hours before my flight. Why? So I could stroll to my departure gate because I expected that lug-gage would, at some point, become quite literal. Even at that, the early day escaped boredom – in a manner of speaking.

Despite leaving before 15:00 for a 20:30 flight, the drive to Dulles that would normally take about 35 minutes took nearly an hour. Then when I scanned my passport at the auto check-in, the system refused to check me in until my China visa had been manually inspected by a United Airlines representative who then manually approved the issuance of my boarding passes. So the expected two minute check-in process required almost ten.

Next, Dulles was undergoing some renovations and passing through security had mutated into snaking through a sequence of Disneyland inspired lines. The first merely lets you into the security area. The second verifies identification and boarding passes and the third and final line sends you through the actual security checkpoint. All liquids out of all luggage and into the plastic bags. Shoes and belt off. Pockets emptied. Oops! I left a quarter in my pocket. Into the x-ray scanner for you, Todd. With the quarter in my hand and my hands over my head, the scanner still spotted something on my left leg that earned me a left leg pat down. Fortunately, I was carrying no contraband and ultimately navigated the security gauntlet successfully. Time now to re-pack and re-dress. It was almost 18:00. Although I needed nearly three hours for the drive, ticketing, and clearing security, I still had about two and a half hours before my flight.

I found a nice little wine bar near the gate called Vino Volo where I sat down for a light dinner and a flight of three white wines to taste. The wines were a Spanish Lunares, an Italian Giarola, and an Oregonian Estate. If my palate was the location of a competition between the three, Spain was the gold medalist though it was definitely better chilled. I ate, sipped wine, passed some time, and made my first notes for this journal.

Before I board, I’ll note that I managed to secure an aisle seat on both outbound flights – United to Frankfurt and Lufthansa to Beijing. Lufthansa was easy: a phone call, a request, and an accommodation. With United: a phone call, a request, a denial. Of course, I could always purchase an aisle seat for an additional $109. Instead, I loaded the seating chart beginning 24 hours prior to departure and periodically refreshed the page until an aisle seat magically became available. HAH! Kiss my hiney, United.

Saturday 1 June 

First, my pre-flight rant:

The ubiquity of checked baggage fees has had, I think, unintended consequences. Americans have been conditioned to carry as much luggage as possible onto their flights. Flight crews seem reluctant to stringently enforce the regulations and carry-ons have gotten larger including pieces with wheels that need to be stowed horizontally effectively using two spaces and leaving less room for someone else’s oversized bag. We are so well trained that even on overseas flights where at least one checked bag is free, few people board without a carry-on (a sin of which I am equally guilty though my carry-on is of appropriate size).

After I settled in my seat, a young woman carrying a mandolin sat across the aisle from me. My nephew Eric lives in Wimberley, Texas and given his history with that instrument

(That’s Eric in the beret and tie.), I naturally started a conversation. Well, believe it or not, Conleigh, a sophomore at Princeton, had just spent a week in New Braunfels visiting friends and family. For those of you unfamiliar with the Texas Hill Country:

It’s a small world

You can find Wimberley just a bit southwest of Austin and New Braunfels pretty much dead south of Wimberley. We chatted a bit between naps and movies and I learned that she was on her way to Amman for a summer internship of some sort. More with Conleigh in a bit.

I watched Argo and found the dramatic license taken by Ben Affleck and Chris Terrio quite interesting although, since Tony Mendez also got a screenwriting credit, I have to assume he at least tacitly approved them. I met Tony Mendez and his second wife Donna at an ADP sponsored luncheon in February where they recounted their work for the CIA and some of the specifics of the Iranian operation. I’d also recently finished reading Tony’s account of the exfiltration of the six “guests” and, I have to admit, while I understand the need for creating dramatic tension, I found a few of the changes a tad jolting and over the top. The movie selection was otherwise underwhelming but I also sat through a mediocre too formulaic romantic comedy “Playing for Keeps.”

My layover in Frankfurt was five hours and Conleigh’s was eight so we decided to pass some of that time together. We somewhat foolishly exited into the main terminal and had to pass through security after guessing which terminal (because it was too early for our flights to be posted) our flights would use for their respective departures. We guessed Concourse A and were fifty percent correct. My flight left not from Concourse A but from Concourse Z. (No, the Frankfurt Airport doesn’t have 26 concourses but perhaps they are planning for that eventuality. For now, they have A, B, C, D, E, and Z.) We went to the Goethe Café, shared some tea and a light lunch, and had a nice chat mostly about language and politics for several hours. Concerning her mandolin skills, Conleigh downplayed her musical ability.

Excepting the bit with shoe removal and full body scans, the Germans may be fussier than Americans regarding security. I had to pass through security again to reach Concourse Z from Concourse A but by now this was becoming old hat. Two aspects of activity at the airport did draw my attention, though. First, I’d occasionally see airport employees riding through the terminals on bicycles. I couldn’t quite discern what they were doing but they do zip along. The other was the smoking lounges sponsored by Camel. These plexiglass enclosures pop up randomly throughout the airport. It’s not their existence but rather their sponsorship and appearance I found noteworthy. They’re almost like little cages and all that is missing is a “Do Not Feed the Smokers” sign.

I tried to sleep as much as possible on the flight to Beijing so it proved uneventful save for this incident which seems ironically relevant given the opening of a movie called Now You See Me this weekend. The Lufthansa flight was on a two-tiered Airbus A380. On the lower level, the “economy” seating configuration is 3-4-3. I was in an aisle seat in the middle section and the seat immediately to my right was vacant. After the crew served dinner and about halfway through the flight, I dozed off. When I woke an hour and a half later, I had a Chinese woman sitting in the previously empty seat next to me. I hope she squeezed in past the two gents seated to my right and didn’t levitate or transport herself in.

Finally, I have to acknowledge that I am fortunate to have English as my native language. At Dulles, all the signs and announcements are in English. In Frankfurt, most signs and announcements are in German and English. Arriving in Beijing, I found a similar situation using Chinese and English.

Now that I’ve bought some time with this entry, the real meat of the trip with pictures will begin with my next post.