The journey continues...

So let's pick up where we left off. Our flight was from LAX to Beijing, China. It was relatively uneventful compared to what we had already been through. There was one event that happened which seemed minor at the time. As Steph wheeled her carry-on luggage onto the plane, an Air China agent informed her she would have to check that piece of luggage because it was too wide. After fighting to keep the luggage with her, she decided it was "no big deal," and let him take the luggage.

The flight was long, boring, hot, and a little cramped (OK, maybe more than a little), but we finally landed in Beijing after the roughly 16 hour flight. The Beijing airport is an "experience," to put it lightly. From the moment we stepped off the plane, and boarded the bus that drove us to the terminal at the airport, we knew that this was going to be a challenge.

Entering China is not an easy thing to do, especially without a visa (actually, it's NOT possible without a visa). After being pushed from line to line in the immigration office, we were finally ushered to the right place, or so we thought. Where we were taken was to a security checkpoint for connecting international flights, not to the baggage claim area (where we needed to be). The other side of security was a wonderland of duty-free shops and advertisements for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. **Side note: If you haven't seen the mascots for the 2008 Olympics, stop reading and google now, it's pretty creepy, especially when your surrounded by them. Anyway, the real challenge developed when we realized we needed to find someone who could help us that actually spoke English (p.s. this never happened). All we knew is that we had one hour to get Steph's bag and board the plane, all without leaving the security area (because we didn't have a visa to get back through). To sum this situation up, we're on the inside of the security area, Steph's bag is on the outside, and there is seemingly no way for the two to meet.

Following many broken English conversations, our options were: miss our flight (again) and continue trying to rescue the bag from captivity or get on the plane and count the bag as a POW with no chance of rescue. Let's just say condolences were in order for a grieving Stephanie. So what's in the bag that makes it so important? 1. SHOES (what could be more important) 2. James Patterson (a close second) and 3. dress clothes to change into after we landed in Korea to meet our employers (first impressions are everything in Korea). We boarded the plane with only one casualty, but yet again we were on our way to Korea.

to be continued...