The long journey home...

At 10am on September 26th, the journey back to Washington DC from Beijing seemed long.  I made my way to the airport and the party certainly started.  That airport is really crazy and its mainly because the Chinese do not really believe in lines.  They just gather and push their way to where they have to go.  I was a bit confused walking through customs... but, I found a "westerner" who spoke English and told me what was going on.  I filled out a customs form and pushed my way to the check-in area.  Once through, I realized that there was another "line" to check-in.  Luckily, I was flying business class...so, no pushing for me.  Its like everything else in China...money gets you anything in this country.  I guess thats everywhere ...but, it certainly gets you more in China.  Once I was through the check-in process, I did some shopping in the duty-free section and relaxed in the business class lounge before heading to my gate.  When I went over to the gate, they told me that the gate changed to gate 1 instead of 11.  I had plenty of time, so I made my way over to gate 1.  When I walked through the door, I realized that this was another gate 25!  Hundreds of people in a pen-like room with gates branching off of this one area.  Everyone was yelling at eachother in Chinese.  It was CHAOS... be prepared for it... its is really overwhelming.  I know this sounds like I'm a diva, but i was sure glad when they pulled me out of the crowd and ushered me to the buisness class area.  I'll load a video so that you can see what it all looks like.  The flight back to NY was fine.  I woke up about 8-hours into the flight and checked the flight plan to see where we were and I have to say that it warmed my heat a little when I realized we were over Alaska and in US airspace.  We touched down in NY on time and I made my way through customs and immigration without a problem.  I took the airtrain over to terminal 6 to check into my flight to Dulles.  There was a woman on the platform of the train who was a "customer serviced rep" for the airport and she asked me if I needed help.  I never appreciated that so much!  I landed in Dulles at around 7pm ... 21 hours after I left the Ascott in Beijing and grabbed a cab home.  I got home in time to read my daughter a book and put her to sleep for the night.  I then walked around my house and took a long look at all that I have.  I remembered the children playing in the hutongs and the little girl who begged Samantha for her bottle of water.  I thought about the polluted areas of China and the beautiful ancient architecture.  I thought about how simple one can live their life... surrounded by generations of family.  That is the essence and importance of traveling.  It opens your eyes and reminds you that this world is a really great place, filled with people...sights, sounds, smells and ways of life that may seem different... but at the heart we are all the same.  Its good to be home.