Arrived in one piece

I got to the airport using a Primetime van which was very convenient and fast.

JFK wasn't too bad, the only bump being that security confiscated my water bottle, and then wouldn't let me chug it on the spot (I would have to do it in the main terminal before security), as though I was about to ingest some liquid explosive before getting on the plane. So I had to buy another overpriced one near my gate, which makes me wonder if that was their original intent.

I managed to get a bulkhead seat on the plane, and everything was going well until my neighbor sat down, holding his infant child who was already crying. At this point I put on my headphones and kept them on for the rest of the flight. On then main screen in the cabin (this plane didn't have any personal seat-back TVs), I watched RV, which was funny in a trashy way, a Chinese movie called Blue Love, which was actually pretty good, a Japanese movie that I didn't catch the name of, and MI:III, which I missed the ending of. I didn't touch any of the airplane food.

After 13 hours of being terribly uncomfortable we touched down in Beijing at 6:00pm. Customs was unusually fast, but my bag didn't show up on the luggage belt for a good 25 minutes. Although it is brand new, this 5500 cu. in. backpack was noticeably scuffed up. I also found that it smelled a bit perfumey and the front compartment was moist to the touch. Upon opening the compartment I discovered that my shampoo had exploded all over my toiletries bag (lovely). Everything else was in good order.

Colm Rafferty, the Choate alum with whom I am staying, sent his driver to pick me up at the airport. The driver was there holding a sign with my name on it. He drove me into the main part of the city, quite near Tian An Men square, to a place called Wang Fu Jing. We went into an apartment complex there and I was dropped off in front of a building called the Millennium Tower Apartments. There I met Colm and took my baggage up to his apartment on the 8th floor.

I was starving and he hadn't had any dinner, so he suggested we go out to eat. Since Colm had been eating Chinese food all day at a meeting in the Chinese White House, we went to a close by Outback Steakhouse.

I hadn't gotten much sleep on the plane, so after talking with Colm for a while and registering at the apartment complex's main desk, I washed my face (showering could wait), brushed my teeth, and went to sleep on his couch.