From Boston to Xian

We left Boston at 7:45 PM…Martin and Christine moved in to the house…
Boston to JFK 9:00 PM- 10:30 PM
JFK…11:50 PM…. with a surprise stop in Anchorage
Asiana Airlines- spicy food, stewardesses- same hairstyle (pulled back in a bun), same bodies, and pasted on smiles.

Half an hour before landing in Anchorage, all the lights were turned on in the cabin and the stews started doing aerobics with the passengers participating…they followed this with a full magic show and musical acts.
Before we could get off the plane, they needed to unload the cargo….
Midnight in the Anchorage airport--- a scene of depressing duty free shops and a restaurant with no where to sit…all the signs are in German, Korean and Chinese.
JFK to Anchorage: 6 ½ hours
Anchorage to Seoul 7 ½ hours
Seoul to Beijing 2 hours
Beijing to Xian 2 hours
…Not to mention the wait time in the airports
7:00 am – we were in the transit lounge in Seoul drinking cold beers
Then it was the transit lounge in Beijing…. We met a nice guy from Switzerland. He explained that the Koreans are the most adaptable of the Asians. He worked setting up manufacturing facilities across the globe and said that with Americans, they’ll take something and try to improve it or find another use for it…. the Japanese and Chinese simply follow the rules.
We finally landed in Xian, the starting point for the great trade caravans of the Silk Road. Our guide was there to take us to the car and drive us to our hotel. It was outside of the city walls with a very Japanese feel…. but it was clean and had CNN. We fell asleep with our clothes on after our 36-hour ordeal.