Flight to Beijing

Our trip to Beijing is our first vacation longer than a weekend, first as a married couple. The last vacation was three years ago, before the USMC took over our lives.
We left at a reasonable time. I love flights at 11ish. We get to the airport no problem. We passed the tug-o-war rope on our way. The rope is the largest in the world.
We had a burger before we flew. It was a nice leisurely time. Strange thing was we had to clear immigration before entering the terminal. I had never seen that before. Well I did not have the right SOFA paperwork in my passport. I have two passports and had never traveled on the tourist one. So I filled out a piece of paper and cleared immigration. We board a large plane with 10 seats in each row. The plane was 1/4 full. Easy hop up to Fukuoka. At Fukuoka we has to disembark, collect our luggage and change terminals. Then check back in. When we finally arrived at the right area we had less than 30 mins before flying out. In the US they would have said sorry you missed your flight. But in Japan, easy sailing.
We were crammed onto a tiny airplane for an international flight. If Bill and I wanted to sit together we had to sit in seats that did not recline. In Asia they do not believe in air conditioning. This was the warmest flight I have ever been on. Now we were flying China Eastern, so on the flight we were served Chinese food. It was not bad.
Bill and I watched a movie. The flight was short and we landed in Quingdao. We had to clear immigration. So we set off on yet another transfer bus towards a terminal. We clear immigration in China. No big deal and move on to change gates. It was strange because we did not have another ticket to board again. We were given something that looked like a carnival ticket with the gate number written on it. So we cued with the rest of the people flying onto Beijing, followed a leader with a sign. It was a totally Asian tour guide experience. We go through security, walk to the gate, give or carnival ticket and we board yet another bus.
Back on to the tiny airplane, in the last row that does not recline. We were served another Chinese meal. Tasted like chicken noodle soup. Our flight time was an hour long. We landed in Beijing at 6:40pm. This time we did not have to clear immigration, just customs. So we collected our baggage and walked through the area that stated we had nothing to declare. Customs and immigration in China was a piece of cake.
We walk out and our tour guide Peter was waiting there for us. We walked with him to our car. We were driven to the hotel.
We are staying at the nicest Courtyard Marriott I have ever seen. Our room is very nice and the accommodations are great.
We had a lite dinner in the hotel restaurant and went to bed. It was a long day of travel!
We have a tour of the Olympic village, Confuscious' temple and some shopping today. Tomorrow my parents arrive and our tour of Beijing continues.