Travel - Live

3:20 a.m. EDT -- Up.  Moving.  Dad would be proud.  Mental function:  8.3%

5:06 a.m. EDT -- Beautiful Burlington airport. Through security. Looking forward to 75 action-packed minutes in the butt end of a commuter plane on the way to Dulles. The children are drinking caffeine. That can't be a good idea.

8:39 a.m. EDT -- Breakfast at Dulles. Airport is like a maze for bipedal mammals designed by sadistic aliens. Kids already restless. 3.5 hours until our next flight. Mood: hazy. Fellow ISC'ers -- we made it to Washington before you even got to the office. Slackers.

11:40 a.m. -- Safely boarded the 777. Naomi and Townes have died and gone to heaven. Free pillows, blankets, headphones, personal TV screens, meal service. Even if we never made it to Beijing, their lives would be complete. We're all ready to be in Beijing. Only 15 more hours to go. Communications blackout begins now - next update from the heart of the Middle Kingdom.

2:20 a.m. EDT, 2:20 p.m. local time in Beijing -- Touchdown.  As always, a long-ass flight.  I was a little concerned when the children started asking if we were almost there yet, only two hours into our fourteen hour flight.  But they were fantastic really, considering.  Allison somehow managed to sleep (or so it seemed to me) the entire fourteen hours, due most likely to a strong cocktail of tranquilizers, benadryl, and pseudofed.  She keeps asking us if we saw the silver elves and a man in a disturbingly bright chartreuse frock coat.  Charles and Gloria also appear to have weathered the trip surprisingly well given that this comes so close on the heels of their trip to France.  We're all just happy to be here at last.  There's a lot of wonder and anticipation mixed in with the bleariness.  Off to the city...