Non-stop to DFW, 5/8/15

I’ve got a long day ahead. I’m flying back to the US today. I haven’t said anything about it before now because my mom reads this blog. (It’s actually the main reason I write it). By the time I post this, I’ll be in Baton Rouge and she’ll be officially surprised.

Since we planned to return to the US for Courtney’s doctoral graduation on May 16, I decided to fly back early and surprise mom for “Mother’s Day”. I’m kinda excited today because I ended up on the American Airlines inaugural “Beijing to DFW” direct flight. I started reading about it almost a year ago. When I started booking flights 3 weeks ago, it popped up, and although slightly more expensive than our usual United Airlines flights, IT WAS DIRECT! No two-hour layover in San Fran or Chicago or DC, with all the accompanying baggage and security hassles.

When I showed up at the airport, I didn’t know it was the first flight. The check in area was full of Chinese staff wearing cowboy hats (some of them backwards, how would they know?). It was the same at the gate. They passed out a commemorative passport cover as we boarded, and the flight crew was taking group pictures. I think they flew in yesterday on the inaugural flight from DFW to Beijing, spent the night, and are heading back today. The flight is slightly less than 13 hours.

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Some Chinese cowboys.

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The plane landed at DFW at 5:00 pm. Immigration and customs was a breeze because of “Global Entry”. I walked by everyone, including crews. Courtney picked me up outside and by 6:00 pm we were at Pappas Burgers in Fort Worth having dinner with Brad.

Back at the condo after dinner, I unpacked, and then repacked for the Baton Rouge drive tomorrow. Courtney is spending the night here in the condo on the couch, and we’ll leave when we wake up in the morning.

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