My First Journey to China

Returning to China at the Age of Sixteen

At the age of sixteen years old, returned in 2010 I had a golden chance of boarding a plane to China. The night earlier than the journey I was total sleepless waking up each hour to confirm with the main house watch if certainly it was six o'clock in the morning. The distance between my home and the Baltimore Washington international airports used to be actually not far as it may want to take us around one hour to get to the airport.

The Journey to the Airport

While still in my room I could hear the sound of a airplane landing which increased my curiosity of how it feels to travel on a plane. Our flight used to be scheduled at eleven o'clock in the morning forcing us to wake up a couple hours earlier than usual to be able to finalize with the packing as you understand it is difficult for teenagers to pack on the best attire for such big journey. Within no time we were done with our different morning tasks as we patiently waited for our neighbour Dudley to come back from his workplace. Out neighbour worked a night shift and if we were expecting him within a short time. My mother handed him the key to our house as she gave him different instruction on what was supposed to be done at home. He was supposed to take care of the fish tank and a husky as well as look into the welfare of our beloved pets while we on our trip. After making sure that everything was in place we set off at around eight o'clock in the morning to the airport with our Montgomery county cab which was well-arranged seats and space for a van. Since it was in the morning we encountered a heavy traffic which made my journey uncomfortable which remind me of the importance of traveling early to be able to catch a flight on time. On the other side, my mother was irritated by the all issues of traffic but try to put on a brave face as if everything was ok.

Arriving at the Airport

At arriving at the airport, it took us time to locate our terminal as it was our first time in such environment. With the assistance of flight attendance, we were able to squeeze our way toward the plane because of a large number of people traveling to different locations. Through the period I was feeling hunger as I remember I did not take my breakfast due to the rush to get to the airport on time. My mother located a mag written on top McDonald where we took our breakfast in a hurry. It was my first flight and I was extremely nervous boarding the plane. I was given clear instruction by the flight attendants on how to adjust the seat as I was used to those seats in vehicles. My fear increased as it could be evident by the sweating when the flight attended requested us to fasten our seatbelt as the plane was already running slowly on the runway as it accelerated the speed. I regained normalcy when the plane was above the ground about thirty-nine thousand feet.

On Board Entertainment

While on board, there was different entertainment which was a great fun to me but with time I was tired of it. My advantage came when I realized I was sitting next to a window, the outside world attracted my attention. After four hour flight, we alighted the Chicago O Hare International Airport. We require to refresher for about two hours before taking the plane to Beijing China. The previous week before the fight I had been practicing on simple language communication in China such as bye, hello, good morning as time progressed I was able to count from one to ten in Mandarin. Two hour break proved to be long and an idea came to my mind to listen to music from my iPad I quickly went for the phone in my suitcase beside me, I took my hand right to where I had placed the phone to my disappointment I realised it was missing I was really upset for losing such a phone especially with my best favourite chines song that has been practising for the past two weeks. I was already used to the plane and I did not find it strange boarding it the second time. After eleven hours we arrived in Beijing our first taxies man did not understand any English word apart from money and okay. I used my skills in sign language to communicate the location of the hotel we had booked earlier. I was actually tired after the long hours of travel which made me go to bed immediately.

Exploring China and the Great Wall

The next day we woke up early ready for the adventure that I have been reading on the internet. Navigation was not a problem as we depend on google map the real problem came to the bargaining and negotiation in different shopping malls as those people taught that we are loaded with dollars which was not the case in the first place. We made different trips to different tourist attraction entries such as the Great Wall of China and the forbidden places. I paid a lot of attention to the great wall as it was one of the great wonders of the world. With time the family decided to make a trip to Sanlitun a place where most of the college students hung out. As we made our way to the place we came across gentlemen on an electric scooter giving out flyers for the promotional visit to the Great Wall which was as lower as 20 dollars per person. On a material day of our visit, I was happy as the day was cloudy and good climate compared to the summer period at home. A van came to pick us from our apartment in the company of another family from Russia. On our way to the great wall we passed by the factory and took a tour around as this was part of the promotion, the companies are able to generate money due to the partnership with the promotion. The second stop from the factories was the traditionally made antiques. The antiques were actually nice but our disappointments came when the sale person insisted on buying the items. Our last stop was a pearl-making company and just for the fact that we don't have to stop again as time was moving more first. We finally arrived at our desired point the Great Wall of China. It was the very inclined hill, within the environment there were few shops, we were awarded a medal for making the visit to the great wall even before making a trip around it. The great wall is the longest man-made a structure in the world it real magnificent as it across through hills, mountains, rivers, and deserts spanning thousand of a mile. The great wall was first constructed by emperor Qin Shi Huang during it is construction it is written that when a workers died in the process of construction they could be buried inside the wall due to lack of time for a proper burial. I came into contact with old women while climbing the crooked stairs selling water and bread at a price which was twenty times its regular price. I was feeling thirsty and I had to buy a number of the bottles for the Russian family and myself. I was really excited about all thigh making me lose the location of the other family. We were running around the wall as we smelled the fresh air with our camera at hand taking pictures non-stop. On our way downward in the company of the tour guide, the Russian family was waiting for us inside the car to have our included lunch. We made our way to a restaurant where I took some noddle's for lunch indeed I was not satisfied with the meal but I had to just bear on. Since I was a child I liked exploring new places by myself and I was not happy in the company of a tour guide I had to accommodate the tour guide in my mind because of this wide knowledge on every aspect concerning chins. In the traditional of China nobody tips unless he or she works with the foreign. The day activities made me tired and went to bed immediately we reach our apartment.

Reflections on the Trip to China

The time I spend in China was incredible it was characterized by adventures which ranged from reals, the weather and catching a bus going to the place it took us. Indeed the trip was fruitful, I learned that it was necessary to wake up early to go to the airport to be able to catch a flight on time as I had imagined how the day could have been if we had missed the flight. China is a beautiful country with a lot of potential and good people as I wish again to get a chance to the place again.