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It was more like 27 hours, but who is counting. The trip was pretty easy by what we would assume international travel standards are right now. With all the restrictions and everyone having to test negative for covid a handful of times before leaving, it was actually quite calming to get on the plane and finally take off to head to the bubble. Our trip was from LAX to Tokyo-Narita, Tokyo to Beijing, and then a five hour bus ride to Zhangjiakou, China. Would not recommend the bus trip at 2:30AM when we arrived, since it was too dark to see The Great Wall in the middle of the night, but it beats walking. The airports were mostly empty due to travel restrictions, and lucky for us, there was one restaurant open in Narita with beer, udon, and hot dogs.
Our arrival into China went smooth. Treated to a firework show across the city celebrating the New Year as we landed, it kind of put the 4th of July in its place. We aren’t trying to start any drama, just put it in perspective. We have been blowing off fireworks celebrating independence for a little over 240 years, China invented fireworks… and it shows. Some fresh off a four hour nap in the full lay down position (we were not that lucky flying coach), and full with either Udon, hot dogs, or the solid Japan Airlines inflight meal, we coasted through customs testing negative and registering healthy temps with every hazmat suited friendly face in the terminal. Maybe when it was super hectic it was a bit intimidating, but 2:00 in the morning on China’s biggest holiday was pretty mellow. Pictures were taken with the athletes, a few autographs were signed, and we managed to board the right bus without honestly knowing where we were going.
The bus ride was long, but supposedly there is a train that we didn’t get on. Hopefully we can find it for the way back. That is all for now, practice is officially on for the slope crew, the halfpipe team who was on the flight have a few more days to get acclimated before they ride, and then it’s the big show. But all we care about doing right now is just going to sleep.