From Vietnam To China Day 21

Day 21 - Monday, April 30, 2012 - Flight from Taipei to San Francisco and San Francisco to Denver

While we waited for our China Airlines flight to board, we talked with Joanne and Duane about our trip and the past 20 days we have spent together. Each of us had a favorite memory but we all agreed that we had had many experiences that will affect us long after the adventure is over.

We said goodbye to our travel companions just in case we do not connect again when we arrive in San Francisco. We found our seats at the upper level of our Boeing 747-400 and settled in for the 10 hour flight.

The aircraft was one of the older models and was not quite as comfortable as our flight to Taipei, but we reminded ourselves we were happy to have the extra room and the calm of Business Class, even though our son’s inheritance will suffer!

The flight attendant offered dinner but we both declined and tried to get as much sleep as we could. The journey was rather bumpy due to some upper level weather conditions. Before too long the lights were on and the aroma of coffee filled the cabin.

Breakfast was served and we freshened up and reset our watches and our computers to Pacific Time. As we flew east we passed the International Date Line and returned to our departure date of April 29th once more.

We arrived in San Francisco a bit late and went through immigration, retrieved our bags, and then had an easy time going through customs. We called the Comfort Inn Airport and a shuttle van picked us up for our night’s stay because there was not a connecting flight that late to Denver.

Turning day into night and resetting our body clocks is never as easy as resetting our watches. We slept fitfully and then got up, had the hotel breakfast, and took the shuttle back to the airport at 9:00 for our 10:45 flight on Frontier back to Denver.

Our arrival time in Denver was 2:10 and by the time we got our luggage, stopped at Safeway for a few groceries, it was after 5:30 by the time we arrived back at Elephant Rock and home.

As we always say, we love to see the world and meet new people. We visited Shangri-La, but home in Colorado is like heaven to us!

Please see our Trip Evaluation -- Click Here -- A Complete Review of Myths and Mountains -- From Vietnam to China: Ethnic People of the Border -- China with Tashi Lamasang