Thursday

15 August - Portland, Oregon

Sandy & Paul Franklin spoiled us rotten as usual and Paul drove us around town for our last minute shopping - sandals, beef jerky & granola bars. We even got treated to a fab steak on Wednesday night - as it might be our last for some time!

Remember, we are expecting you in Australia next year!

Woke at some ridiculous hour on Thursday in order to get to the airport on time. Good job too as we were singled out for the ‘extra security line’. Uh Oh … thought Andy, not the rubber gloves again ….

Thankfully, it was just a very detailed examination of carry on bags and having to stand in one of those detector machines that puffs air at you and analyses it while you are trapped in the box and people stare at you.

The Air Canada flight to Beijing was 11 hours 20 mins – the longest flight we’ve ever been on, but somehow it seemed to go really quickly. Our exit seats were very spacious for short-arses like us and pretty comfortable.