My Trip to China: 5/5/12 to 5/13/12

5/4/12

If one day I tell you that my life involves no drama, that means I've stopped living actively!

So, here is the drama for today --

I was schedule to fly out of O'Hare at 12:08 PM today to arrive in Beijing tomorrow at 2:40 PM local time. I was then scheduled to fly with my friend at 7:25 PM local time to Yinchuan to visit and photograph one of the most amazing deserts in northwest China.

I woke up this morning and got this lovely travel alert from United Airlines saying that my flight wouldn't leave Chicago until 7:30 PM tonight and I wouldn't get to Beijing until 9:37 PM local time tomorrow. So, at the last minute, I had to run around frantically to cancel my trip to the desert, to have my friend book a hotel room for me for the night when I arrive in Beijing (as it would be too late to go anywhere else), to have my father book the hotel rooms for me in Beijing and to repack all my luggage so I don't need to bring all my camera gears...

Talking about making last minute decisions.... this is a classic example of how much we need to learn to adapt and be flexible. How much we need to learn to instantly covert the DEEP disappointment into positive energy and go forward like nothing even happened!!

Life is not easy on so many levels, I must say!  So, after months of planning and dreaming to go to the desert, I've finally realized that it won't happen this time!!

For now, I will be sitting at the O'Hare United Club for the next 7 hours. They did offer me a $30 travel voucher to buy lunch -- what a concept!!

The end of the drama was: we did not leave Chicago until 9:07 PM and did not land in Beijing until 11:03 PM local time...