20251006 Viking Gems of China and Japan Day 1-2 - Orlando to Beijing Marathon Steps 1 & 2

Viking Gems of China and Japan Day 1-2 - We're off for another Adventure

We're off today for our next travel adventure. As you can see from the AI-generated tags above, this will be a marathon travel day. I'll cover the first leg today and catch up with the rest tomorrow.

So, where are we traveling to this time? We are taking Viking's Gems of China and Japan trip that involves a combination of flights and a cruise. In addition, we added a pre-stay and a post-stay.

We will arrive in Beijing, China, on Tuesday afternoon. We will have the rest of the day to recover from the marathon travel to get there. We will then have three days in Beijing to see the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and other highlights. We will fly to Xi'an and see the famed terra cotta warriors. Next up is a flight to Lhasa, Tibet, for a couple of days, and then Chengdu and a visit to the panda base. We will return to Beijing and board the Viking Yi Dun. We'll sail south along China's east coast before heading to Jeju Island, South Korea, and multiple ports in Japan. When the cruise ends in Tokyo, we will fly to Mongolia and transfer to the Gobi Desert for a three-day stay in luxury yurts. Then, we'll have another marathon day flying back home. The whole trip will last about a month.

Here's a look at our entire travel plan to get there.

Packing for me started yesterday.

Arlona got a jump on it the day before. It's funny how different people have different packing styles. We know folks who start packing two weeks ahead of a two-week trip. We packed two (or one) day ahead of a month-long journey. This trip is tricky. We will have days in the 60s or 70s mixed with days potentially in the 20s in Mongolia. Still, we were able to get everything into one checked bag and one carry-on each. The Mongolia extension is every trickier as we're limited to one checked bag of 33 pounds and a personal item. We'll pack for three days in our carry-on bags and check them. The hotel will hold our other bags until we return after the extension.

Our bags, getting ready for more travel

Our driver picked us up at 4 PM and whisked us to Orlando International Airport for our first flight. The trip to Orlando was uneventful.  We sailed through TSA - yay PreCheck - and arrived at our gate. 

After sitting at our gate - gate 231 - for a while, they announced - you know that gate 235 you passed way back on the way here - go back there since we moved the flight over there

We're traveling in business class, but Viking, cheapskates that they are, only guarantee business class on international flights. This means that for the price of a business class ticket, we're flying JetBlue economy to JFK. Wow.

Not for the long-legged

Turning to launch in Orlando

Other than a couple of minor bumps, the flight to JFK was fine. The pilot absolutely greased the landing.

All those lights in the air are inbound flights

I have one thing to say about JFK in New York. Avoid it at all costs. We landed in Terminal 5. We needed to get to Terminal 8. Were there signs? Nope. None.  With the help of some friendly workers, we walked the 765 miles (perhaps an exaggeration, but not by much).  It took an extensive walk from Terminal 5 to catch the Airtrain. We rode it two stops to Terminal 8.  Then, we had to visit the Qatar Airways ticket counter as JetBlue couldn't ticket us for the entire route. The Qatar Airways desk was nuts at 11 PM.

Next up was another pass through TSA. No big deal because we're Pre-Check, right? Nope. TSA Pre-Check closes at 9:30 at JFK. We have to take laptops out for the first time in the US in more than a decade. Then, we had to hoof it to gate 47. We had three hours between flights. We got to our gate, and they began boarding 15 minutes later.

We boarded nearly an hour early for the flight. At least this was a legitimate business class, and we could get something to drink. I tried Qatar Airlines' special lime and mint drink, and it was quite tasty.

Arlona, settling into her Q-Suite pod 4J for the 12-ish hour flight on the Airbus A350-1000 - the pods even had doors

I was two rows ahead in 2J, but that didn't last. The power port wouldn't supply power, so I couldn't charge my phone. Then, the seat power failed when my seat was fully reclined. That took some doing to extricate myself without being able to put my feet down. They couldn't get it working again. Lucky for me, it wasn't a full flight, so I relocated to 4G and all was good.

The food was good, not great, and served on demand - it was much better than JetBlue's Goldfish crackers and Biscoff cookies

A short twelve hours later, with sleep, meals, and movies blurred together, we landed in Doha, Qatar, at about 8:30 pm local time on Monday, October 6. With the time change and long flight, we essentially flew the day away. We have about five hours here, so we wandered a bit and looked the the shops.

Need a McLaren?

Lamp Bear is a 23-foot-tall sculpture and a prominent feature in Hamad International Airport in Doha

We found our way to the Al Mourjan Business Class Lounge for Qatar Airlines customers. We grabbed some Diet Cokes and relaxed in more comfy seats than those at the gate. Our flight to Beijing doesn't leave until 1:45 AM  local time.

While this upcoming final leg is a Qatar code-share flight, it is actually operated by XiamenAir on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. We will arrive in Beijing at 2:10 PM China Standard Time on Tuesday, October 7. 

So for now, we're going to hang out in the lounge here in Doha waiting for our flight. As I finish this, it is 10 PM, Doha time, or 3 PM Orlando time.  Tomorrow - Beijing and our first steps in Mainland China.