The day has finally arrived! Left LAX at 9:10 a.m. for the short flight to San Francisco where we had a two hour layover. Lunched at a nice Mexican restaurant in the airport, then waited in the departure lounge for our flight to be announced. Managed to get us both upgraded - yay! Noticed many couples wearing the same blue T-Shirts and on asking if they were going to a convention, learned that they were all going to China to pick up their adopted babies! This absolutely fascinated me and ended up talking to several of the couples, both in the lounge and on the flight. The babies are all girls (not as revered as boys) who are abandoned shortly after birth - usually on the steps of a hospital. Giving up a baby for adoption in China is not permitted, so this is the way they do it. Babies are usually around 9 - 14 months when the adoptive parents collect them. It makes you wonder why these couples would not adopt in the U.S., but it takes many years of waiting and more than twice the cost of adopting in China. The flight attendants in our cabin were absolutely remarkable - our best flight crew ever and we told them so. Hilarious, attentive and gracious -always addressed us by name and were more than willing to share their experiences of getting around Beijing, shopping, customs, food, etc. The flight was daylight all the way, passing over Alaska and just to the east of Siberia with a very good view of the Kamchatka Peninsula and further down of Japan. Arrived in Beijing on time at 5:05 p.m. on July, 15th......to be continued