Ready to go

Hard to believe this is actually happening after 6 months or longer of preparation. Dad just called from New York; he's about to get on his flight to Beijing. He said Matt was nice and got up really early to take him to the airport. Both our planes are on time. The weather's great here in SF, so I doubt they'll be a delay on my end.

One of the nice things about being an organized, planning kind of person is the satisfaction you have of just relaxing and enjoying yourself as everything unfolds. So I'm just taking it easy here at home for the next half hour, puttering around and doing the last few chores I need to do. No panic. Every thing's arranged, printed out, packed in the suitcase -- and hopefully that's not "famous last words."

So I'm off. I'll post again from Beijing.

China maps

The first is a general map of China, and the second is one of the trip dad and I are taking. You can find the complete intinerary for that at http://intrepidtravel.com/trips/CRM.