DAY 1 - (April 23) ~ SAN FRANCISCO TO BEIJING

It is a 12-hour, nonstop flight from San Francisco to Beijing.  At 10:55am we flew United, Flight #888.  We paid extra $ for extra leg room.  We had the bulkhead row right over the wing.  We thought we would have lots of leg room being the bulkhead row.  But there wasn't.  We were not able to really stretch our legs because we lost the room under the seat in front of us.  But we had enough room to pass by the aisle seat without bothering the passenger, and we did not have any reclining seats in front of us.

  

We had the window and middle seat.  Unfortunately, we had the sun following us all the way to China.  We had a blinding glare from the wing coming in through the window.  We had to keep the window shade closed the whole time.  In fact all the shades on the plane were down for the whole trip.  The plane stayed dark for 12 hours except for reading lights, computer screens and movie screens.

  

It was a very smooth flight and the time did go by fast.  I watched 3 movies; Smallfoot, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Sargent Stubby, An American Hero.  I read a bit and got a few hours of sleep.