The pilot’s voice came over the intercom, breaking the silence.
“Please put your seats and tray tables in their upright position and prepare for our descent. Welcome to Beijing.”
Twelve hours of sitting had left my back stiff and my eyes dry. Dani had slept for most of it. I hadn’t.
Twelve hours of sitting had made us restless for our honeymoon to start. But we were not there yet.
Once landed, we would have four hours in Beijing before our connecting flight to Chengdu departed.
I looked at my new wife.
“Think we’ll have enough time to exit the airport and explore the city?”
“Want to try? Even if it’s only for an hour?”
~
We raced the crowds exiting the plane, ran through the corridors, and made it to passport control ahead of the crowd. Then, we followed signs to the train linking this airport to its host city. It was three terminals away.
Stairs, shuttles, and ticket counters passed in a blur of metal, glass, and fluorescent light—I had eyes only for the signs overhead and my wife next to me.
At the airport subway station entrance, the security guard introduced us to the ticket machines and how to navigate the underground system.
Then, Dani and I climbed aboard to Beijing’s financial district.
The train was clean and nearly empty. We sat across from each other. Dani had her camera on her lap. I had my jacket in my arms because I hadn’t figured out where to put it. Neither of us had slept enough to be ready for this.
An onslaught of cars, bicycles, motorcycles, and auto-rickshaws confronted us, zipping between the glowing downtown skyscrapers. Welders worked from scaffolding, cars drove on the sidewalks and cut through the parks, and people went everywhere, pulsing through the streets.
We just stood there—motionless, braced against the cold, and looking only at each other.
The light changed.
Traffic surged past us.
A cyclist clipped the edge of my shoe without slowing.
Dani pulled her jacket tighter.
We had maybe ninety minutes left.
Neither of us moved.
“We should go back,” she said.
I looked down the block. Then back at the station.
“Yeah.”
We turned around and went back the way we came.