China 2008

Earlier this year I was selected to participate in a delegation of elected officials on a trip to China with the American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL). ACYPL is a bipartisan non-profit organization internationally recognized as the pre-eminent catalyst for introducing rising political and policy leaders to international affairs and to each other. Each year, with generous support from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and a wide range of corporate, foundation and individual partners, ACYPL conducts exchanges with 20-25 countries around the world.

Needless to say, I was extremely excited and honored to accept the nomination to the delegation and I'm currently in China for two weeks.

My journey began when I left Kansas City for Washington, D.C. on December 3. In D.C. I met the rest of the delegation and we attended briefings at the ACYPL office, the U.S. State Department and the Chinese Embassy.

On December 5 we boarded a very slow boat to China and roughly 24 hours later, including plane changes in Detroit and Tokyo, we landed in Beijing.

Smiling faces greeted us at Beijing airport.

China is 14 hours ahead of KC, so when we landed it was late Saturday night, December 6. We boarded a bus and headed to the Beijing International Hotel -- our home for the next 5 nights.