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You may want to discuss this with Lady Douglas-Home. Personally I think that alternative (a) might be best and less tiring provided you think that you will sleep fairly well on the 'plane. There will, of course, be bunks for yourself and Lady Douglas-Home. It also means that you would have the whole of Sunday in Peking to rest and to adjust to the time change. Your talks with the Chinese Ministers
If you are not planned to start until Monday, 30 October. decide that you would prefer to arrive on the evening of Sunday, it might be possible to start the talks on the afternoon of Monday, 30 October but then the whole programme
would become a bit condensed and I think it very important
to leave as much slack as possible so that it does not prove
too exhausting.
AND
(23 August, 1972)
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