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Our Trip
November 20/21 - Day(s) 3 Destination Dateline click HERE for Day Three Photos Questions for Ms. Foster's Classroom: Can you track our flight today? Paige's Comments: This is being pounded out from seat 3E, on an Asiana Airlines 747 which took off from LA at 12:45 PM, or about five hours ago, crept up the coast over our friends in Sacramento and Portland and is now over the Bering Sea, closing in on the International Date line, which will, at about 6:15 pm PST our time, instantly catapult us into tomorrow: Wednesday November 21. This is what they call The Circle Route. You basically hug the coast all the way to Alaska, turn southwest, follow the Aleutians and then make a mad dash for Japan and Korea. This morning started at 5:30 am (3 am for Ann) at the Park Hyatt in LA. Still on Minnesota time. We got some breakfast, wrapped up some of our personal job-related work, and headed for LAX at 9:15. We got a little worried when the Avis shuttle crawled past the Southwest Terminal and there were, oh, 5,000 people in line, waiting outside to check in. Luckily the International Terminal seemed unaffected by the Thanksgiving Rush and we got in, checked in and on our way to the Fifth Floor VIP Lounge in minutes, to sit and kill time eating free sushi and drinking up their stock of diet colas. A Note: Some of you are going to be saying, "Hmmm…limos, Hyatts, First Class seats to Asia; what a couple of snooty jerks. Let me be absolutely clear about something. I work in Radio, which is an industry notorious for chain restaurant wages, and Ann manages a non-profit organization. Never in a million years could we have afforded two $12,000 tickets to China. Not gonna happen. Luckily I travel. A lot. Maybe 100 days a year. So the frequent flier points that I've been saving for three years (since our last vacation) are picking up this little soiree. Wanted to nip it in the bud before you got some wrong thoughts. Anyway, we had our first of what will be many "feeling a little out of place" vibes on the LAX shuttle that hauled us and about 100 other passengers to the satellite facility where the jet was parked. Cramped in there, jostling around the tarmac, I noticed we were the only westerners. And were getting a lot of "Aren't you supposed to be on a flight to Ohio for turkey with Grandma?" looks. Got settled in for the almost 13 hour flight. We'd used my points before for First Class trips to Australia, Brazil and Hawaii, but this, well, frankly it was nuts. Only six of us up front in seats that convert to beds. Lunch? I had, in order of courses: Caviar Ossetra on buckwheat blinis; lobster tail on mini toast with Chateau Briand and a pickle; Beef Consomme soup; mixed green salad, Beef Filet (the other choices were shrimp scampi and Chicken Wellington); carrots, asparagus, Rainbow Rotelli and Croquette Potato; a cheese tray, fresh fruit and an apple tart, washed down with Chateau Boyd Cantenac 1998. And in the spirit of rubbing it in, we watched "Mummy Returns", "America's Sweethearts," "The Princess Diaries" and "The Score" on our personal video monitors. In two weeks we'll be doing this trip in reverse and will probably have our hands too full with Sophia to enjoy the opulence, so we soaked it up while we still could. When we land in seven hours and eleven minutes (according to the on-board computerized map which shows our every move), we'll go straight to an elevator, not even retrieve our checked luggage which is booked straight through to Beijing, and will go up to a hotel on the fourth floor of the terminal, where they rent rooms in six hour blocks for international travelers such as ourselves. It'll be 1:30 a.m. LA time, but only 6:30 p.m. Seoul time. Our flight to Beijing tomorrow blasts off at 9:50 for a quick two-hour flight across the Yellow Sea to China. We spend four days sightseeing and catching the culture and on Monday (almost to the point where I can start the countdown in denominations of hours) we fly to Nanjing and are handed Sophia in the hotel lobby. All right! Back to the movies and maybe a little shuteye. Ann's Comments: It's 2:15 a.m. now (Los Angeles time) on Wednesday morning. In Korea it is 7:15 p.m. Wednesday evening. We arrived not long ago after a REALLY long flight. It actually wasn't too bad because the seats were comfortable (they reclined into beds), we had two full meals with multiple courses, and the stewardesses were so nice. After the first meal, they closed all the windows and turned out the lights. Ended up sleeping for part of the flight. Watched a movie, a Cirque du Soleil performance, and a show about fast animals (e.g., the cheetah who runs 60 miles per hour, the marlin that swims 80 miles per hour). Another neat part of the flight was the GPS display - it hooked right into the airplane's avionics system. There was a map of the area that the plane was flying over with the city names. We went from Los Angeles up along the California, Oregon, and Washington coastline. The pilot continued along the Alaska coastline and then I fell asleep. Woke up somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. The next cool part of the trip was when we flew over the northern part of Japan. There are beautiful snow-capped mountains in that part of the country. As we neared Korea, the sun began to set - an incredible orange-red fireball that slowly sank into the horizon. We landed at the Inchon International Airport in dense fog. They said it was "cold" here. I don't think they've experienced Minnesota weather. Had difficulty finding the airport hotel, and ended up wandering through part of the airport. Went to an information counter and there were two little Korean boys there. They eagerly said, "Hi! How are you?" - clearly interested in testing out their English skills. I am impressed with how many people speak English fluently as a second language. The stewardesses and the guy who checked us in at the hotel struggled a bit - but we can completely understand them. I think they are embarrassed that they can't communicate as well as they want to…but then again, we don't speak a word of Korean - so we aren't complaining! Another
thing that is neat to see is that everyone bows to one another.
Before the flight began, the stewardess stood at the front of the
cabin and bowed. After they asked you what you wanted to eat, they
would bow their head slightly. And, the gentleman at the front desk
at the hotel bowed. I bowed back. Then he did. I did. And he did.
Figured I better stop. Not sure who is supposed to bow last. We're
definitely in another country now! It's great!! |