September 17: Over Siberia

It’s 1:25 a.m Columbus time (2:25 p.m. in Seoul). I’ve been up now for 22 hours, and we still have two hours to go on this flight, a two-and-a-half hour layover in Seoul and another six hour flight to Phnom Penh. I’ve watched four movies, drunk three waters and two hot teas, and eaten two snacks and two meals in this seat. I meant to take pictures of the meals, but I forgot. I’ll try to remember on the way home.

I have to say that this flight has been pretty remarkable. The plane is a Boeing 777-300, and we all have lots of room. We each have our own video screens set into the headrests of the seats in front of us and can select from a couple dozen movies, TV shows, news broadcasts, and music channels. I had access to similar amenities on a trans-Atlantic flight in 2004, so perhaps that part’s not terribly impressive. What has been really outstanding on this flight, though, has been the service.

The flight crew includes at least eight stewardesses, all of whom are very polite and attentive. We’ve been treated to very fresh peanuts for a snack, very tasty meals (yes, that’s ME praising the food) and even a warm wet towel to wipe our hands and faces for a quick pick-me-up. Wine was included with both meals, which I think surprised even Tony, our most seasoned traveler. I get the sense that flying on Korean Airlines today is much like it would have felt flying on Pan Am in the fifties. The stewardesses are all very stylish and always smiling, the plane is clean and shows no wear and tear; it could have rolled out of the Boeing factory just yesterday. I get the sense that being a KAL employee is still a status job. In the US, it seems as if working for a major carrier has lost its luster and is now little more than a grind.

Our lunch choices included either beef in gravy with mashed potatoes and vegetables or a Korean dish called bibimbap, which is a rice, meat, and vegetable mixture that Jan was daring enough to try. Both options included fruit, and a small salad. Dinner was either chicken with rice and broccoli or creamy pasta with vegetables. Both included a dinner roll, potato salad, and chocolate mousse. Well, something akin to mousse, anyway. Mousse might have been too much for even these fine chefs to pull off in an airplane meal. It was tasty enough, but it was served in a cut square and had a consistency in the general realm of spackle.

Our flight path took us due north from Chicago over Canada, way north of Alaska, then down over Siberia and into Korea. Right now, we appear to be over far eastern China, around Chanchun and just west of Vladivostok. One really odd thing is that the sun hasn’t set yet. Because we’re going west, and because we flew so far north, we’ve kept ahead of nightfall. As a matter of fact, it will be dusk or just later than dusk when we reach Seoul.