Our room at the Vira Bali Hotel came in handy for
showers and a short nap. The complimentary shuttle ride to the airport took
less than 10 minutes, and we arrived at the check-in counter right about
midnight. On the heels of a full day, we were turning right around and
beginning what would be an exceptionally long day: roughly 21 hours of flying,
plus connection time at Incheon and San Francisco (for me)/Vancouver (for Chris
and Allie).
Exit formalities were fairly quick and uneventful,
aside from a strange sequence of questions from the passport control officer.
After examining my passport and boarding pass, he asked me my first name and
then my middle name. He asked if I’d been to Yogyakarta. “Yes.” Then, he asked
if I’d seen the Sultan. “Well, no. But I did see the president of your
country.” You don't run into immigration offers who try to make jokes (even bad
ones) very often, and I wasn't quite sure how to react.
The Premier lounge at Denpasar is open well into
the wee hours of the morning and has a pretty decent selection of food for an
airport lounge, even at that hour. Let's call that meal #1 (yes, I'm counting).
Flight one—on Asiana, from Denpasar to Incheon—went
smoothly and arrived right on time at about 10:30 am. We all managed at least a
little sleep, along with meal #2 (albeit a light one).
Four years ago, we had a 12-hour connection at
Incheon and used that time for a quick trip into Seoul to see the Gyeongbokgung
palace and the Insadong area. With only half as many hours this time around, a
trip into the city was a little more questionable. But after determining that
the weather was good and our ongoing flights were operating as scheduled, we
decided to go for it. Relying on memory—including where to store our carryon
bags and how to catch the airport express train—we set out with the general
intent to explore the area around Seoul Station. More specifically, our plan
was to find something interesting for lunch. After all, you can only eat so
many meals in airports or on planes in one day.
With a map from the tourist information center at
the airport, we targeted the Namdaemun market, and specifically the “eating”
area of the market. Namdaemun market is about a 10-minute walk (at our brisk
pace, anyway) from the terminus of the airport train and near the old (now
restored) city gate. There were a few missteps, but we eventually found it—and
more importantly, found two uniformed information agents stationed at a
prominent intersection in the market. Not only did they have a detailed map of
the market, itself, they pointed out several possible areas to get lunch,
including Food Alley, Fish & Stew Alley, and Chopped Noodles Street.
Food Alley was the closest. We found many small restaurants with storefront displays of menu items wrapped in cellophane and labeled with prices—some (but not all) with English translations. It was basically a matter of “pick a place,” so we did. We pointed to a couple of dishes that looked good (bibimbap a pork dumpling soup) and then were ushered to seats inside to wait for our food, meal #3, which we quite enjoyed!
Food Alley was the closest. We found many small restaurants with storefront displays of menu items wrapped in cellophane and labeled with prices—some (but not all) with English translations. It was basically a matter of “pick a place,” so we did. We pointed to a couple of dishes that looked good (bibimbap a pork dumpling soup) and then were ushered to seats inside to wait for our food, meal #3, which we quite enjoyed!
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| Food Alley |
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| We picked our lunch from some of these |
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| And the finished product looked like these...bibimbap above, dumpling soup below |
Time was starting to run short, and we had to
make the 2 pm train back to Incheon, so we did the rapid-fire tour of different
parts of the market: up Fashion Street, right on Military Uniform Street, down
Bedding Street, and then back to our starting point via Food Materials Street.
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| Items for sale on Military Uniform Street |
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| And on Bedding Street |
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| And on Food Materials Street |
After one last stop for some very fresh donuts, we headed back to the train.
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| Piping hot donuts--the ones above filled with bean curd |
Sure, it was a rushed trip in, and it cost us about
$80 in all between the bag storage, train tickets, and food. But who knows when
we might get back there.
We then retraced our steps and were feeling pretty
good about getting out and accomplishing something in that time—until we hit
the security line, that is. When we picked up our bags from the storage center,
I had about 45 minutes until boarding time. I had planned for a quick shower at
the Asiana lounge, but the sight of a long, snaking security line quickly dashed
those hopes. As it was, I had about five minutes in the lounge, and then it was
off across the Pacific.
To conclude...
I flew back on United to San Francisco. Completely
uneventful flight (I slept a good part of the way and had meal #4). We arrived an hour early--so early that I was
through US Customs & Immigration (w/ Global Entry), baggage claim/re-check
and SFO security and in the domestic terminal United Club well before my
flight's scheduled arrival time. Since I had declined the pre-arrival meal, I
was hungry, so here I had meal #5, snacking on hummus and pita chips, couscous,
and olives. I also took this opportunity to change into my Chicago Blackhawks
swag, hopefully as a good luck offering for game 6 of the Stanley Cup
championship, which would start toward the tail end of my next flight.
Chris and Allie flew from Seoul to Vancouver on the
Air Canada Dreamliner and declared that the best business class experience
overall on the trip--with rave reviews for the seat in particular. Their flight
arrived in Vancouver a little late, making it a somewhat tight connection.
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| Business class suite on the Air Canada Dreamliner |
I was supposed to have arrived in Chicago 10
minutes after them. My flight (which included meal #6, lobster mac 'n cheese)
departed the gate in San Francisco on time but then drew an Air Traffic Control
delay that ultimately put us into Chicago 40 minutes late.
By the time we arrived, O'Hare was declining into a state of chaos, and we spent an additional 30 minutes in the penalty box waiting for a gate. Game six of the Stanley Cup championship was now in progress, and this was not the type of penalty box I wanted to hear about tonight. And of all the flights on which I've had DIRECTV at times of day when there was nothing to watch...here I was on a flight with NO DIRECTV during the Stanley Cup championship. I could only listen to the game via the Blackhawks app while we waited in the penalty box, waited at baggage claim, and waited for our ride home.
By the time we arrived, O'Hare was declining into a state of chaos, and we spent an additional 30 minutes in the penalty box waiting for a gate. Game six of the Stanley Cup championship was now in progress, and this was not the type of penalty box I wanted to hear about tonight. And of all the flights on which I've had DIRECTV at times of day when there was nothing to watch...here I was on a flight with NO DIRECTV during the Stanley Cup championship. I could only listen to the game via the Blackhawks app while we waited in the penalty box, waited at baggage claim, and waited for our ride home.
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| View from the penalty box at ORD |
The game ended during our ride home with a win and
a Stanley Cup championship--thus putting an exclamation point on a great trip!
