Merry and Pippin assisting the packing.
I guess I'd better start on the travelogue before I get into a marathon sudoku session with the seat back entertainment center. The seat back screen claims its 1245 which suggests we’ve traveled two time zones already about 2 1/2 hours into the flight. Lunch has been served and trays collected, so we passengers are now left to our own devices until dinner time. There’s 9h 45m left to Seoul at this point. That will be followed by a one hour layover/connection to our flight to Hanoi, and another 5 hours on an airplane.
I booked this tour, CW: Trails of Indochina in December of last year to take advantage of the early booking discount, but Jonathan and I had been discussing it as our next destination since our return from Perú (our previous vacation).
We pore over the CW catalogs when the arrive to see what tours might appeal to us. After 12 years of taking these tours, we’re finding that the number of destinations that appeal to us have diminished to where only the Indochina excursion aroused any interest in us. There are any number of tours that look mildly interesting to me, but hold no attraction for Jonathan.
Indochina (specifically Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia for this tour) appealed to both of us with the time on Ha Long Bay and Angkor Wat. As I’ve read more about our various destination in the trusty Lonely Planet guide book, Luang Prabang in Laos has also piqued my curiosity. The city sits at the confluence of the Mekong and Namkhan Rivers, surrounded by mountains, is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and is home to many Buddhist temples.
Merry and Pippin assisting the packing.
Jonathan at Ike's restaurant at MSP.
Jonathan taking the obligitory photo of me at the begining of the trip.
Sue and Dar.
Jonathan taking a snap of the view of the Pacific from the Ventura hills above Dar and Sue's home.
Jane and Julie at Green Street Restaurant (I should've asked them to smile for me!).
Beth, Tom, and Irene at Green Street Restaurant (I should've asked them to smile for me, too!).
Maya, Ghassan and Kathryn's cat, assisting Mr. Lubin as he repacks.
Jonathan seated on the trans-Pacific flight.
Supper Korean-style - bibimbap, beef, mushrooms, and vegetables; add rice and Korean hot sauce. Yummy!
The seatback display of the flight path from LAX to Incheon.
Jonathan seated on our flight from Incheon to Hanoi.
Flight path from Incheon to Hanoi. I made a point to take the shot to get the actual path.
Our room at the Intercontinental Hotel/Westlake in Hanoi
Our bathroom at the Intercontinental Hotel/Westlake in Hanoi. Even better!
The first leg of our trip is already complete as we spent two days in Pasadena to catch up with the circle of friends we left there when we moved to Saint Paul four years ago. We flew from MSP to LAX Tuesday afternoon 01 November, leaving the the tending of our feline overlords (and lady) in Mary Davis’ capable hands. We were fortunate to get a complimentary upgrade to First Class, which is even better since the flight is a 4 hour non-stop. After collecting the rental car and navigating the back-ups on the Pasadena Freeway, we arrived at Ghassan and Kathryn’s house in South Pasadena where we lodged for the duration of the stay in the Pasadena area. After a pleasant dinner at Mike and Annie’s restaurant, we hit the sack.
After breakfast with Ghassan and Kathryn, we drove out to Ventura to catch up with Dar and Sue — Dar is a former coworker at both Mannkind Corp. and Biothera. After a celebratory libation of champagne, we walked down the hill a few blocks to Cafe Nouveau where we had brunch. After lunch, Dar walked us through the neighborhood for some even nicer views of the Pacific Ocean from the Ventura hills. We were lucky that the weather was so clear to get the impressive vistas.
We returned to Pasadena and went directly to Green Street Restaurant. Jonathan had sent an email blast to about 60 of our Neighborhood UU Church contacts letting them know we were going to be there 5:30 - 7:30pm and hoped to see as many folks as possible. We got a congenial turnout of about 10 folks and we ended up adjourning from the bar to a table to continue the festivities.
On Wednesday, we had lunch with one of our closest friends, Clarli Wilson, and caught up with all the happenings in her life. We were lucky to get a chance to say hello to her son Ron who was repairing a patio bench and her daughter Chris who dropped by to update some software on Clarli’s computer. That evening we had dinner at Bistro 45 with Jeff Silverman and caught up on all the happenings in the Silverman clan. Alas Amelia was still recovering from a cold and couldn’t make it. We happened to luck out an got the server who had waited on us numerous times four and more years ago! It added to old home week feel of the visit.
After breakfast at Ghassan and Kathryn’s we said our goodbyes and headed to the airport, dropped off the rental car, and made our way to the gate without any trouble at all.
Our aircraft for the trans-Pacific flight is an Airbus A380-800, a double decked plane. The seating on the lower level is all economy class with a 3-4-3 arrangement the length of the plane. The night before Jeff was telling us that the upper deck is business and first class. Despite the packing, it wasn’t bad space-wise, as the ceilings are high and the seat pitch is quite tolerable. We got two aisle seats across from each other. After serving lunch, the crew has lowered the lights so I guess they are encouraging us to sleep now.
The rest of the flight passed — eventually. We were fed again after they brought the lights back up and we landed at the Seoul airport (which is actually located at Incheon west of the city) without incident. After navigating our way to the transfer point, a nice Korean agent at security did a quick rummage through my knapsack sending it back through x-ray a second time in a deconstructed state.
We met our first fellow Country Walker travelers at the gate for the Hanoi flight thanks to those trusty yellow boot-shaped luggage tags CW sends out to its guests. We first met Sheri and not long after her friend Alan arrived at the gate. The four hour flight felt long simply because of travel fatigue, although I think I managed a bit of a doze during the flight after dinner.
We were met at the airport by a CW representative, who delivered us to the Intercontinental Hotel in Hanoi. We did not linger in the lobby (or bar) but went right to our room and to bed.