Getting Here

With the help of friend HaeJung and a trip to the Hewlett-Packard service center, my computer problems are resolved. (My lack of computer knowledge probably made things more difficult than they needed to be, but all is well at the moment.) This is being written on my mini computer in my room. Hooray!!

So -- to return to the journey getting here, which was quite interesting.

When I arrived at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport at 11 a.m. on Thursday, 2/26, snow was predicted but hadn't started. By the time I finished eating and went to the gate at noon, the snow was falling heavily. We got on the plane and prepared for a 1 p.m. departure. Didn't work that way.

The pilot was concerned about coordinating runway plowing with deicing the plane since only one of the two runways being plowed was long enough for the 747 to use. At one point the airport was closed completely and no one was taking off. But plowing and deicing issues turned out not to matter since my plane couldn't get away from the gate. Because of the amount and slipperiness of the snow and the weight of the 747, the tug which pushes the plane away from the gate couldn't get traction. Various schemes were tried, including plowing snow from behind the plane, adding deicer to the snow, and increasing the number of tugs. The snow stopped completely, the plowing was successful, and THREE tugs with chains, all hooked together, eventually managed to push us away from the gate. Take-off finally happened at 5:30 p.m.

Now one might think that I would have been miserably uncomfortable and unhappy during this 5-hour wait. Not a bit. . . . I emptied my NW miles account for this trip and was flying business class, sitting in the lap of luxury. While coach folk were being offered water, we were served hors d'ouvres and wine. I was comfortably reclined with huge amounts of space; the seat next to me was vacant (the only one in business -- how 'bout that for luck) so I spread things out over two seats. I read, did some crossword puzzles (thanks, Linda Lindeke) and was incredibly grateful I wasn't back in the cattle car of coach spending all that time awaiting takeoff. The pictures show (not the greatest quality) the snow from the window, my enjoying the wait with a glass of wine, and the control panel for the seat. Yes, there are that many combinations of positions into which one can put the seat -- it's truly amazing and really quite comfortable.

Because of the seat comfort I actually slept, or dozed, about five hours on the way to Tokyo. Because of the late departure everyone who had a connecting flight had missed it. The NW ground crew in Tokyo was very competent and organized. They had rebooked all the flights and made arrangements for an overnight hotel stay. Because business class passengers are the first off the plane, I didn't have to wait in line for my information and got on the first bus to the hotel -- a Radisson. Felt right at home.

Took the 7 a.m. bus to the airport on Saturday to catch a 9:30 a.m. Asiana (a Korean airline) flight to Seoul. Again had an empty seat next to me in business and was well waited on by the cabin attendants. Luggage came promptly, and I caught an airport bus to the Ramada Hotel and Suites near City Hall where my one-room apartment awaited me. It looked exactly like the pictures HaeJung had sent me so I felt right at home.

More on what I've done in the days since arrival (other than deal with the computer which you know about) later.