Day 1: Incheon
I love traveling on a Wednesday. The roads are emptier, the airports easier to navigate. And Korean Air offers a 1:35 p.m. flight that lets you sleep a reasonable amount of time before flying the 15 hours (direct) from JFK to Seoul. All was smooth sailing this morning. I even experienced my first JFK lounge—nothing fancy, but I could sit gazing out at my baby blue plane until my anxiety insisted I go to the gate.
All was well until I boarded with Sky Priority (as my ticket said I should), and when I got to the plane door, was told I was supposed to be “downstairs.” My trusty mask hid my look of shock. I didn’t realize this plane had multiple floors. The flight attendant instructed me to go all the way to the back and take the stairs down but when I made to do just that, another flight attendant nearly directed me back to the front. But she conceded, and down the secret, semi-spiral staircase I descended. Trippy, in more ways than one.
As some of you know, I don’t mind a 15-hour flight; you can really settle in, do all the liminal-space activities us introverted indoor kids love: book reading, TV watching, music and podcast listening. Ideal, really, if not for the knee-bending and poorly timed period cramps. But a foil-wrapped cheese-filled hot pocket made a perfect heating pad in a pinch.
Incheon is the dreamiest of airports. Everything is clean and well-lit with clear signage. I wasn’t even annoyed while waiting to have my passport checked by border control—everything just works, and the staff are polite. And somehow, despite serving the mega-metropolis of Seoul, the airport terminals are always pleasantly uncrowded. Once outside, I waited on a serene sidewalk, admiring the architectural beauty of what turned out to be a parking garage, for the hotel shuttle to arrive.
The ride was quick, just around 10 minutes through a semi-apocalyptic landscape of barren land, solar panel farms, and parking lots. The sun glowed hot coral over the beige fields, a gorgeous hello again! from my sweet Korea, but all attempts to capture it: foiled. But all in all, the day was a success: I made it to my airport hotel in time for dinner and some Hospital Playlist prior to downing some NyQuil and sleeping until (hopefully!) dawn. Tomorrow, it’s off to Tokyo.
