Taking Off

It’s New Year’s Eve and it’s time to take off. We decided to do a one-way car rental from Champaign to O’Hare in Chicago to solve one nagging little problem: What do you wear when it’s 20ºF in Illinois and 80ºF in Thailand? We definitely did not want to be carrying winter coats with us for 3 months. Our other options (Amtrak, Megabus, Lex Express) would all involve freezing our asses off trying to get to our Korean Air flight. And as it turned out, the rental car option was cheaper than our other options, so we lucked out. As is our habit, we stopped by Whole Foods on the way to the airport to pick up some tasty snacks – just to make the other passengers jealous.

The 19-hour flight from Chicago to Bangkok was uneventful. We had a 2-hour layover in Seoul and Bonnie had the right idea: she indulged in a massage. This is the second time we’ve flown an Asian airline across the Pacific and both times the service was impeccable. The stewardesses looked like dolls dressed in very stylish uniforms. And their demeanor was completely different than American stewardesses. It may sound like a cliché, but these girls were softer, more subservient, more eager to please. Was this just a cultural difference or was this Korean Air's training? Korean Air also had nice little touches even for passengers in economy class: slippers and toothbrushes were provided for everyone. And the individual seat-back entertainment center had more movies than anyone would want to watch. I would definitely fly Korean Air again without hesitation.