May 5 and 6, 2023
I knew that getting to South Korea from rural Ontario was not going to be easy but combine that with a miscalculation on my part and a typical Air Canada experience and it adds up to a very long commute. Since I live a two hour drive from the Ottawa airport and my flight was scheduled to leave at 9:00 am, I decided to leave home the afternoon before and get a hotel room for the night. The plan was to try to make the long air travel day a bit more relaxing than having to leave my home by 5:00 am in order to be at the airport the required two hours ahead of departure. This part worked great and even allowed Chris to come along for a kiss and goodbye at the airport and a drive by visit with my son James and his family the evening before. However, my plan for a shorter day of air travel was not to be realized.
A smart person would have added an extra day in Seoul to allow for travel delays and I thought I was doing that by leaving early Thursday for the Sunday start of the ride and the mandatory briefing meeting on Saturday morning. An extra day would give me plenty of time to reassemble my bike and deal with any problems. However, I forgot about the International Date Line. Leaving Thursday morning would put me in Seoul late Friday afternoon instead of late Thursday night. Still, arriving 5:30 pm on Friday was not all that bad. Figuring two hours to get through customs and from the airport to the hotel still put me in my room before eight. I might have time to get my bike unpacked and put together and if not, I should be relaxed and rested to get up early the next day and do the job then.
Ottawa to Toronto went off smoothly and right on time. However, before we even landed, we were advised that the Toronto to Seoul flight was being delayed. It was only an hour delay but as my time was already tight, I was less than thrilled. As the afternoon ticked away and the original 2:00 pm departure time approached we were updated that the delay was now two hours. It seemed odd as I could look right out the airport window and see our plane already at the skyway. Seems that Air Canada needed the extra time for some maintenance. Good news came a few minutes later when they started to call for boarding well before the new departure time. This luck only held until I was in my seat and the plane about a third loaded. Loading was suddenly stopped and we were told that the plane needed a new tire on the front landing gear. Normally I would have expected such a thing to be something that might have been notice during the three to four hours the plane was already sitting at the gate but no, the ways of Air Canada maintenance are strange and mysterious. A new tire was sent for and in a mere ninety minutes it was delivered, installed and loading resumed.
The flight itself was uneventful but did have one interesting feature. Fly east to west we were basically moving against the Earth’s rotation and this kept us in daylight throughout the entire flight. Landing in Seoul would have been accompanied by a stunning sunset had the city not been completely covered by low clouds and a patchy fog. The gloomy evening was a perfect match for my travel weary mood as I collected by boxed bike and luggage and was treated to an additional screening before hitting customs and immigration. Two hours or so after landing I finally sat down on my bed and fought my way to sleep.
Today is much better. I am rested, my bike reassembled with only one minor issue that I was able to repair. The weather is still humid and wet and that gives me the perfect excuse to stay in my room, write this short blog post and veg-out the rest of the day. Tomorrow we ride!
