Entry #2 - The flight...

Settling into my seat in 8A I noticed two things right away: 1) Plenty of legroom (you have no idea what a big deal that is) and secondly, 3 large bins next to my seat under the window large enough to hold my huge laptop backpack. That means I don't have to climb over the person next to me (a Korean with a cold) every time I needed something.
Anyway, looking out the window, you get a sense on how large the 747 is - from the upper deck what I was sitting, it is over 20' down to the tarmac. Pretty cool. Browsing through the seat pocket ahead of me had a number of things I am not use to seeing on a plane- slippers (never tried them - looked too small), a zipper pouch full of goodies (lotions, toothbrush, toothpaste, chap stick, and I don't know what all else). Reclining the seat all the way back came to about 135deg. some of the newer planes are doing full flat (180 degrees), but this was ok - I knew sleeping wouldn't be that easy so I trained for a long time by sleeping on our couch recliner at home (see Lisa - I told you I wasn't just being lazy!). Each seat had it's own portable tv but not too many channels in English to choose from.
As they prepped the plane for departure we were treated to drinks (I just had an OJ), and a warm moist towel (which wasn't all that tasty at all - I gave up half way through it). I spent a good 20 minutes carefully organizing all of my reading material and computer equipment for optimal usage on the plane (of which, I used approximately none of it). After a short delay for deicing, we left O'Hare and headed north. Our flight path took us over my hometown of Waukesha as I waved bye to my family below no doubt sleeping (it was about 2am at that point) I returned my attention to the GPS display to view our flight path and progress. It was a bit daunting to read that it was going to be 12 hours and 29 minutes to arrival, so I settled in to get comfy. It was late, and I was still quite full from dinner, when one our stewardesses came by with a menu for what was called a "Heavy Snack". The menu had a Western side and a Korean side, I had read that the Western is good, but the Korean is excellent - so I went with the Korean side (BiBimBop or something like that). It was a large bowl filled with meats and vegetables all spread out). On the side were numerous little cups of different things (Red Pepper paste, seaweed thingies?, and others). There was also a large bowel of some sort of seafood tasting watery soup. It was all very good and the metal chopsticks took some getting used to (since it was silverware, it was slippery compared to wood chop stick that I am used to (well not used to - I am not very good - just that I have used wooden ones before). I read the little manual on how to eat that meal (it came w/ the plate) and to my recollection, numerous courses were served until I "couldn't eat another bite" (that one is for you Laurie) and skipped dessert altogether. About an hour later they turned off the lights and everyone went to sleep. I managed to doze off, but woke up w/in about an hour or so with that feeling of wondering if I was snoring out loud.
To be honest, the rest of the flight was a daze where a couple of times I got up and walked the isle for about 30mins at a time. Had a discussion with an Asiana airlines pilot and we talked of course about flight simulator and flying in general. Throughout the flight the staff kept the bathrooms spotless, constantly asked me if I needed fruit, juice, or anything. They truly made a difficult flight as pleasant as possible (have I mentioned the service?).
2 hours before arrival (just northwest of Japan) we had breakfast - I again went with the Korean menu and Mushroom crepes - which again was crazy good. As we approached Korea I was hoping we would get a hint of a sunrise (since I hadn't seen the sun since Wed afternoon in the office). No luck, we landed in Inchon Airport near Seoul Korea at about 5:30am (local time).
- stay tuned for article #3 - Korea to China and the first day