Viking Gems of China and Japan Day 32 (and 33) – Mongolia to 'Merica Marathon
The alarm went off at 5:45 so we could handle the morning routine, get breakfast, and be on the bus by 7:45. I checked the weather and saw this.
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| Yikes - 13°F |
Yes, that was 13° Fahrenheit. Wowzers, that's cold. Lucky for us, we just had to get on the bus, so it wasn't a big deal.
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| Ulaanbaatar before sunrise |
We left the hotel and immediately came to a stop in traffic. A cop was directing traffic at an intersection, and they weren't letting our direction go. After an eternity, all the drivers started honking their horns. It was insane, but that finally got the cop to let us go. So, the first rule of Mongolian traffic is to be the most aggressive and the loudest.
We eventually cleared the traffic and arrived at Chinggis Khan airport about 45 minutes later. We got into the check-in line and then bid fond farewells to our two guides, who were with us for the entire Spirit of Mongolia experience.
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| Nora, the lead guide |
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| Baska - another guide |
We had to wait about 30 minutes to check in, but after that, we went to Korean Air's excellent lounge. The big benefit is that the lounge has a private security entrance, so cleaning security was a breeze. And thanks to my artificial knee and hip, it involved a pat-down that should have involved dinner and a movie first.
We boarded our Airbus A330-300 and flopped into seats 8A and 8B.
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| The configuration in Business Class was 2-2-2 |
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| Generous spacing between rows to allow the seats to fully recline. |
Not as nice as pods, but not a huge issue for the three-hour flight. We had a couple of bouts of turbulence, including one where the captain ordered the crew to their seats. Other than that, the flight was uneventful.
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| Departing Ulaanbaatar |
We arrived at Incheon, the airport serving Seoul, South Korea, ahead of schedule, giving us some time before our next flight at 7:25 PM local time. Incheon International Airport sits on a small island just west of the city of Incheon. Incheon (the city) is a little southwest of Seoul.
Incheon (the airport) is huge, with moving walkways everywhere. There is a ton of shopping from all the famous high-end brands you can think of. There are also Korean oddities.
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| You could talk to these two creepy heads in Korean or English, and they would respond using basic AI |
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| If those heads weren't creepy enough, this disembodied face moved and shifted its eyes in the window of a sunglass shop |
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| Try a local Korean beer? Yes, please! |
This next flight is where the time-shifting weirdness begins. Korea is an hour ahead of Mongolia, so we set our watches an hour ahead. We will depart here at 7:25 PM on Wednesday, November 5, 2025. We will fly for 13.5 hours and arrive in Atlanta at 7:00 PM on Wednesday, November 5, 2025, 25 minutes before we take off.
We got settled into our pods, 3B and 3C, for the flight.
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| It was a 1-2-1 configuration in Business Class, so we had the two in the middle on opposite aisles |
Well, I typed that sentence above about the arrival time when we were in Incheon. We actually pushed back a few minutes early, and the pilot flew it like he stole it, so we landed in Atlanta at about 6:30. We had to hold on the tarmac for a few minutes while our gate cleared, but we were through Customs by 7:00. That gave us nearly three hours before our flight to Orlando would board.
Long flights like this are interesting because the crew changes mid-flight and changes again later in the flight after the first crew gets rest. It makes sense because you don't want pilots or flight attendants working 13 hours or more at a time.
One interesting thing for us as we boarded our Airbus A350-900 was that we were asked if we wanted our bags checked through to our final destination. Every time we've re-entered the US from international travel, we've had to retrieve our luggage at our entry airport, clear Customs, and then had to re-check our bags. It always seemed stupid. When we agreed, the security team at Incheon sent our luggage x-ray images to Customs in Atlanta. We walked off the plane, zipped through Global Entry, never touching our passports, and were on our way to the Sky Club in a couple of minutes, easy-peasy. It always amazes me when they do something smart for travelers.
When we arrived at the Terminal B Sky Club, it was packed, like most other clubs we've been in lately.
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| Those empty seats across from us were filled about 30 seconds after I took the photo |
Still, even with the crowds, the free food, drinks, and nicer seats are worth it.
About 9:30, we departed the lounge to walk to our gate for boarding at 9:50 and a 10:30 departure.
The flight to Orlando from Atlanta is a short 1:30 per the schedule, but less than an hour in the air. Before we took off, I checked our bags' locations via the Samsung tags we have in our luggage. Arlona's checked bag showed it was in Atlanta. Mine showed up in Orlando. Wait, what? A little while later, I got an email from Delta saying that my bag got on an earlier flight and to pick it up at the Delta luggage office.
We arrived in Orlando, and sure enough, my bag was there. We waited for Arlona's to come off the carousel and texted our waiting driver to get us. I'd like to say that the ride home was uneventful, but just a couple of miles from home, *bang*, we hit something. After pulling over, our driver discovered that he had hit and was dragging a shovel that someone had left in the middle of US-301. The dark metal was nearly impossible to see on the asphalt pavement. It pulled it out from under the car. The car seemed no worse for wear, and we made it the rest of the way home, pulling in at 1:45.
We left the hotel in Ulaanbaatar at 7:45 AM on Wednesday, local time. That was 6:45 PM Tuesday evening in Orlando. We pulled in the driveway at 1:45 AM on Thursday morning, or 31 hours after we left the hotel. Needless to say, we're beat.
Arlona is much better at sleeping on planes than I am, and she got several hours of sleep on the Incheon to Atlanta flight. I fell asleep for an hour here and there, but I will be catching up for the next few days.
Thinking about flying, we've flown a lot this trip. Here's a look at where we've flown.
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