Day 11 (March 18, 2018):

At the outset of this blog, I commented on going into a time warp, as we crossed the International Date Line and lost March 9th altogether.  Well, the good news is that, on the return, we got to live March 18th twice!  

It was a 5AM rise, out the door at 6AM, and onto a bus that passed in front of the hotel and went straight to Incheon Airport, a good hour away.  The obligatory check-in, security and immigration procedures, and we were finally able to locate a business lounge for some breakfast.  Our 14-hour nonstop flight to New York today is with Asiana Airlines, so we accessed the Asiana Business Class Lounge and had some coffee, eggs and croissants.  Before we knew it, we were boarding our Boeing 777-200 aircraft just after 9AM.

14 hours is a long time cooped up in a metal tube.  The meals were quite good, and we watched a few movies, including "Darkest Hour", about Winston Churchill's first month in power in 1941.  But sleep, we did not!  We left Seoul at 9:50AM and arrived a bit early at JFK at 10:15AM.  Hence, a sort of reverse time warp.  

Upon arrival at JFK, immigration just took a few minutes.  We collected our bags, stored them for the day, and then took the Long Island Rail Road into Penn Station, in the heart of Manhatten.  We saw this day as an opportunity to see "Come From Away", the much-heralded musical about 9-11 and all the 38 planes that were forced to land in Gander, Newfoundland.

We walked from Penn Station to Time Square, where we always enjoy the Olive Garden.  Then it was off to the Gerald Schoenfield Theatre on 45th Street for the 3PM showing of "Come from Away".

The musical was amazing.  And very moving!  It really showed the best of humanity at an hour in history that also showed humanity's worst.

By 5PM we were on our way back to Penn, boarded another Long Island Rail Road train back to JFK, and were on a Delta flight back to Halifax at 9PM.  By 1AM we were home, and our wonderful trip to Asia was filed in our history books.

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog.  So sorry for the posting delays related to Blogger.com being blocked during our time in China.  

We'll be back on line in July, for a visit to Slovakia, Poland and the Netherlands.  Join us again then!

Meal #1 on Asiana:  Korean kimchi, broth, and a beef dish with lettuce wraps.

Sorry for all the airplane food, but by now, you know that the flights are a huge part of any travel experience for me!  So here is Asiana's meal #2 from Seoul to New York.

The bright lights and crazy characters of Time Square.

Approaching curtain time at the Gerald Schoenfield Theatre on 45th Street.  What a wonderful musical!