Wow. Sexy!

It took some convincing. I had to explain to my (notoriously late) mother that we had to leave by 8am to get to JFK for a 2pm flight. When you live 100 miles from the airport, have to cross the GW Bridge, pay $23.25 at four toll plazas along the way ($13 for the GWB if you haven't driven to NYC recently), need to return a rental car, take the Airtrain with 5 suitcases, check-in for an international flight, and get through TSA, you need 6 hours. Did I mention light rain and road construction?

We were on the road by 8:30. Not bad given Mom's track record. All things considered, getting to the airport would have been relatively stress free if Enterprise had said just to follow the signs at the airport instead of trying to give their own directions. Grr. 

So, what is Korean Air like? 

I wish I could describe the first/business class "Kosmo Suites" and fully reclining seats to you, but I cannot. I can only offer you a description of the (still not so) "cheap seats". 

You'll find these amenities at your seat when you get there:

Not too shabby! Slippers, headphones, a bottle of water, toothbrush, toothpaste, a blanket and an airline pillow (not in pic). There's a USB charger at every seat and a "remote control" for the seat back screen.

Yes, that's the screen and that's the view from the video camera on the tail of our plane (A380-800). That angle is just one of the THREE live video feeds available from external cameras on our plane. Andy and I saw this feature on the Air France A380 last fall. So cool! The are tons of additional video-on-demand  options, including some new releases.  I have to say it was prety cool watching the snowy geography of Russia and China slip by 38,000 feet below at 539 mph. 

The announced anticipated flight time: 13 hours 25 minutes. Incredible. When we flew to Seoul in 1985, most of our options required a refueling stop in Anchorage or Honolulu. We flew via Anchorage and total travel time, if I recall, was more than 20 hours. Innovators keep innovating! Progress is good!

Within 2 hours, we were offered peanuts, beverages, wine and dinner.  There were beef and chicken options, but I selected the Korean option, bibimbap.

For the uninitiated, bibimbap is sort of like a Korean version of fried rice. Basically, you take steamed white rice and mix it with steamed veggies (here with Korean bean sprouts, spinach & pickles), sesame oil and a Korean red pepper paste called Gochuljang. It is delicious. And, at least in DC, it has become popular food truck fare (you'll find a food cart on K Street b/w 14th and 15th serving a fine bibimbap every weekday). A good Korean restaurant will serve bibimbap in a hot stone bowl with an egg, either cracked in front of you to cook in the hot stone bowl or perhaps just over-easy. Stir and eat!

Dinner also came with hot seaweed soup. Not my favorite. This American girl prefers miso soup to seaweed soup.  I did my best to eat my fair share of the GIANT pot of seaweed soup Mom made after Cole was born. Apparently seaweed soup is good for recovering from childbirth, or so every Korean mother with tell you.

I gave it another try, but, meh.

Meal #2 included a cucumber salad with smoked salmon and a chicken & rice entree. 

The Korean Air flight staff has been very friendly. They arrived en masse in the terminal as we were checking our bags. Perfect hair, perfect make-up and pressed Tiffany blue attire. I have to admit they are stylin'. Mom, never one to mince her words simply said, "Wow. Sexy!"

Just like these two?