Today we embarked on our Trans-Mongolian journey, but not yet in earnest. We start off with a flight to Osaka where we’ll stay a four nights before going to Beijing where we’ll board the train.
Coming with us to Osaka are Kim’s best mate Rodger and his fiancée of many many years, Liisa. They came to our house at 0500 and Kim’s sister Jo drove us all to the airport.
We were travelling on standby tickets and both Kimball and I got our last-minute paid upgrade to Business Class at the gate. Soon after we boarded, I heard that the flight time today was on the long side at around 11h45.
The flight was pleasant and uneventful. It was a little strange that the second meal was served 5h prior to arrival rather than the usual 2h. Helping in the Business Class cabin part-time was Widy, an Indonesian colleague of Kim’s. She turned out to be the most polished of the crew, including the ones dedicated to the Business cabin.