Trains, planes, and bicycle-mobiles

May 24, 2022

Oh no, the dreaded travel day. Stressful even in its simplest forms, the method we have embraced is just short of masochism. The goals are to avoid single-occupancy vehicles when possible, to keep it cheap if possible, and to take advantage of bike-friendly infrastructure. We want the travel day to feel like part of a bike tour. Convenience and simplicity take a back seat.

First order of business is breakfast, followed by final packing, followed by dragging all our gear to the elevator.

I neglected to mention that the garage in which we've parked our bikes for the past two days plays this horrible but very catchy New Age tune on constant repeat. It's going to haunt me for weeks, if not years, to come. The sooner we left, the better.

Yesterday, I may not have felt the difference between loaded and unloaded, but I sure felt it now. Low gear was barely sufficient to make it up the parking lot ramp.

Once again in broad daylight, we were greeted by the political candidates' hired help, who were once again out in full force to capture the attention of morning commuters.

We arrived at the AREX station and immediately sensed that we were in trouble. 8am wasn't early enough to beat the crowds.

The elevator was busy. The platform was empty. Ok, maybe everyone was just going towards 서울[Seoul] rather than the airport! Even I could understand the "bikes not allowed on weekdays" part of the prerecorded announcements. Sunyoung felt that they were singling us out!

The train approached. I winced. It was close to full. I was disheartened, but Sunyoung, brave and experienced soul that she is, pushed her way on, leaving baaarely enough space in her wake for me to squeeze in, too. We apologized and thanked our fellow passengers. They were super cool about it! Whew! Now all we had to do was to hold on to our bikes for dear life and be ready to look ignorant and pitiful should an authority come by.

Here's my advice: plan your departure and arrival for a weekend day, ride your way from/to the airport, or check out the intercity bus possibilities. The island of 영종 is pretty cool, but it's the existence of the train that makes it cool. Maybe after they finish the third bridge to the island, they'll consider ways to make getting to the airport more bike-friendly even on weekdays.

We arrive at Terminal 2 unreprimanded, catch our breath, and get our antigen tests. Then we head to Hanjin, who are very helpful. They give us tips on how and what to disassemble. They wrap both bikes and the removed front wheels in bubble wrap. They build customized boxes around the bikes, tape it up, and put it in a machine that secures several plastic straps around each box. All for the low low price of 30,000₩ each! Every airport should have a Hanjin.

They came in at 20.5kg and 22kg, just under the weight allowance. Looks like we were in the clear.

Not so fast! When we checked in, the clerk at Delta tried to claim that our bike boxes were oversize. I think she didn't know her own airline's bike policy. Sunyoung politely and firmly pushed back. We thought she had relented, but another clerk grabbed a roll of measuring tape and started with our larger box. It seemed that both of them were trying to find a way to charge extra us for something, but a third clerk -- or maybe it was a manager -- started escorting us and our boxes away from these two determined employees. Phew!

We boarded, lifted off, and said goodbye to the lovely country that has been our home for the past month. We know we'll be back soon, but we miss it already.

SeaTac airport has a stunning new international arrivals terminal that just came online last month. It's a hundred times better than the old facilities. I think I've finally traveled enough to no longer experience reverse culture shock when returning to the U.S. The bomb-sniffing dogs and the ICE bureaucrats' paramilitary uniforms elicited no more than a "meh, welcome back" from me.

We walked to the bike assembly station just past Baggage Claim 12 and did our thing. It went remarkably smoothly.

On to the light rail, the Burke-Gilman Trail, and home sweet home. Our lawn had grown as high as an elephant's eye. It can wait. For now we just do as much or as little as we like while our bodies readjust.0

Today's ride: 13 km (8 miles)
Total: 1,329 km (825 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	1
Comment on this entry	Comment	0