To resume, we were just starting to discuss options in case of a missed connection when they called our flight. Down to San Francisco and onto the SF to Seoul leg with no muss or fuss. Snoozed for awhile, as per the anti-jet lag program that I follow, which is from the book “Overcoming Jet Lag” (available through Amazon; 5 stars based on 24 reviews). Then rediscovered crossword puzzles, thanks to the United in-flight magazine. What a great way to help a ten-plus hour flight go by. Arrived in Seoul around 4:45 Monday afternoon and the plot thickened immediately.

We went to the departure board to find our gate number for the UlaanBaatar (UB) flight and it was blank. Went to the Transit Desk, where we were told that the flight had been canceled due to high winds in UB, which surprised me because my impression was that wind was a problem only in the spring. But, the friendly staffer said, she would rebook us on the next flight…at 6:30 pm the following day. Oh, we said. There is a “transit hotel” at the airport, but next to us was someone in the same pickle and I heard him say what turned out to be the magic words “Hyatt”.

The wonderfully helpful United staff extracted our checked-through bags from the storage container down in the bowels of the airport in less than 30 minutes, which ensured that we had all our stuff, including clean clothes, which we desperately wanted and needed.

So, here we are at the extremely comfortable Hyatt near the airport and it is Tuesday morning about 11:30. Check out is noon, so we will go over to the airport and hope the UB flight goes. If not, back to the Hyatt, where the restaurant is called “Eight” because it is divided into eight different country sections as is the dinner menu. Last night, although kind of in a fog, we paged through French, Korean, Japanese, other Asian and grilled items. I had Quiche Lorraine and David had a Malaysian noodle and prawn dish.

Breakfast this morning was the buffet, where we could choose breakfast items from all the countries named above. I had an omelet, liche juice and bircher musli cereal. There was also bacon, chicken sausage, three kinds of kimchee, small slabs of smoked salmon and sliced cold cuts, a whole section of “continental” breads and pastries. It’s the kind of thing that we have always enjoyed finding at the big international business-oriented hotels.

Pack up and pull out time. With luck the next post will be from UB.