Sydney to London: 27 - 28 March, 2023
Sydney Airport: 8.10am
Joined for coffee in the food court by a wiry, experienced traveller in his ‘60s, 30 years a Sydney taxi driver: describing his travel experiences in the Middle East from stupendous sunrises on Mt Sinai to being publicly strip-searched by Israeli security on the street in Tel Aviv. I’ve missed this.
We then discussed how much Super he’ll need for to keep travelling in retirement: a very age-related Sydney conversation.
Gate Lounge 25 (for Korean Airlines: many masks…) surrounds a cunningly concealed escalator to Gate 26 behind a bland pillar (for Qantas New Zealand flights). Increasingly edgy announcements from a disembodied downstairs voice suggested several lost families were about to have their baggage off-loaded. Two running families barrelled through, attempted their best All-Blacks Rugby tackles through the Korean Airlines queue… until tersely directed behind their pillar to the late-departing-Kiwis-gate by baleful Security. Such fun!!
We then endured a additional security check to ensure no errant Un Zudders were lurking in the KE lines…
KE safety video: various too-pretty K-Pop kiddies frolicking winsomely and singing “I’ll Give You What You Need” around hi-tech gym equipment doing odd things to seatbelts and safety masks on exercise bikes: largely ignored as we wandered out to the end of the runway.
If you want a view, don’t fly KE Dreamliner. After food service (generously indifferent vino served with “breakfast”), the North Queensland coast disappeared into a blue-black haze as the crew decided that 10 hours of enforced (and pacifying?) darkness is why we book window seats.
Apparently we flew out over Cape York. Pity I didn’t get to see it.
“Night” morphed into actual dusk as we descended into the Seoul-Incheon “haze”. Perhaps I should have been well-slept in the darkness of day to prepare for the incoherent and extended “process” of entering Transit in gargantuan Terminal 2. The heading for this piece is the sign which greets your successful entry, but sadly its only about never-ending construction works, not first-world-human-inconvenience-at-length.
An in-transit hotel is a good idea: nine uninterrupted hours of sleep, one minute’s walk to the KE Lounge breakfast (on points: nice!) and 5 minutes to departure lounge and a Boeing 777. Several of us “down the back” had an excellent time, with our heads out the window enjoying south-of-Russia scenery for most of the 14 hours to London.
THIS is some what we would have missed if we'd been on a Dreamliner with KE Big Brother darkened windows to London. The initial optimistic navigation map of a direct flight over Russia was "interesting...":
And so, now somewhat bemused by the lateness of the London Spring evening: good night!
Comments