Backblog #1 - Almost two years ago, in a country far, far away...

---

---

Almost two years ago, in a country far, far away...

---

Emma and I thought it would be great to do what I have entitled our Backblog (like Backlog, but bloggy!). I will start at the very beginning (I hear it's a very good place to start)...

Our flight from Brisbane was nice and early on New Years Day so we didn't get heaps of sleep the night before. Family saw us off and all that jazz and we headed to Korea for our overnight stay courtesy of Korean Air. We arrived in Incheon International Airport with no idea where to go and without the magical ability to read Korean, Chinese, Japanese or anything else on their signs, we had to rely on what was written in English and on the little pictures accompanying the signs. The airport is massive - as in it makes Brisbane Int look like Prospine Airport! We got through customs (which was a man looking at our cards and seeing that we had ticked that we had nothing to declare waved us through). A free bus took us to the Hyatt Regency and we booked in and asked for a room as high up as we could go - which turned out to be level 10 with a view overlooking the airport.

We stayed in - cause there is nothing else to do when your on a man-made island/airport - and watched TV and marveled at the grandeur of the apartment (Emma liked her free slippers, while I was more inclined to enjoy the opportunity to be able to listen to the TV while I sat on the loo thanks to the bathroom speaker).

We slept fine and what not and then did te reverse journey the next day back to the airport with some English "friends" we had picked up along the way. Korean Air also give you food passes for at the airport and hotel so we got free dinner, breakfast and lunch. Well, we were meant to get lunch but didn't read the thing properly and had already gone through immigration when we found out the restaurant was before immigration. BAH! We wandered the airport for a while looking at the stuff that we could not afford (well, we assumed we couldn't cause Korean money is crazy and is all in the thousands - a Coke at the Hyatt was 5,500 Korean Wan). Finally we boarded our plane after stopping in to use free internet at a random wi-fi spot.

I had the window seat both trips (thanks Emma) and so I spent some of the time looking out the window and annoyingly updating Emma as to which country we were flying over (we flew over China, Mongolia, Russia, Eastern Europe, part of Scandinavia, Holland, then into London). When I wasn't doing that I watched five movies (all in English thank goodness, with Korean subtitles - NOT useful!). We ate Korean and "normal" food on the flights and drank our share of free drinks. Which in turn meant we had to get up far too many times to pee on the plane loo. BUT, and this is incredible, the (presumably) Korean girl next to Emma did not pee on the whole flight - keep in mind from Incheon to Heathrow it is 12 HOURS!! We ended up calling her something like the crazy Korean girl with the giant bladder.

So we arrived at Heathrow around 5pm, and it was dark and cold and somewhat rainy already. It was the middle of winter afterall. We managed to find our way from the plane, through massive Heathrow airport and onto the Underground. In my quite sleepy state I found the fact that our train was a "Piccadilly line train to Cockfosters" quite humorous. Emma did not. We struggled our way through the train system (which is easy to use when you know how) and checked into our hotel (Two Hyde Park Square - coincidentally the name of the hotel is also it's address!). Emma had sore feet from the flight, we were both tired, we had two giant backpacker-style packs, one pulley small suitcase and two mini backpacks to drag with us...making us good viewing for other commuters as we tried not to knock over everything in our path, or fall over ourselves!

But we made it safe and sound, somewhat sad about leaving home, but also excited about what was ahead...which you'll find out! Eventually.

Paul

---

Photos

Me in line at Brisbane Airport
Short sleeves area a thing of the past.

Emma at Incheon Airport in South Korea
The board flicked between about five different languages.

Me in an igloo
This igloo was in a Christmas/winter display in the airport. Emma took this photo of me, and then the Korean worker man offered to take one with his instant polaroid camera.