Day 2

A couple of photos-one is the Novotel at Akl airport with its glass bathroom! The others 2 are on the plane en route to Seoul- the menu with bibimbap that Graeme remembered so well- for all the wrong reasons. The other is my udon noodle soup for lunch- was excellent!

Had a really good flight with Korean this first leg- they have updated their bus. class seats to the new ones and the tv systems now have IVOD so you can pause them etc as you please which is good. Excellent cabin crew and food. Overall the environment is really improved and they deliver it at almost half the price of air nz's service.

The first 9 hours felt pretty slow but once the flights over it seemed quick. Out to the buses and over to the Hyatt 5mins away- Korean Air own the hotel, its pretty flash and they put you up when there is no on-going plane to Heathrow and give you meal vouchers. Had a snotty, condescending woman on check in who told me we had single beds cos that’s all they had and were full- if she had been nice I might have let it go, but needless to say we came away with a huuuge double bed (funny how they can materialize when you are polite but firm!).We felt pretty shattered by this time - several people we talked to had the same head and sinus pain. Funny the people next to us are from Pukekohe!

Had a quick dinner before to bed, then up this morning for a half hour walk in the very brisk, foggy air before breakfast. The area is really being developed – they are building a monorail to link all the hotels to the airport and there are big (rather pathetic looking) pine trees lined up along the road, ready to put in.

Off to the airport feeling much refreshed at 10.40am for the next leg to England.

Later- day 3-

Had a good sleep and up for a invigorating walk in the fog! Rather brisk and refreshing temp- love it! We are now back over at the airport ready for the next 12 hour flight to Heathrow. Will really be 'on the other side then'!