Starting Home-Friday 20-SEP

We saw a lot of nice cars in Hong Kong, including Bentley
and Rolls Royce. If I had enough money for a Bentley, I
would certainly NOT get it in "salmon"!!

Homeward Bound!!  After 18 days, we were ready to head back home for some familiarity and hopefully relaxation.  But, that is over 8100 miles, and at least two flights!  We got up about 4AM to get to the airport and stand by for a 7:55 flight from Hong Kong to Seoul, Korea.  There is a direct flight from Seoul to home, so that was our hope.  We caught the cab at 5:15, and made it to the airport before 6, and waited for the Cathay Pacific “Staff Travel” counter to open.  We were first in line for the day and given numbers 2948 and 2949.  Then we headed off to find something for breakfast.

 

The, uh, "sausages" looked and tasted like hot dogs!!

We were a little surprised to see a Popeye’s Chicken in the Hong Kong airport—even more so to find them open for breakfast!  So, we gave it a try.  Our breakfasts both came with two “sausages”, Oh Boy!!

When we got back to the Cathay counter, and they started calling standbys for the Seoul flight, they started with numbers 24xx.  Uh oh.  This doesn’t bode well!!  We were rolled to the 9:30 flight.  We found that one wasn’t going to be better.  It turned out this was a holiday weekend and lots of folks were heading out.  The next flight was 2:30, and that was worse, as was the last one of the day at 4:30.  So we started getting creative.  We could get to Tokyo, but getting out wasn’t great.  There was a 2:30 flight to Seoul that stopped in Taipei, but with a typhoon bearing down on the area, and heading for Taipei, Theresa was unexcited about that prospect! 

So, after we did not make the 9:30, we headed to Korean Air, and were lucky enough to get on the 12:05 flight!  Woohoo!!  Except that was also the flight our tour group was on, so we might have slept in a few hours, had free breakfast at the hotel, and rode the bus for free, instead of a cab.  Oh well.  You have to try!

 

Quite the view!

 

Some assembly required...but they gave instructions!

The interior of the Korean A330 was actually really nice!!  (It pains me to say it!)  But for a 3.5 hour flight, it was not bad at all.  We started watching The Great Gatsby.  They served a meal, and we both decided to try the “local” fare, Bibimbap.  It came with instructions and a tube of hot paste to squeeze into the mix, so you know that HAS to be good!!  We did not realize the movie was almost 3 hours, and with starts and stops, we had an hour left when they turned off the IFE.

 

 

Arriving in Seoul (Incheon, really) on the 12:05 flight, we knew could not make it to our flight home that day, which left only 20 minutes after we landed.  We would never make Customs and Immigration, get our bag, then check in and get back through.  Luckily we had confirmed a hotel room for the night before we left Hong Kong.  So we got some Korean Won (money) and headed for the hotel. 

 

 

 

Somewhere in Seoul along the way.

We found a bus that took us right to the Hilton, but with some stops along the way.  I can’t say Seoul is particularly pretty or scenic.  It is a basic city.  We arrived at the hotel, only to find they did not have our reservation.  There was some back and forth, but at length they gave us a room.  It was nice enough, and since Theresa is Diamond with Hilton, we hurried up to the Executive lounge for “dinner” before it closed.  We closed the place working on the blog and finishing the free drinks.  That was about it for the night.