South Korea
There is always an expectancy about a place that mixes in awe and dread. This is my first visit. The usual British Airways debacle, arriving 3 hours before departure to Terminal 5 and then reaching the gate in good time to be told minutes before departure of a delay due to a mechanical engineering problem. This then throws out all the other arrangements and the flights subsequent get missed and so on. Do BA care? In my view no. The aircraft that transported me to Hong Kong was an old 747. It looked old and had none of the niceties that other newer planes have. The socket on the floor did not work. The design of the cabin was bizarre.
In contrast Hong Kong, Seoul Incheon , Gimpo and Busan airports were a delight. The Thai airways flight to Seoul was one of the nicest I have been on, comfortable seats and great food and service. The airports too were modern and clean and passengers just flowed through them rather than getting stuck, such as Terminal 5. When one tries to analyse why one airport works well it is interesting to note that the South Korean airports have few shops and restaurants. People turning up this morning to fly from Gimpo ( this is the smaller of the Seoul airports. Seoul is in fact about an hour on the express train from Incheon airport. ) wanted to do just that, fly. They were not piling into restaurants in hordes or shopping as though the day of destiny was approaching. A good learning . Airports are for flying from.
Busan is the second largest city in South Korea and is a modern place. My hotel has placed me on the 33rd floor , and below me is the medical institute and dentistry institute . Somewhere there is a casino. I like this place and the people. Wi-fi is free in the hotel and many other places ( Marriott are you listening?), modern defibrillators line the corridors of the airport but rather confusingly are labelled IPAD. I am sure some younger visitors will get a shock if they disturb the item……
Busan from 33rd Floor
- Busan
- Busan
chris1957
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