First things first – what happened to May 15? Swallowed up by the International Date Line when we crossed it. Our flight did take off a bit after midnight, so I guess technically we did see a little bit of May 15.

To pick up where I left off earlier … once it was time to board we left the lounge, boarded the plane, turned left (always nice when you get to do that) and … holy crap, this is amazing! I’d heard that Korean Air is good but kinda standard in what they offer, but walking in to the cabin I was pretty amazed. Why have seats when you can have suites? Well that’s what they call them – I guess they are talking things up a bit, but each seat was its only little room even with a sliding door to close it off from the rest of the plane. Really surprised to be treated to something this fancy!

In addition to a door, there was a huge screen, a good amount of storage, and (what looks like) a microwave …

In actuality it was just a little storage cupboard to securely keep your headphone stored while the plane was taxiing and at takeoff/landing.

There was even a wireless phone charging pad which was a nice touch, and the pull-out tray table had a stand that you could rest your phone or iPad on. All very thoughtful.

As soon as we sat down we were handed a welcome drink, and a menu to check what you wanted for dinner and breakfast. The staff were all really friendly and kind.

There were two courses for dinner – first up, a prawn salad, which was pretty nice (not being a bit seafood fan)

My main course was Bibimbap – a very popular Korean meal, they even kindly gave instructions on how to eat it 🙂

It was nice and tasty. What looks like a tube of red toothpaste was a chilli paste so you could make the dish as spicy or mild as you wished, which was nice. I wasn’t a big fan of the very fishy soup that came with it, but I gave it a go. The bibimbap itself was nice, as were the other side dishes. Winner winner Korean dinner!

Service seemed a tiny bit disorganised – but hey we all good fed good meals so mustn’t grumble. Perry had a steak which he said was cooked perfectly to his liking. Dessert was a small plate of tasty fruit.

By the time dinner was done it was about 2am Vancouver time, so sleep was definitely next thing on the agenda. It was just a matter of pushing the ‘Hey seat, turn into a bed would ya?’ button, and the seat duly obliged, winding itself back and down til it joined up with the footrest to make up a nice lie-flat bed. To be fair the pillow they provided was a bit rubbish but I feel kinda bad to be nitpicking, coz how bloody lucky am I to be able to enjoy a bed while I get whisked halfway across the world. But while I’m whining, wi-fi was an extra $20 so even I said no to that.

The flight was 10 hours long, but I slept like a baby so it felt an awful lot shorter. It was much more comfortable than the Delta sleeper we’d been in a few weeks before, it was more spacious, a godsend to your average fatty-boom-bah like me. So all in all, really really pleasant! The flight was quite smooth, there were one or two times when the Fasten Seat Belt light went on, but they were just minor jitters, nothing to worry about.

I woke up without about 3 hours left on the flight, not too long before breakfast was served. And sure enough, it was also a great meal. An egg frittata with potato, spinach, tomato, and thick-cut ham. And a choice of breads (bagel for me). And some yoghurt. A hearty and delicious brekky for sure.

I dozed off a bit after that, woken only by the gentle thud of the plane on the tarmac as we landed at Incheon. It was so foggy, so snaps to the pilot for being able to land at all, never mind doing it so smoothly.

Next minute … here we are at Incheon airport. It was about 3am, so the place was pretty quiet, but boy it is ginormous!

Incheon airport was to be our home for the next 14 hours. I know last time I said ‘never again’ to a long stopover, but unlike the 30 degree humid lounge we had in Vietnam, this airport is so big it has its own hotel built in, on the Departures side, so you don’t have to clear customs or do any of that, just a simple check of the passport at the transfer desk and that’s it. We checked into the hotel, a windowless box, but still, a windowless box where you could get some proper sleep, have a shower, and use a good base to have so you don’t have to carry your cabin baggage around all day. I can strongly recommend booking this for a long stopover where it’s available.

After catching a few more hours sleep, we headed out to explore this enormous airport a bit, found a burger place – and had a really tasty burger and chips. Actual steak, not just mince. Impressive!

I’m writing this now from the ‘prestige lounge’ of Korean air – one of at least 5 or 6 different lounges here, did I mention Incheon airport is huge? It’s huge. The lounge has a big selection of food and drink, but remembering we’ll soon be fed on the plane, I’ve got to learn to pace myself 🙂 In the meantime here are a few more airport pics.

I guess this is as good a point as any to wrap up this entry, the flight leaves in a bit under two hours, so time for me to go check out all the food and try not to have too much of it. This has been a fantastic little stop-over, I’m so grateful for the hotel and chance to shower and freshen up before what will be our final flight for this holiday. Sydney … here we come!