My flight to Auckland was 24 hours, and because of the time differences I lost 12 hours, arriving at 9am which in my body clock was 9pm on Wed 1st Feb. I flew with Korean Airways to Seoul and then Auckland. I actually thought my connecting flight was in Kuala Lumpur and walked half way across the airport to the wrong check in gates. I had to check my ticket when I couldn’t find my flight. Ohhh, I’m going to Seoul, doh! This happens to me a lot, like when I was taking a train to Amsterdam from London and was convinced the connection was in Paris. It turned out the connection was in Brussels, which the kind man checking tickets told me as I was about to board the train to Paris. I genuinely do check my tickets, it’s just what’s written there isn’t what is in my head, and that takes over sometimes.
The aeroplane was huge, new and slick. The air hostesses wore these cute outfits, 
and were extremely neat and efficient airbots. If you’re thinking of flying with them... the plane was clean and new and the seats were comfortable with lots of room, and the whole operation felt slick as anything. But the food was pretty bad! Luke warm, bland, nondescript mushy stuff with tons of packaging. For dinner you get your little plastic cup of wine but they have no other alcohol as far as I could see, or maybe they keep it hidden for people who have enough foresight to ask for it. It’s a good thing though; you definitely don’t want any kind of dehydration or hangover on a 24 hour flight that’s for sure.
and were extremely neat and efficient airbots. If you’re thinking of flying with them... the plane was clean and new and the seats were comfortable with lots of room, and the whole operation felt slick as anything. But the food was pretty bad! Luke warm, bland, nondescript mushy stuff with tons of packaging. For dinner you get your little plastic cup of wine but they have no other alcohol as far as I could see, or maybe they keep it hidden for people who have enough foresight to ask for it. It’s a good thing though; you definitely don’t want any kind of dehydration or hangover on a 24 hour flight that’s for sure.
I flew the perfect route... over St Petersburg, across Russia, Lake Baikal, Mongolia, China, Beijing, and then down to Seoul, Korea. The reason it was so perfect is because that is the exact route I’m going to take home again, on the Trans Siberian railway in September. I got to see the whole of icy wintry Russia, and the mountain ranges covered in pure white snow, over the huge, frozen Lake Baikal and over flat, freezing Mongolia. I’m so happy I’m doing it in summer though because damn it looked cold down there! You can even see the Trans Siberian railway line like a silver string stretching far into the horizon in Mongolia. Now that is pretty awesome, here is a picture. Look carefully for the little silver line down there.
The flight from Seoul to Auckland was less comfortable. I had a trio of British yobbos sitting in front of me, talking really loudly about football or something and jumping in and out of their seats and one was leaning on their seat back so much that it pushed my nose in a couple of times. I could finally sleep on this leg as I stayed awake for the 12 hours of the last one to avoid jetlag, so I just popped my Nytol, put my earplugs and eyemask on and became pleasantly comatose, dreaming of tracksuits and Manchester United.
Here is a tip if you ever fly Korean Airways - have the traditional Korean dinner option. I didn’t know what it was but it involved rice and seaweed and tasty tubes of chilli stuff to mix in. It is way, way better than the ‘western’ option.
