Flying To Korea Take Two
 

Okay, here we go!!! Last year, I was supposed to fly to Korea but had to cancel due to a death in my family. I signed up to go this year and was selected a few weeks ago as I have a current passport, so I am once again flying to Korea. I leave this Saturday morning. I found this video about long haul flights, and I remember a lot of advice you all shared with me last time. The flight is 15 hours long. I have a neck pillow and compression socks to start with and will dress in some comfy clothes and slip on sketchers. Any other tips are welcome. I will be there for a week of sightseeing and hope to see some cool cars and other things and learn about Korean culture. Thanks for any tips.

https://youtu.be/3qqT4mEGNXA?si=aYMs6HpSNW8ODzs5

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2 million mile flyer here!
Get up and walk / stand every few hours!
And if at all possible fly Business or Premium Economy!!!
Oh, and drink heavily!

Ambien

I used to fly JFK>Beijing often, take an Ambien after the meal service... then wake up in Beijing.

Haha, no ambien for me, but I do have some generic unisom that helps me sleep. [emoji42] [emoji23]

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I have no control over what seat or section I will have, so I will have to make the best of it.

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I used to take eye drops, Systane, in the small break off applicators on the many long haul flights I found myself on:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1742324117.jpg

The have a gel as well.

Then all the regular stuff: eye mask, noise cancelling everything, movies, tooth brush, etc.

Have fun!

All the best for the flight.

But when you get there, get stuck into the Korean BBQ pork.

Edit: Take a Phenergan or two plus a few drinkies and it will bowl you on your arse. Next thing you know you have landed in Korea.

Have fun! I just got back from spending a week there for work. Still had some amazing food and saw a little bit of the country, really enjoyed my time there.

All good stuff, thank y'all!!! [emoji4]

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Gopchang is delicious at a Korean bbq.

Safe trip, please post up updates of your travels as Korea is top of my list of places to see

Say 'Hi' to Kim for us. :D

What airline are you flying?

All the guys here are full of siht and gave you bad advice. Here's mine.
find the stewardess with a nice behind (they all are very nice), give it a pinch or slap and point at the dude sitting across the isle from you. Works every time.

Have fun in Korea. I want to go there too.

Will do.

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Haha, will do as well.

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Flying Korean Air.

Definitely will try that!!! [emoji38] [emoji1787]

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I've flown to and from to the Philippines four times since October.

If they offer sushi on the plane, don't eat it.

Sleep a lot.

Gaegogi and soju

KAL feeds you a lot! Eat in moderation. Ask the flight attendant for sightseeing tips off the beaten path.

Where are you going? Seoul, Busan? The gf is from Haeundae in Busan and says the beaches are beautiful. One of my friends who has a GT2RS was at the Park Hyatt in Busan and was amazed at the amount of supercars roaming the streets.

Will be in Seoul mostly.

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There's lots of shopping to do in Seoul. Buy some face masks as my gf said Korea gets a lot of pollution from China and dust from Mongolia. When it comes, it leaves a fine film on everything.

Pollution from China can definitely be bad. I experienced one moderate day, still wasn’t as bad as Mexico City. Korean BBQ is the absolute bomb, and Google Translate is an amazingly helpful app.

Our tour guide actually mentioned this today about the dust from China. The air here is quite hazy because of it.

We arrived yesterday, Sunday, whenever that was, lol. 15 hours on a plane is not my idea of a good time, but whew, made it!!!
Here is my ride and a picture I took on the flight. Two things that made the flight bearable, Sony noise canceling headphones and a neck pillow. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...09b86d00ee.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...e79073df68.jpg

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On Monday, we went to the Hyundai R&D center. The campus totals 890 acres of property. We were not allowed to take pictures, of course, as we were looking at "top secret" stuff. There was a parking deck that stored many "competitors'" cars, and we were given 5 sets of keys to go check out certain cars. There were several Bentley and Rolls Royce models, a tiny plastic bodied Citroen, Ferrari SUV, and a few Porches, among many more makes and models. I had the keys to some Chinese EV. Nobody wanted the keys, but all came flocking to the car when they actually saw how interesting it was. I can't remember the name of it. One car that stood out to me was an Alfa 4c with the funky headlights. It was red and covered in dust from sitting. I sat in it and loved that thing. The door sill was very wide, and an older team member said he had a hard time getting in it. I sat down and swung my legs over the wide sill and slid right into the seat. Others took note, saying, "Wow, he got in with no problem." Lol. Getting out was the challenge. We also went out on a huge test track. The bus driver took us over some bumps that were like waves.
We also toured a huge Hyundai steel mill and, again, couldn't take pictures, but I mean, it was a steel mill. We saw a huge slab of molten iron on the conveyor system and watched it get shaped into a thinner longer slab. Interesting stuff lined up today. We will ride the KTX bullet train to several locations, and thank goodness the seats will be in the "prestige" class, so it should be a comfy ride. [emoji3]

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Pics from the hotel. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...95c0f30dad.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...fbde567829.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...4642584b00.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...9da858f317.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...336fc9c1af.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...a2164ebdd8.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...b01132d978.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...3b200b0918.jpg

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Group pics from Monday's excursion. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...b536989814.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6a3f3e4c8d.jpg

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Nice pics!
Is it cool there now?

EST is 13 hours behind Seoul.

Moderate temps. 50 now. 68 is the high. Humidity is really high. I don't get that but I'm not there.

https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/south-korea/seoul

^^^ I always think of NK as being very cold this time of year...but SK is not that far away, so I'm not sure of how it compares to here.
If it's 50 there now...it's better than our 29 here....lol

Gwangjang Market is super cool and a must for steet food.

Also, for shopping curiousity, there are some HUGE department stores, I think Hyundai has one, its like 7 stories tall. The food court in the basement is pretty awesome.

Have a Cass for me.

It is 48 degrees at the moment, with windy conditions expected today. 6:24 am. Tuesday, March 25th.
Headed to the breakfast buffet and then be on the bus at 7:40am. Cheers y'all.

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Announced on Fox today that Hyundai will be building a steel mill here in the USA.

Good on them. They seem to be a ready steady sort of company. Nice and stable, no crazy U-turns etc.

When I worked for Industrial Research Ltd we had a Hyundai company guy working with us. Sort of an employee swap for 12 months. He was a really nice guy and very smart.

I liked the way he pronounced Hyundai. It was like someone punched you in the guts and winded you. The first half of the word is like quickly expelled air LOL

Yes, I realized today that Hyundai is pronounced differently from how I have always said it.
We took the KTX high-speed train, bullet train, to another city and toured a couple of more Hyundai related facilities. Now we are waiting at the station for the train home. I had never been on a train before so, wow, this train was super cool!!! https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...c5b71c50b2.jpg

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https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...1b5397998f.jpg

This is at the train station!!! I don't see a "Hot now" sign. [emoji23]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...f2cf545bdc.jpg

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What a fantastic trip. Congrats on being selected for the training.

Thanks much for sharing the experience.

Even SoCal in the 60s and 70s did not approach that level of the pollution. Yuck.

The train ride back was pretty quick. I had a GPS app to show how fast we were going. The top speed we did was 185. Wow!!!
We toured the actual factory where they build these things, really cool. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...312bf99ec3.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...de34cccf2a.jpg

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Hazy Setting Sun. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...7ae7e264fb.jpg

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I saw the trains whizzing across the countryside, those things are FAST!

Enjoying your thread, Which GPS app is that?