Day 1: Sat 2 Sep - Home to Hervey Bay to Brisbane to Singapore to Seoul

September 01, 2017

I was up at 4:10am, had been awake for half an hour already though. After a quick piece of toast and a coffee, we left home at 5am (Greg drove me to the airport). Arrived at the airport 40 minutes later and joined the queue to check in. Was informed that whilst my bag was checked all the way through to Seoul, I would have to find the ticket counter in Singapore to check in for the Asiana Airlines flight to Seoul. A mild panic attack followed as I've never had to do that before. And, to make matters just that little bit worse, I discovered that I land at T1, but depart from T3 in Singapore; never had to do that either. However, after a quick Google search I found I was able to check in online, but then have to exchange the voucher for a boarding pass. Oh well, I do have four hours to occupy my time in Singapore.

We left Hervey Bay 8 minutes early and arrived in Brisbane about 10 minutes early. Waited for the transfer bus for about five minutes and was then on the way to the international terminal which was REALLY busy. Went to the Travelex first to get some South Korean Won (KRW) and they directed me to the airside counter. Immigration at Brisbane airport is easy these days as all you have to do is scan your passport and look into the camera, gates open and off you go. Getting through security is always lengthy and because it is a Saturday there were lots of people. I wasn't in a hurry as I knew I had at least 3.5 hours. Made it through and then got some KRW, settled into the QANTAS Club (QC) and had breakfast.

Three hours went quite quickly as I was reading our Scandinavian blog notes and making corrections and additions. We boarded a little late and took off 20 minutes later than scheduled. I was fortunate enough to get a points upgrade and had a single seat next to the window (6K) of the A330-300. I settled in with a glass of French champagne. Had a flick through the movies and TV selections and after finding nothing of interest decided to watch a couple of episodes of the TV series I had been watching on the flight to Copenhagen seven weeks ago. Dinner was a chicken roll (not something I would expect in Business Class) with a couple of really nice glasses of Riesling. Even though it was not time to sleep I thought I should try and get at least an hour. However, just as I decided to try and sleep, the only child in Business Class happened to wake up and act like it was the only one on the aircraft, and mum and dad did nothing to correct the little darling. More reading for me. We landed in Singapore about 10 minutes early after a really lumpy flight. It was lumpy up the front; I'd hate to have been at the back of the aircraft!

Having consulted the airport map in the QANTAS magazine I knew where I had to go to get to T3 and it took less than 10 minutes. I found the transfer desk, showed my boarding voucher and got my boarding pass in no time at all. Unbeknown to me, Asiana Airlines is Star Alliance group member, not One World (QANTAS, etc), but decided to try the QC in T1. No luck, but they did direct me to the Plaza Premium lounge where you can pay a small fee and access the lounge. When I checked in they reminded me that my flight left from T3 and would take about 30 minutes to get to the gate. A quick Google search revealed there is an equivalent lounge at T3 but is almost double the entry fee. I shall have to pay more attention when booking flights to ensure they are the correct affiliation/alliance.

After two and a half hours in the Plaza lounge, I made my way from T1 to T3 again, found the gate, passed through security then waited. We boarded a bit late and it was quite a full flight. Got a fairly ordinary meal for dinner Bibimbap – a bowl of steamed rice into which you add a variety of ingredients including meat and vege, add some sesame oil, mix it all together, then add a broth (tasted terrible), give it another mix then eat. I didn’t recognise any of the vege apart from mushrooms, so just ate the rice with beef and sesame oil: not very appetizing. Washed it down with a very nice Chilean SB though. It was then time to sleep and sleep I did.