Spent 50 minuets this morning writing my diary as I had two days to catch up on. Then it was down to breakfast for the final time. Last bit of packing and the missus and I went to the tube station to preload our Oyster cards to the trip out to Heathrow but it appeared to be a bit pricey. Mr Rees suggested topping up at the newsagent, which we did, but I was confused why extra money was put into the card rather than being able to purchase a specific 1-6 zones ride. Never mind.
Luggage was a bit heavy going down the stairs at the tube - I'm sure that the missus and The Boy would've struggled later by themselves as they were taking a later, direct flight to New York. No surprises on the tube and I was able to access the Internet in some places. Returned my Oyster card for the remaining funds and deposit.
To my surprise the fat people who had mysteriously disappeared in London made their reappearance at Heathrow. Iceland Air checked bags, including carry on, for weights. Haven't experienced that before. For some reason one of my bags caused suspicion and was swabbed for a test. No issue found though. Only about 30 minutes to check in. Was unable to call the missus - maybe she was already on the tub as she called me not too much later. Iceland Air don't use the most comfortable lounges at Heathrow.
Boarded without any troubles - sat next to a couple from Baltimore. For much of the flight a weird shadow with a circular rainbow was visible. Only soft drinks, waters, juices and tea or coffee were served for free on board so I didn't have a meal. Read the paper and caught a few zeds. Wasn't paying US$6 for headphones. Iceland, from above, almost looks like another planet. Fairly desolate landscape.
Lots of Americans at Keflavik Airport in Reykjavik. Surprising number of connecting flights to North America. Prices for everything in Iceland were dear. An American woman paid US$8 for a drink, a 300ml bottle - perhaps alcoholic, and was none too pleased. When she asked why it was so dear the response was a simple, "It's Iceland." No wonder many items for purchase had no marked price. Might have been cheaper to eat on the plane. The airport itself was busy. Another jet landed just after us and a C130 Hercules was close behind. I hadn't expected this.
No waiting lounge inside the gate at the airport. No announcement to start boarding. No proper queueing either. Bit of a dog's breakfast really.
People on the flight to NYC were strange. Almost nobody closes the lavatory door. The Dutch couple next to me greeted me and then didn't say another word to me for the rest of the flight. The husband cleared his throat every five minutes and even stretched out his legs pushing his feet firmly against the seats in front of him. He broke out into song every now and again. And he slumps in his seat. Not the sort of travelling companion that I enjoy. There were a great many Icelanders on the flight which surprised me as it appeared to be only Yanks at the airport.
At the immigration point, the missus, who had arrived a bit earlier than me, spotted me. But she didn't bother to point this out to the lady who was directing people to particular immigration officers. When I arrived at the front of the queue she was still dealing with her immigration officer so I managed to get in that particular line by pointing out that my wife was there. "Oh, you should be with her," said the lady directing us. She thought that we need to be processed together. Not that she was aware we had come on different flights and so actually should be processed separately. Good thing I did too as the officer wanted to know the address I would be staying at and I said that my wife, whom he'd just processed, had that. He grabbed a crumpled piece of paper out of the bin which had our apartment's address on it. Boy, did I do the right thing by getting in this immigration officer's line.
Ended up having to wait an extra 20 minutes or so for my luggage and so we went through Customs separately anyway. The missus bought something to obtain some change so that she could call the person in charge of the apartment we were booked to stay in. Calling using a credit card was unsuccessful. Contact finally made and we grabbed an Airtrain to meet up with the metro on A line. Waited about 20 minutes for the train then we were on our way. Approximately 45 minutes to get to 42nd Street. Then we had some faffing around to do as the apartment is supposed to be residential and not rental so we had to basically sneak into the building. Not a bad view from level 23. Went out to purchase a subway later as it was around 3:30 to 4am London time and I was hungry.
Photo Album Vol I
Photo Album Vol II
Photo Album Vol III
Photo Album Vol IV (Final)
Showing posts with label plane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plane. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Trip to Hong Kong, Macau and South Korea - Jan 28th 2010
Big rush this morning. Up at 5:50am to finish packing. We left the room at 6:50 and checked out. Walked over to Hung Hom Station and caught the MTR to Tsing Yi Station. From Tsing Yi we took the Airport Express which cost HK$42/adult and HK$36/child. Arrived at the airport at 8am which was one hour and forty minutes prior to take off. We were asked to do a self check-in by Cathay Pacific staff. After entering passport details, some of them manually as the scanner was unable to pick up all details, there was a problem and we would have to go through the normal check-in. It turned out that the problem was caused because we had a child in our group. Why did the attendant ask us to self check-in then? Idiot.
Raced upstairs to a restaurant for a quick meal. Very quick. Left at 8:55 and we had to be at the gat for boarding at 9:15 or risk not being accepted for the flight. Immigration still to go through remember. They always check my face at least twice and it must have been because of my beard. Went as quickly as we could to our gate and then found out that we had to take a train to get there! Then we discovered that gate 46 was right down the end and so had to run down the travellator. It was the final boarding call already. Just made it in time. Just. Nearly everybody had boarded already. Phew. Bit tight for comfort.
Thirty minutes into the flight the captain announced that there was a technical problem and we would have to turn around and return to Hong Kong where, "Hopefully the company has a plane available for us to change to." I blame the missus for pointing out that the on-board entertainment system had crashed (ok, I noticed that) and after informing one of the stewardesses the captain made his announcement. I like the fact that once we landed our screen informed us "Thank you for flying Cathay Pacific". We didn't go anywhere! Landed at 11:10. So much for all of the rushing about. Captain announced that there may be a quick fix or we may still have to change planes.
Entertainment system crash.
Hong Kong round trip.
Thank you for flying Cathay Pacific. Surely you can't be serious?
What's the problem.
And so we had to change planes. Luckily the company had a spare Airbus just lying around. We waited in another lounge and they provided a bottle of drink and chocolate butter cake. So much for compensation. Headed off again at about 12:50. Only three hours later than planned. Watched District 9 on the flight. Interesting movie but not suitable for kids [It's R-rated]. Don't think much of the toilets on board as they are still tiny and a somewhat odd shape and positioned strangely.
Waiting lounge for turn-arounds. Obviously.
Bus out to plane on the tarmac.
Boarding the plane on the tarmac.
Busy boarding.
First view of Korea.
Densely populated Korea.
Bit cold as you can see.
Coming into land at Incheon International Airport.
Piggyback.
Flight was too long for this girl.
Arrived at Incheon just after 4:30pm local time. Miky had an easy time at immigration but we picked the slowest line. Of course. The immigration guy asked me if I'd been to North Korea when he saw my Doosan stamp in my passport. It was a bit embarrasing to inform him that it was the last station in South Korea. I'd been to the DMZ previously and he should have known that. By the time we'd finished Miky had collected our luggage.
Miky hired a mobile phone and I exchanged pretty much the last of our cash. Could be a problem later on. Grabbed a limosine bus to Anguk Station which was just down the road from our hotel, Somerset Palace.
Catching flies on the bus.
Checked in - marvellous room with two TV sets. Left as soon as we could and took an expensive (W4500) taxi to the Lotte Department Store. Arrived at 7:45pm which was only 15 minutes prior to closing time. Had to buy some gloves for The Boy but they didn't have what we were looking for. Went outside to the street market stalls and checked. It took a while to find gloves and then we wanted a price check. My question is why were there so many stalls selling socks in winter but almost nobody selling gloves. Surely they should be as plentiful as umbrellas in the rainy season. A further 20 minutes were used looking for another stall that sold gloves before we realised that we'd have to return to the first stall. Then the problem was finding it as we had been weaving around the streets without taking notice of where we were. It took some time, and frustration, before I saw a stall selling Dolce & Gabbana wares that I recognised and Miky thought that she had seen the glove stall before that. Sure enough, that's how we found it. Returned to the department store for the restaurant level, which was still open, and had W10000 bibimbap. The kimchi side dish was so good that we had to have another one. Caught a W2400 taxi back to the hotel. It was an international taxi, the driver spoke English also, so it was quite amusing when he sneezed and said, "Excuse me", and I responded with "Shillye haseyo".
Street decorations in Seoul.
More street decorations in Seoul.
Lovely decorations on trees.
Beautifully decorated streets.
I went shopping at Family Mart for saewoogang (shrimp-flavoured snack) and ice creams. Boy, the footpaths were slippery where they were covered in ice. The Boy watched Cartoon Connection whilst we viewed Korean TV.
Raced upstairs to a restaurant for a quick meal. Very quick. Left at 8:55 and we had to be at the gat for boarding at 9:15 or risk not being accepted for the flight. Immigration still to go through remember. They always check my face at least twice and it must have been because of my beard. Went as quickly as we could to our gate and then found out that we had to take a train to get there! Then we discovered that gate 46 was right down the end and so had to run down the travellator. It was the final boarding call already. Just made it in time. Just. Nearly everybody had boarded already. Phew. Bit tight for comfort.
Thirty minutes into the flight the captain announced that there was a technical problem and we would have to turn around and return to Hong Kong where, "Hopefully the company has a plane available for us to change to." I blame the missus for pointing out that the on-board entertainment system had crashed (ok, I noticed that) and after informing one of the stewardesses the captain made his announcement. I like the fact that once we landed our screen informed us "Thank you for flying Cathay Pacific". We didn't go anywhere! Landed at 11:10. So much for all of the rushing about. Captain announced that there may be a quick fix or we may still have to change planes.
Entertainment system crash.
Hong Kong round trip.
Thank you for flying Cathay Pacific. Surely you can't be serious?
What's the problem.And so we had to change planes. Luckily the company had a spare Airbus just lying around. We waited in another lounge and they provided a bottle of drink and chocolate butter cake. So much for compensation. Headed off again at about 12:50. Only three hours later than planned. Watched District 9 on the flight. Interesting movie but not suitable for kids [It's R-rated]. Don't think much of the toilets on board as they are still tiny and a somewhat odd shape and positioned strangely.
Waiting lounge for turn-arounds. Obviously.
Bus out to plane on the tarmac.
Boarding the plane on the tarmac.
Busy boarding.
First view of Korea.
Densely populated Korea.
Bit cold as you can see.
Coming into land at Incheon International Airport.
Piggyback.
Flight was too long for this girl.Arrived at Incheon just after 4:30pm local time. Miky had an easy time at immigration but we picked the slowest line. Of course. The immigration guy asked me if I'd been to North Korea when he saw my Doosan stamp in my passport. It was a bit embarrasing to inform him that it was the last station in South Korea. I'd been to the DMZ previously and he should have known that. By the time we'd finished Miky had collected our luggage.
Miky hired a mobile phone and I exchanged pretty much the last of our cash. Could be a problem later on. Grabbed a limosine bus to Anguk Station which was just down the road from our hotel, Somerset Palace.
Catching flies on the bus.Checked in - marvellous room with two TV sets. Left as soon as we could and took an expensive (W4500) taxi to the Lotte Department Store. Arrived at 7:45pm which was only 15 minutes prior to closing time. Had to buy some gloves for The Boy but they didn't have what we were looking for. Went outside to the street market stalls and checked. It took a while to find gloves and then we wanted a price check. My question is why were there so many stalls selling socks in winter but almost nobody selling gloves. Surely they should be as plentiful as umbrellas in the rainy season. A further 20 minutes were used looking for another stall that sold gloves before we realised that we'd have to return to the first stall. Then the problem was finding it as we had been weaving around the streets without taking notice of where we were. It took some time, and frustration, before I saw a stall selling Dolce & Gabbana wares that I recognised and Miky thought that she had seen the glove stall before that. Sure enough, that's how we found it. Returned to the department store for the restaurant level, which was still open, and had W10000 bibimbap. The kimchi side dish was so good that we had to have another one. Caught a W2400 taxi back to the hotel. It was an international taxi, the driver spoke English also, so it was quite amusing when he sneezed and said, "Excuse me", and I responded with "Shillye haseyo".
Street decorations in Seoul.
More street decorations in Seoul.
Lovely decorations on trees.
Beautifully decorated streets.I went shopping at Family Mart for saewoogang (shrimp-flavoured snack) and ice creams. Boy, the footpaths were slippery where they were covered in ice. The Boy watched Cartoon Connection whilst we viewed Korean TV.
Monday, November 19, 2007
US Government and FAA Liquid Carry-On Rule Explained
If you've done any travel on planes recently you would have noticed that you're only allowed 100mL (3.4 fluid oz.) of liquids in your carry-on luggage. This is in response to the averted terrorist plot of August 2006. Here's the Transport Security Administration's ruling.
I think it is more a proof-of-concept challenge. You know, like the software company that sets up a competition to crack their supposedly hacker-proof software. The United States government and the Federal Aviation Authority have put their heads together and obviously agreed that terrorists carrying large fluid-based bombs onto planes are too easy to spot. They want a challenge and have thinly veiled this challenge with a "Make your fluid-based bomb less than 100mL to give us a bit of a challenge, guys." As you are probably aware the US government only allows encryption keys of a particular size to be used in software once they have the capability to break it. So why would it be any different for bombs?
Perhaps the US army is trying bomb manufacturing experts. Somebody gets on a plane with less than 100mL of fluid explosive and manages to blow up the whole plane. That would be pretty spectacular. But the bomb maker wouldn't be onboard. That's not the way terrorists work. The smart guy stays in one piece. Track him down and offer him a well paid job. They could use some good bomb makers.
There you have it. The restrictions on fluids in carry-on luggage are nothing more than a recruiting drive.
If you've done any travel on planes recently you would have noticed that you're only allowed 100mL (3.4 fluid oz.) of liquids in your carry-on luggage. This is in response to the averted terrorist plot of August 2006. Here's the Transport Security Administration's ruling.
I think it is more a proof-of-concept challenge. You know, like the software company that sets up a competition to crack their supposedly hacker-proof software. The United States government and the Federal Aviation Authority have put their heads together and obviously agreed that terrorists carrying large fluid-based bombs onto planes are too easy to spot. They want a challenge and have thinly veiled this challenge with a "Make your fluid-based bomb less than 100mL to give us a bit of a challenge, guys." As you are probably aware the US government only allows encryption keys of a particular size to be used in software once they have the capability to break it. So why would it be any different for bombs?
Perhaps the US army is trying bomb manufacturing experts. Somebody gets on a plane with less than 100mL of fluid explosive and manages to blow up the whole plane. That would be pretty spectacular. But the bomb maker wouldn't be onboard. That's not the way terrorists work. The smart guy stays in one piece. Track him down and offer him a well paid job. They could use some good bomb makers.
There you have it. The restrictions on fluids in carry-on luggage are nothing more than a recruiting drive.
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