SEOUL -- If I spend any more time in the Seoul airport, I may qualify to vote in local elections.
This is my third -- and unfortunately longest -- layover. Back when this trip was originally booked, I was supposed to leave Sydney at 8 a.m. on the 10th, get here at 5:30 p.m., leave at 7:30 p.m., and get to L.A. in mid-afternoon.
But on Sept. 1, Korean Air realigned its schedule and did away with the 8 a.m. Sydney flight. Instead, there's one flight that begins in Melbourne, leaves Sydney at 7:50 p.m., and gets here at 5:30 a.m. So here I am, in the early stages of a 9 1/2 hour layover.
The good news is that I'm not going to have to just sit in the terminal for that time. They have two transit hotels here, and I can get a room in one for six hours for about $45. I consider that money well spent, to have a chance to take a nap and a shower. Of course, there are rules that complicate things. If you check in before 7:30 a.m., you have to buy 12 hours. If you check in after 7:30, you can do the six-hour block. So I have a little time to kill before I get into the room. I'd like to get something to eat, and probably will, but while a number of flights get here around 5:30 a.m., nothing in the airport opens until 7.
So in a few minutes, I'll probably be getting pancakes at McDonald's and then heading off to sleep.
I'm running on battery power -- I don't have the right electrical adapter for the plugs here -- so that's all for now. I should be home in about 20 hours. I'll check in sometime thereafter, and wrap things up once I'm a little more coherent.