Our flight left the airport at 6:00AM on July 12th, which means we had to be at the airport for check-in at around 4:00AM. Now I don't know about you, but being at the airport at 4AM isn't exactly my idea of fun; but they had a Starbucks, so hey why not?
I ended up getting some lunch which consisted of a cheeseburger and some weird fries. They had bacon, gravy, and cheese on them. Although they felt a little heavy on my stomach, they were quite tasty!
After lunch, I wandered around the airport mall a bit. It was then that I had my first encounter with a duty-free store.
LUXURY - That's a perfect description of the duty free store. It's basically just a huge mall in an international airport that sells a ton of luxury goods at cheaper prices than you can purchase them in either country; this is because in an international airport, it's basically a "free trade zone" where tax and import duties aren't charged.
The stores in the duty free area sell all kinds of goods, from the top brands of alcohol, cases of cigarettes, cigars, luxury clothing, watches, jewelry - basically anything they could offer that would look nice while sparkling on a well-lit and mirrored display area.
Since we were in Canada, they also sold Canadian specialty goods at (what seemed like) discounted prices, including maple syrup and fish oil. I figured my family might want some vitamin caplets, so I took a pic for price comparison.
This is a display of cigarette cartons for sale - apparently the Canadian regulatory authorities require tobacco companies to graphically show the possible consequences of using their products. I'm not sure it would deter anyone already smoking, but I certainly didn't want to try a carton for the first time after seeing these.
I'm not usually into Starbucks cups, but I had to get one of these since the Niagara Falls mural on this one looked so cool :)
After quite a long wait, we were finally on our way to Taiwan. This is a picture of a TV located in the headrest of the seat in front of me. It was virtually an entire media center that showed a selection of movies, music, audio books, and TV shows - all for free. It also showed current flight navigation data in multiple view modes such as overview, world map, time zone map, and a computer generated view from the cockpit showing what (supposed to be) directly in front of the plane according to the map data.
Yeah, this is going to be an adventure.
The airports were pretty boring until we got to Toronto.
Toronto really knows how to build an airport!
Apparently HSBC bank is a big supporter of the airport, their logo was everywhere.
While waiting around for multiple hours doesn't sound like a fun prospect, Toronto airport makes it easy. The section of the airport that I'm in has hundreds of semi-comfortable seats that feature an iPad, free internet, and a helpful little system that helps you select your plane and gives you updates on your plane's arrival time and features a menu and ordering system for nearby restaurants - the closest of which was less than 20 feet away. You can even pay for your meal at the attached credit card machine.
I ended up getting some lunch which consisted of a cheeseburger and some weird fries. They had bacon, gravy, and cheese on them. Although they felt a little heavy on my stomach, they were quite tasty!
After lunch, I wandered around the airport mall a bit. It was then that I had my first encounter with a duty-free store.
LUXURY - That's a perfect description of the duty free store. It's basically just a huge mall in an international airport that sells a ton of luxury goods at cheaper prices than you can purchase them in either country; this is because in an international airport, it's basically a "free trade zone" where tax and import duties aren't charged.
The stores in the duty free area sell all kinds of goods, from the top brands of alcohol, cases of cigarettes, cigars, luxury clothing, watches, jewelry - basically anything they could offer that would look nice while sparkling on a well-lit and mirrored display area.
Since we were in Canada, they also sold Canadian specialty goods at (what seemed like) discounted prices, including maple syrup and fish oil. I figured my family might want some vitamin caplets, so I took a pic for price comparison.
This is a display of cigarette cartons for sale - apparently the Canadian regulatory authorities require tobacco companies to graphically show the possible consequences of using their products. I'm not sure it would deter anyone already smoking, but I certainly didn't want to try a carton for the first time after seeing these.
I'm not usually into Starbucks cups, but I had to get one of these since the Niagara Falls mural on this one looked so cool :)
After quite a long wait, we were finally on our way to Taiwan. This is a picture of a TV located in the headrest of the seat in front of me. It was virtually an entire media center that showed a selection of movies, music, audio books, and TV shows - all for free. It also showed current flight navigation data in multiple view modes such as overview, world map, time zone map, and a computer generated view from the cockpit showing what (supposed to be) directly in front of the plane according to the map data.
Riding above the clouds is an amazing feeling.
Since the flight from Toronto to South Korea is approximately 13 hours, in addition to the normal beverage service they also serve several meals.
Our first of 3 meals was a choice between some sort of beef and a chicken dish. I chose the chicken and it came with couscous, water, salad, and a small brownie. It wasn't bad for microwaved airplane food.
Our second meal consisted of melon, and bread with jelly and butter.
Our third meal, breakfast, was a choice between an egg and sausage omelet bowl and this Korean dish that I forget the name of. I found it surprising that while I tried the Korean dish, most of the Koreans in the seats around me chose the egg and sausage omelet bowl.
When we finally got to Korea, the sun was just coming up. The sky was a beautiful blue and the Incheon airport in South Korea rose from a chain of islands in the sea like a rolling wave of civilization - it was absolutely beautiful - then the pilot of our airplane suddenly missed his landing and had to pull a few G's to keep us airborne. Fun!
We finally landed and milled around Incheon airport for a couple of hours. This place was massive. Think of the largest airport you've ever been to, then connect 3 of those together with an underground tram - that was what Incheon Airport was like.
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| (Pic courtesy of Google) |
After hanging out in the airport for a couple of hours, our plane finally arrived to take us to Taiwan. This being our first time in Asia, it is only fitting that the ENTIRE PLANE and EVERYTHING ON IT was emblazoned with Hello Kitty.
Yeah, this is going to be an adventure.
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