As much as I enjoyed my time in Korea, I had to make it to Singapore in time to see the Grand Prix there, which was during that upcoming weekend. However, I couldn’t fly directly to Singapore but had to transit in Hong Kong. This was because my business class round trip ticket was an award ticket, and the price in miles to fly roundtrip to Hong Kong was lower than to Singapore. No problem, I had a flight to HKG that arrived in the early afternoon and booked a flight on the low-cost airline Scoot later in the evening to fly from HKG to Singapore, giving me more than enough extra time during the HKG layover in case things happened to go wrong.
I woke up to check out of Kimchee Guesthouse quite early in the morning then walked to Seoul Station to take the train to ICN airport. Check-in at ICN was a breeze, and since there isn’t really a “first class” on these regional Asian flights I was waved over to check in at the first class desk which was cool. I proceeded to go through security, which was painless despite ICN having no dedicated line for premium passengers, and I headed to the Asiana lounge, which is supposedly also the best Priority Pass lounge in Asia.
The lounge was pretty big with enough seating to accommodate the number of passengers you would expect on a flagship airline. The food options were fine, with a lot of breakfast carbs as well as some hot Asian food. There was a decent selection of self-serve alcohol, though at 8:00 AM I was not super thirsty for that type of drink…
The lounge also sported pretty nice views of the tarmac and you could see a lot of planes that were destined to fly around the world.
When I felt it was appropriate to head to the gate I did so, and found my seat. The regional Asiana business class seats were nice, definitely better than a domestic US first class seat, and had a ton of legroom. The seats were not lie-flat but I could go back pretty far.
The pilot announced that due to a typhoon near Taiwan we were going to take an alternate route over mainland China which would delay us just a bit. No problem; it would just cut my HKG layover a little.
I was offered a welcome drink with a choice between water, orange juice, and Champagne. Even though it was 9:00 AM, I chose the Champagne.
After take-off the meal service commenced. There was a western option and a Korean option for brunch service. I’m not a big fan of rice porridge so I chose the western option (although I was not aware that beef bulgolgi with rice was western food).
First came the appetizer, a shrimp lentil salad.
Then came the beef bulgolgi with rice.
Next was the cheese plate, with three types of cheese, some grapes and a little fruit tart.
At this point, I was offered a glass of port wine, which I accepted.
Finally was the dessert, a sweet potato mousse cake served with coffee.
Soon the flight was coming to an end and we landed at HKG, one of the biggest gateways to the world.
I had quite a lot of time to spare at HKG. Originally I contemplated going over to nearby Lantau Island and checking out what there was to do. I walked outside of the terminal into some heat and humidity that I was not used to, but could not figure out which road I could walk on. I also realized that the journey would take about an hour each way, so I looked for a bus. Then I realized that the bus cost a small amount of Hong Kong Dollars with cash as the only accepted method of payment, and I also did not want to withdraw a large sum of HKD just for one bus ride. So I decided to stay in the airport for a few hours. I dropped my luggage at a left-luggage area and went to look for something interesting to do at the airport.
I did actually happen to find a small museum about aviation so I decided to check it out. At the entrance were some life-size models of Star Wars stormtroopers. Inside the museum there was information about the history of flight and how jet engines work. The information seemed geared towards children, but it was nonetheless informative and interesting. If you happen to arrive at the low-cost terminal in HKG too early I do recommend checking it out. There is an observation deck but you have to pay to go up so I chose not to.
As Scoot’s bag-drop does not open until two hours before flight time I had to walk around the airport just a bit more. There are a lot of restaurants, including one that is supposedly the best airport restaurant in the world. It was a little pricey, so I ate at the noodle shop next door. The meal cost around HK$30 (less than US$4), or in other words pretty much the cheapest meal I’ve ever eaten at an airport.
I walked around the airport shops as well. HKG has quite a lot of things to buy, and I remembered that I did in fact forget to bring a lock for my bags. I found a Japanese-branded low-price-item store and managed to find a lock for a few US dollars, and was able to buy it with a credit card. I found it interesting that this store also happened to sell very large kitchen knives, despite being inside an airport…
Finally it was almost time to check into my flight, so I got my backpack and headed upstairs to the check-in desk. I was astonished at the line to check in, but I realized that I can’t remember the last time I had to drop bags, so I very rarely stand in check-in lines when the online option is available. Scoot is an airline you have to pay to check luggage, but I was able to get it for free using part of my $300 airline credit from the Ritz Carlton credit card.
After check-in I went to the Plaza Premium lounge, which was the only Priority Pass lounge in this terminal. It was actually landside, which meant I had to visit it before clearing security. It was probably the worst lounge I have ever been to, although I guess I can’t really complain about a free snack! There was a buffet with some mediocre-tasting meats, dumplings, and salad bar. There was also free water and soda, but you had to pay for alcohol.
Around 45 minutes before departure I decided to leave the lounge and head through security, which I was very quick to get through. However it took FOREVER to get to the gate after clearing security! We had two take not one but two trains to different gate areas, and it seemed that around every corner was another escalator to get to where we were going. Finally I made it onto the plane.
I was sitting in seat 25E, a middle seat near the back of the plane. Boy, I will tell you sitting in the middle seat of an old plane on a low-cost carrier was quite a shock after flying business class. It just seemed cramped, and this was even the older plane of Scoot’s fleet (the newer 787s have things like power outlets).
Anyway, the flight was not too long, and I arrived at Singapore to be met with a very long immigration line. I made it through and managed to get a reservation on the Changi Airport shuttle bus. I highly recommend this service, as it only cost SG$9 (around US$7), and they had even my youth hostel in their large directory of drop-off hotels. I had to wait a bit, but by around 12:30 AM I was on my way.