seoul again, and back to london via helsinki

somewhere in those 5 days in seogwipo jimjilbang, i think i must have formulated the idea to get back 'home'. getting into the arrivals hall at gimpo airport, out came the laptop again and i went online with the airport's wifi network. i found a recommended travel agents in seoul and took the metro to city hall. there was a big demo going on at the time and big gangs of riot police hanging around on every street corner in the neighbourhood. no time to figure out what's going on, just trying to find the travel agents was going to hard enough. after asking a few people, i got to roughly the right area. but then a woman asks me if i need help. yes please!! and it was just around the block. it was a small room in the office block and unfortunately, the english-speaking travel agent wasn't in the office. however, the receptionist got her on the phone for me. 20 minutes of the 'find the cheapest flight to london' game and no luck. i thanked her anyway, grabbed my pack and took the metro over to matt's place.

a longer search on the net got me to the conclusion that there was no way in hell of getting any discounted fares from seoul to london, and the cheapest ones meant possible visa and transit hassles in russia and china... no thanks. i checked my account and found that i had enough to get me a more expensive finnair flight transitting overnight in helsinki. i booked it and felt better. a long ten-months travel was coming to an end and i was looking forward to getting back. matt invited to come with him to his seventh-day adventist church on saturday, and so i did. the sda have a very large complex in seoul... with church, school, hospital, dental hospital, etc. we listened to the sermons and singing, and went for lunch. the church food was basic uninspiring stuff, as everywhere.

i was up early again on the day of my flight. a metro to seoul station and then the airport metro train to incheon international airport. absolutely no hassles at check-in, although our flight was delayed for over 2 hours. we got complimentary coupons for lunch and i spent it at a korean food place. the flight was uneventful, and with the on-screen view of our flight trajectory, it was cool to see the deserts of mongolia and the wonder that is lake baikal from 35,000 feet up.

 i tried to get on the next flight to london instead of waiting for my booked one in the morning. unfortunately, my luggage had already been checked through to london and it would take too long for them to find it and transfer it over to this flight. nothing for it but to find a nice place to sleep for the night, and the seats by my gate did a great job. i only saw one other sleeping out too, and in a seemingly better sofa place at the coffee bar place... ok, mental note to self for the next time when i'm at vaanta airport. british airways were doing the flight to london. from heathrow, i found again my oyster card and loaded it up, and 2 buses and one hour later, i was 'home'.