Seoul trip diary

Yet another trip and yet another blog post. This seems to be the modus operandi around here. One more post churned out and another opportunity for you to waste your precious time here. Without further ado...

The meal

You’d think you’ve seen every mess up that a travel agent can do to your itinerary over 16 years of flying on either business or pleasure. The list should be exhausted by now. Apparently not. At work, I can make my own reservations online – I prefer goof ups of my own making. But every time I select an itinerary (no red-eye, non-stops only or no crazy layovers, etc) it raises a dozen different flags that require approvals from upstairs. And yet when I request for the exact same itinerary over the phone, the agents seem to make it happen. So I choose to make my reservations over the phone: not convenient but gets the job done. My travel profile states that I’m vegetarian. The travel agent needs only to plug it in (or perhaps not even that) and the airline makes arrangements for a veggie meal. Simple as that. For the past few trips, however, something seems to be broken and I have been served anything but Indian vegetarian. On Singapore airlines! This time I opened the box to find chicken. It smelled good, I’ll admit that but far less to make me want to eat it. Sorry Gnarlson Doggone-wit (not auto-spelt), your service seems to be more miss than hit. P.S: But this is SIA, and this flight is filled with desis of all stripes all times of the year. So the cabin crew rustled up a veggie meal in no time. Phew! The United crew, by comparison, would have dragged me to the rear and kicked me where it hurts. 

Premium economy

I recently realized that I’m eligible for premium economy class seating on flights over 10 hours – one of the perks well hidden in the travel policy. Small comforts for the many inconveniences involved in business travel. I’ve traveled prem. Eco on United a few times and also once on ANA – they are economy seating with an almost imperceptible increase in leg room and a different colored cloth for the headrest. This is however my first time on Singapore airlines. The seats are definitely fancy looking, significantly wider, come done up in faux leather and are equipped with nicer reading lights. The nook for mobile devices is a nice touch and so are the better headphones although they started pinching my ears over time. The leg rest seemed promising but ended up providing only feeble support to the calves. Seem to have been put in almost as an afterthought to further justify the higher fare. Would I choose this over economy class when paying for my own tickets? I think not. But those wide seats are truly comfortable.

Club class comedians

On the Boeing 777, when you board the aircraft, you turn right and pass the business class section en route to economy. Over the years you get used to the many kinds of glances you receive from the occupants as you begin your march down the aisle. There are the seasoned flyers that aren’t plagued by guilt from the passing economy class travelers – they have settled in with the newspaper or their device – and don’t even give you a glance. I’ll take that: it is dignified and is not put on. There are the recently upgraded that easily give themselves away. They cast sneaky, awkward glances as we – their former coach class mates – pass by and appear to derive some sort of pleasure from doing so. Subtlety has no role to play in their urge to announce to the world that they have arrived. I imagine this crowd to save their business class boarding pass to display to all and sundry long after the actual flight. Then there are the busy bees that are already tapping away on their laptops but don’t fail to ensure that you are noticing them. They casually look up – cracking a knuckle or popping their neck - as you pass them by and their eyes seem to say “If only you were as hard working as me, you could be sitting here in business class.” I have had a few class mates of mine do that when the teachers would announce test scores in India.

Coffee shop culture

Yogerpresso. Ediya Coffee. Caffe Bene. Coffine Gurunaru. Espressomente. These are but a few of the dozens of coffee shop chains that dot Seoul’s thoroughfares. There is the inevitable Starbucks too, of course, but is in fierce competition with the many local chains vying with one another to provide you your caffeine fix. Seoul, so I’m told, boasts a higher number of coffee shops per capita than, you guessed right, Seattle itself. This, like the number of churches, surprised me during my first few trips as I was stereotyping expecting them to be big on tea. But very soon I realized that caffeine and nicotine is a hugely popular combo for many Koreans. If I had been a coffee loving smoker, which I’m not, I could have become the VP for South Korea operations in our company by now. Much of the crucial discussions happened over steaming cups of coffee in smoke filled smoking rooms while I was waiting outside. Damn those statutory warnings on cigarette packs! The coffee chain proliferation seems to be a Korea-specific phenomenon as I don’t remember seeing this many outlets neither in Tokyo nor in Taipei.

The Korean Brushmen

Brushing the teeth after lunch seems to be a national pastime. One is sure to run into vigorous brushers hell bent on giving a wicked sparkle to their pearly whites in the rest room after lunch time. Others can be seen engaged in a “who’s the loudest gargler” contest. Many afternoon meetings will begin after folks deposit their tooth brush and a tube of paste in front of them on the table before opening up their laptops. And their scrubbing efforts are paying off. I must admit that most of them do have white(r) teeth compared to the Taiwanese or the Japanese. Or me, for that matter. This is not a bad thing but now the homeless guy in a white lab coat around the corner holds a sign that reads “Will do a root canal for an espresso at Coffine Gurunaru.” P.S: I now remember two of my Korean origin colleagues at my previous place of work, living in the US, brushing their teeth after lunch in the office.

The rest of the world called and they are running out of glass (the regulation Seinfeld reference)

Two smart cellphones – both Samsung, of course. The on-dash display in the car for GPS, audio and climate control. A tablet that doubled up as a TV, mounted on the windscreen. A DVD player with dual LCD screens. Another display mounted again on the windscreen for the feeds from two cameras: one on the hood and one on the rear windscreen. Then one more for the taxi meter. “There’s a screen for that” seems the story on most taxis in Seoul. If there is a piece of information out there that is even vaguely relevant to man’s existence, there is an LCD screen to display that in Korea. On one of the trips back to the hotel in the evening, the driver brought up the list of movies on the DVD player screen and asked me to pick one. I chose Inception and promptly went to sleep. Thanks for checking but no, I didn’t have dreams inside dreams.