KARFA

Update, for Saturday night we now have

me
mgo72
Arbeiter2
jonboy73

Also, I have got a pm from nme7 who is around in Seoul this Saturday and he will be joining us. I think based on the thread for the group that just came back, nme7 got lots of complimentary comments for hosting so I am really happy he can do the same for us.

nme7 has also suggested that he can recommend another restaurant instead of Bonga and I am ok with this. I haven't got any preference for any specific restaurant in Seoul.

mgo72

For me all is ok! It Will be à pleasure trip!

nme7 has indeed great comments so I let him decide the restaurants.

KARFA

Saturday night we now have

me
mgo72
Arbeiter2
jonboy73
nme7

Smaller group than last Saturday, but should be fun. nme7, would you mind booking for 8pm please? I think everyone is happy to let you choose the restaurant.

KARFA

I was leafing through my guide book and tripadvisor last night trying to put together an idea of what I might do whislt I was in Seoul. Also spotted this on the points guy blog which might be of use:

Seoul Guide

FWIW, my rough itinerary is

Friday afternoon - North Seoul Tower (Namsan), War Memorial, Food Tour 6pm
Saturday - DMZ tour, meal at 8pm
Sunday - possibly follow the suggested plan in the what to do section of the points guy guide so Gyeongbokgong Palace, ToSok Chon lunch, Chenggyeong Palace, Biwon Secret Garden tour (English tour at 3.30pm), Insadong, dinner somewhere, Cheongyecheon stream walk

I would also like to go to the fish market at some point - perhaps Friday afternoon or Sunday morning, and to visit the Battered Sole restaurant which was recommended on the main Seoul thread. Also the Bukchon Hanok Village looks interesting although I am probably struggling to cram this in somewhere.

Anyway, thought it may be of use to put this up. I am also waiting to see if there was anything that has come up as a must-do from last weekend.

nme7

No problem. Might even try a different restaurant. Right now trying to figure out where to meet at.

nme7

Just fyi, it looks like a few people are staying at the Millennium Seoul Hilton, near Seoul Station. If you are going there from ICN airport, I recommend taking the KAL Limo bus instead of the AREX Airport Express Train. The reason is because the hotel is located on top of a hill and it can be a bit of a difficult walk going up the hill, with snow forecast for this Friday. The KAL Limo bus will take you directly to the hotel entrance.

KARFA

nme7 - thanks for the tip. website is here if anyone else wants to look.

http://www.kallimousine.com/

So, Saturday looks like meeting up at a hotel first around 7.30-8pm and then heading out to somewhere selected by nme7.

jonboy73

OLCI done for me.

As for food, no major preference except to say I am not a fan of fish (or live octopus), and I am about as far away from being a vegetarian as it possible to be

See you guys in London.

BotB

Hope everyone has a great trip...

A couple of useful tips:

get a T-Money pass for the subway. It is an 'oyster' card for Korea. They cost 3,000 won to get the card and then you top it up...I'd suggest topping up 10,000 won for a start and that shoud last you a day or two even if you use the subway extensively...

You can also use the T-Money pass in convenience stores or on buses...

One thing I didn't notice until I got home and read the associated paper that comes in the T-Money box with the card is that you get discounts if you present the coupons at the various places as a way of saying thanks for buying the pass...

the useful ones I think are:

10 % off the price to visit the N Seoul Tower.

10 % off the price of Lotte World pass

various other discounts on massage or saunas

also some discounts on theatre if you are so inclined.

Do make sure the card registers properly when passing through the barriers to a subway...if you don't it will not work when you exit as it doesn't know how far you have gone...you will then need to go to the small manned kiosk and ask them to help you. (happened to two of our group during the hectic day)...

A great way to save faffing about with one way tickets that you need to purchase all the time at the machines...

Hope you guys have a great time.

Korean food is brilliant...regardless of what type you try...Enjoy. ^

KARFA

So, I was just doing OLCI and decided to check on potential avios upgrades to first. I have been checking every day for the last few weeks in the hope another first reward seat was release, but to no avail.

Anyway, lo and behold a reward seat was available so I took it, now in 1K!!!!!!!

Just printing off my boarding pass. Anyway, this means I can now guest someone in to CCR, and jonboy73 who was already in first and was going to kindly guest me in to the CCR is free to guest in someone else. PM me if you would like to be guested in tomorrow.

jonboy73

Good work! PM me then anyone who wants to join us in the CCR, First come first served on the invite....

jonboy73

The above is assuming i actually get to LHR tomorrow

only 1 flight from NCL made it today!

do we have news on our chances tomorrow?

KARFA

See here

I read through the forecast and it looks like there may be disruption again tomorrow - although not clear how much yet. I think you ar eon the 0920 flight so if there is any fog hopefully it may have cleared a bit by then.

jonboy73

Cheers Karfa,I had read that and I am still none the wiser , maybe it has just been a long day...

however, I had to Call BA on another matter and it turns out we have no reason to worry! A very pleasant girl at the BA gold line has her fingers crossed for us, so what could possbly go wrong!

The 9:20 was the only flight not cancelled today from NCL.

KARFA

Must admit I was the same, read through thinking this looks ok and then got to the last few lines which seemed to indicate it would actually be worse than today.

Just come up on my BA app that our flight is delayed to 1318 tomorrow, more CCR time^.