Life 'n Seoul

6pm, January 5th 2009

Keith: If I'm honest, I was relieved and slightly surprised to land in Seoul after our 12-hour flight from San Francisco. Think how many potential wrong turns we could have taken en route with just a little lapse of concentration from the pilot - yet our guy got us not just to the right country, but to the right airport, the right runway and the right gate. Amazing. If he'd drifted just a fraction off course over China and put down in Pyongyang, we'd be writing this from the gulag and sporting Dear Leader haircuts.

Oddly, we had to go through security after landing in Seoul - you'd think they'd know there's a limit to how many weapons you can assemble on board an aircraft with an in-flight magazine, a pair of headphones and a slice of processed cheese. But it did give me my first experience of being wanded by a female Korean security official after my belt buckle set the metal detector pinging. And it's true - you really can't overstate the benefits of a good wanding after a long flight.

Our one hour stopover passed very quickly. Highlight for Courtney was a restroom break (she doesn't do aircraft toilets) and our 20-minute search for the Dunkin Donuts (we found it: it was shut). Highlight for me was my near-miss experience with the local water supply, just stopping a drop getting in my mouth while I freshened up and thereby heading off a certain dose of cholera. The ensuing anxiety-related meltdown was my second of the day, following a miserable display of grief prior to going through security at SFO when it dawned on me that the last thing I wanted to do that morning was emigrate to Singapore. Only the sheer embarrassment of giving up so early in the trip got me onto the plane - that and the thought that I'd have to repay everyone for the farewell drinks they bought us if I bailed out. Courtney was very patient. Quite right too - the whole thing's her fault.

Anyway, an hour after landing in Seoul we were reboarding for our six-hour flight to Singapore. One country done, nine to go. At this rate. we'll be home by Easter.