Leaving Seoul
Today I fly from Seoul to Almaty, departing at 1805. I worked out that if I left the hotel at 1200, I would be just right to use the lounge for the maximum permitted 3h before the flight.
But check-out at my accommodation was 1100. I ended up leaving at 1040 by metro for the airport, transferring at Hongik University which I thought would be easier than Seoul Station, on the basis that the former would probably be more compact and less unwieldly.
As it turned out, Hongik University station wasn’t exactly small. There was a long tunnel for the transfer which required me to tap my card but there was no charge. I reckon, the ride was being operated by Seoul Metro for the first part and transferring to the Airport Railroad company and they need to split the revenue somehow.
Unexpectedly, the train terminated at Geomam where I waited briefly at the same platform for another one which terminated at the airport. I later realised that not all trains go all the way on this line.
All-in-all it was just under 2h to get from the hotel to the airport checkpoint for getting into the airside area, with no luggage to drop off. There were several entries to airside. With the first one that I saw being extremely busy, I tried another one which was very quiet. Strange.
Getting airside 5h prior to the flight, I killed over 30 mins before heading to Asiana’s Central lounge, to avoid being turned down for being far too early.
Having experienced the amazing Sky Hub lounge before, I wanted to see if Asiana’s lounge was still less lavish, as I had excused them last time thinking that it was during the pandemic. As it turned out, it was still the same. They had hot and cold food, salads, drinks but choices weren’t as generous. And there weren’t any cakes or anything sweet for after.
Next time I might try the Matina Lounge or stick with the tried-and-proven Sky Hub.
It wasn’t the end of the world. I purposely chose today to try the lounge as I knew I’d be getting fed on the flight shortly. I spent nearly the entire time catching up on admin before the flight.
It didn’t bother me that the Airbus A330 hadn’t been refurbished, with the PTVs smaller than my phone screen. More important to me was that the seats were wide and plush.
The meal service commenced about 10 mins after the seat belts were turned off and the pre-landing snack at 59 mins prior to landing. I already had my second cup of tea an hour after the doors had closed for departure, and the trays collected in soon after that. The service seemed to flow like clock-work with 11 cabin crew, which is probably one more than most other airlines.
Arriving in Almaty
We landed a little earlier than the scheduled time of 2040 at Almaty. We parked at an airbridge and disembarked at a new terminal with the smell of fresh concrete.
Passport control took about 15 mins and once out, I realised there were no ATMs or money changer set up in this new international terminal. Fortunately, I had Yandex (Russian equivalent of Uber) all set up and ready to go.
It had been raining and was humid as I waited for my pickup which took me to the AQ Capsule Hotel without a hitch. As I was able to pay for my accommodation by card, getting cash can wait till the morning.
I chatted to some people in the lounge and some were really interesting. A young German guy is a software developer for driverless cars and works remotely, while travelling. He did the Karakoram Highway by motorcycle!
Despite the 4h time difference from Seoul, I chatted till 2300 before retiring.
Strictly-speaking, this is my third time to Kazakhstan but it will be my first real visit to the country. My first two times were short city-stays which didn’t see me leaving Almaty.