NK 1. The terminal

Saturday, 8 April 2017

Munich, Germany

Dear reader, as promised in the last post of my Antarctica to Alaska blog, I said I would try and upload my North Korea blog at some point. Well, as the country and most of the world is now in partial or full lockdown due to the coronavirus, and I have a bit of time to spare, I thought I would regale you with some photos and videos of my time in North Korea in April 2017. A fascinating and very interesting country.

Obviously, if you do not want these blog posts just unsubscribe. Not a problem.

So sit back, have a brew, beer or glass of wine, forget about the nonsense going off in the world today and enjoy a couple of weeks travelling around North Korea via Germany and China.

You can only fly in to North Korea from China. Hence a pre-start few days in Beijing, which necessitates flying via Munich.

Here we go…

Alarm call 0440hrs. There’s only one 4.40 in my day and this is isn’t it. As it’s the middle of the night have set radio alarm on maximum volume to make sure I wake up which frightens the life out of me when it goes off. Today’s flight is the red eye from Birmingham to Munich for a 9hr transit before flying to Beijing.

Have cashed in a lot of airmiles, from my weekly flights to Frankfurt whilst working in Germany for a few years, and treated myself to Lufthansa First Class. All those early Monday morning flights were worth it after all!

So.

Like Tom Hanks in the film The Terminal I have 9hrs in Munich airport.

Albeit in the luxurious First Class Lounge.

Yay.

Investigate Terminal 2 in its entirety.

30 minutes. Tick.

8hrs 30mins to go.

Told there’s another First Class Lounge in the satellite terminal which has a roof terrace.

Settle myself in admiring the view from the roof terrace but after 30 minutes the smell of aviation fuel is overwhelming and return back to the main terminal.

7hrs 30mins to go.

Told I can actually exit/entry the airport through the First Class private access and passport control and come and go as I please. The receptionist suggests I could nip into Munich city centre for the afternoon.

A good idea to relieve terminal tedium.

It’s a gloriously sunny day and so catch the S-Bahn to Munich city centre about 40 minutes away for an afternoon sightseeing. Having been to Munich before I sort of know my way around and head for the Viktualien Market, one my favourite spots in Munich, which has lots of food stalls and markets.

Upon my return the receptionist is panicking big time. She’d sent me off to the city centre but as I’d left had thought that I might be on the mid afternoon flight to Shanghai rather than this evening’s flight to Beijing. She’s somewhat relieved to discover I haven’t missed my flight.

Finally, settle myself into my First Class suite. This is the life. Champagne to start with. Caviar and nibbles. Smoked veal. Fillet steak. Red wine. Singleton 12 year old single malt whisky nightcap.

The joys of a full length bed, quilt and pillow to doze away the hours.

But.

Wake myself up with the noise of my snoring.