Fukuoka is the closest Korean Consulate to Seoul and is well served by flights from Seouls Incheon International Airport.
I choose to fly Asiana again, since they are Star Alliance, and I had recently signed up to their FF program. Not that I would be earning much on the 350 mile, 50 minute flight.
Here is a nice comparison to the trials of flying from the UK:
My flight was at 0940. I picked up the airport shuttle bus from outside my apartment at 0700, and arrived at the airport at 0820. (A mere 1hr 20 minutes before my flight was due to leave).
The airport was already very busy and the queues for the Asiana check in, (despite at least 4 rows of desks being available) were pretty long.
Happily there are no petty hand luggage restrictions here, so I could carry all I required for a three day stay in my hand luggage, and managed to find the well hidden Hand Luggage Only check-in desks. The queues for these moved quickly, and despite a belt and shoes off requirement at security there was no queue and I was sat waiting at the gate with 40 minutes to spare before departure time!!!
Typically for even short flights in Asia they use twin aisle aircraft, and this outbound flight was on an A330. Sadly this time I turned right into economy, but I noticed they had the same seats in Business as I had enjoyed on an Asiana 777 from Shanghai a few months previously. The Y seats were comparable to Virgins though the seat pitch seemed a little better, and each was installed with a v:port equivalent IFE. Which even for the short flight was fully active for the duration. Come on Virgin, learn a lesson here, we want IFE as soon as we get on the flight!!!
We pushed back and took off on time, at which point I noticed the strange marbles rattling along the roof space noise mentioned in an old thread that Sailor started about noises on airplanes. Id never heard it before, but thanks to that thread at least I was forewarned that it seems to be a common thing.
Service was quick and efficient with some sushi and a couple of sandwiches being brought round shortly after take off, all perfectly edible and all I needed at that time of day.
We landed into Fukuoka on schedule and it was a painless experience to take the shuttle bus from the international to the domestic terminal, from where you can take the easy to understand subway system in to town.
As far as visa runs go, Ive been to worse places.The hotel Im in is on the beach, and their internet is a little flakey [;)] so despite promising I would carry on working from here I find it getting interrupted often.
The sad thing is, it has rained pretty much continuously since I arrived, so despite staring at the beach from my hotel room, I havent been for a swim yet. [:(]
