Chocolate In My Pocket for travel, Choctails on my Christmas list

Problem
What if you are in economy class and the airline doesn't give you a chocolate dessert?

Answers
Sometimes you can ask for chocolate as a snack after the meal.
You could bring a chocolate from home.

My husband was sitting on a Singapore Airlines plane, upstairs in Business Class, which he had to do to get enough airmails to maintain his frequent flyer status. I was down in Economy, benefitting from a free flight obtained with his Airmails. After the meal he came downstairs to see me. He surreptitiously handed me something wrapped in a white napkin. I unwrapped it. He had brought a chocolate from home!

I am quite happy with 'ordinary' chocolates. We had a friend in Singapore who liked chocolates as a gift, but she was not happy with ordinary chocolates. We were always desperately looking for a new chocolate shop to get something special for her.

I went for lunch with the Rothschilds, once. I was wondering what to take them. Since they had a shop on their estate, I presumed they had free access to all ordinary chocolates.

Now I know what to do for a gift for somebody like that. Pick a speciality chocolate. Note a list of chocolate suppliers so when it comes to Christmas or a birthday or special occasion you can find something special.

In Singapore chocolates are very expensive. If you go to a chocolate shop just before travelling, it's handy to have two or three packages of speciality chocolates to give when you get an unexpected invitation to dinner at a house or an expat club.

Some of the speciality chocolates contain cream so they will not let forever. Check the shelf life. One year I wanted to take chocolates and a white iced Christmas cake to Singapore for Xmas day, hoping to keep in in the freezer. Unfortunately, after I got home I looked at the label and found that the product said that it would expire before Dec 25th! We ate it earlier in London instead.

I discovered an email from a chocolate company I have not yet tried. I have added them to my list. I think I might have tried the chocolates and liked them at one of the chocolate shows in London. They run a chocolate club called Five O'Clock and you spend £15 a month and get unusual chocolates including ones just coming into production.

https://www.choctails.org.uk/chocolates/seasonal-specials/


Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Hotel Deals and Steals in London - under £100

Problem
Where can you get a hotel at a cheap price in London, but fairly central, or near your conference venue?

Answer
This year the World Travel Market, London, has a brilliant website. You can see how far each hotel is, a picture of either the bedroom or the front.

One year when I went to The World Travel Market I stayed in two hotels. A friend drove me to the first, which was a walk to the nearest train to Excel. The second, I think it was also Ibis, was down by the City Airport, with a cafe in the large car park next door for a fast snack. I had to drag my suitcase on wheels uphill to Excel. Both were basic hotels, clean and bright with hard headboards. Good enough.

So what's on offer this year from the glamorous website?

World Travel Market has negotiated deals of average ten percent off for people attending and booking through the site.

I'll give you the prices you would pay normally, with the discount you get through the site in brackets. If you leave booking to the last moment, some of the hotels will be able to offer only one night, which means dragging your luggage around with you all day.

I thought it was best to stay by the exhibition centre so that I could race there in the morning for the early breakfasts. However, the evening events are sometimes held by tourist boards at hotels in the centre of London.

Story
In fact, I lost my suitcase. I put it down on a stand and when I looked for it, it was gone, I never found out whether it was stolen or thrown away by cleaners at the end of the day. I went back to lost property - a long walk through a huge exhibition centre, and phoned for days afterwards but no luck. Fortunately, I was wearing my best outfit, had to wave goodbye to the rest of my clothes and nightdress
.

HOTELS
Travelodges £38  (£29 booked for and through WTM during the days of their show.
Other basic one star? hotels are IBIS.
Better if you are staying with somebody else, in a room alongside yours, because there is nothing to do at the hotels and you might be in an isolated place.
They have a page on hotels at lowest prices.

Anyway, here are the hotels in ascending price order:
Bromley Court Hotel £60 (£54 from WTM)
39 Suites Bayswater £69 (£65 when reduced) Only 24 rooms.
Best Western Burns £79 (£66) 105 rooms - a big place.
Days Hotel London Waterloo £79 (£67). That sounds very central and convenient to me.
The Royal Foundation of St Katherine (£70, when 10% off). Also convenient near the river, if you want to be that part of London. You check the map.
Best Western Cromwell £94 (£79)
Park Lane Mews £94 (£84).

The most expensive and central, as far as I can see, on my list got only a three-'star' rating on Tripadvisor but you have to read the comments. One person cares about being central, whilst another wants eggs for breakfast and another wants the receptionist to smile. Another can't get a cot for a baby which isn't your problem and would never affect you.

The others scored three and a half, whilst Days Hotel got four, and Royal Foundation of St Katherine did the best with four.

By the way, the English would say deals, whilst Americans say steals.

If you are organising another event or a smart negotiator or canny shopper you might be able to get the same reduction on another day.

The WTM site gives distances by car, aiming their site at people at the exhibition who will be transporting stuff for the stand.

You can see the locations on street view. Also find your way back on foot from a nearby station using your mobile phone.

I presume these are single rooms. Sharing is another story.

Sometimes a conference has a shuttle bus going to some of the hotels. It can be a saving in money and time which makes it worthwhile going to a specific hotel.

https://london.wtm.com/help/book-accommodation/?tab=deals

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Learning 100 words in Spanish

Problem
I've been trying to learn Spanish for years, but not consistently. Which books have I used?

Answer
I went to my shelves and was surprised. Years ago I bought Usborne First Hundred Words in Spanish sticker book, large format, ideal for children and beginners. I can see from the stickers how far I got with each lesson. You can use the book to teach yourself, your children, or somebody else who needs help or babysitting.

This is how children learn to speak. Researchers have analysed language learning and found that it is consistent across several languages which are like English, learning nouns first. (However, I seem to remember that some languages learn verbs, doing words first.)

Babsitting
Why did I never finish? I did not have a clear goal with a date (such as an exam to pass at the end of the year).  I did not have a babysitter. A babysitter? For whom? For myself, as a pupil, a learner.

I shall make up a new word. A babysiteacher. When I taught as a home tutor, I was often not so much a teacher as a babsiteacher.

If the mother did not speak English and wanted to escort a young child, she sat behind. For example, a Japanese mother learned alongside the pupil, but the pupil got the undivided attention.

Parents would bring me older pupils who would not get homework done at home. Mother wanted to go shopping or collect another child. My job was supposedly to teach. But it was to ensure that the pupil completed the homework assignment.

StoryAbout Teaching Languages
I realized this for the first time when teaching a teenager whose mother worked at Heathrow airport. I was her English teacher. My job was to see that she wrote an English sonnet for homework. She just had to sit at a desk and do it, not make coffee, not phone a friend, neither she nor I did any of this during the hour. (I'll tell this story in my next post.) That's what you need to learn a language, whether it's English or Spanish, it's five minutes a day or an hour a week, nonstop until you finish the course and the year. Whether you get an O level or A level or any other qualification, the test is that you can speak or at least understand the language when you read it or hear it, preferably both.

Back to the Spanish. The other Usborne book, Usborne Spanish for beginners, is smaller, so I could carry it around more easily in a copious handbag, any day, or on a holiday to Spain or anywhere else. It has whole sentences.

What is missing? If you are in the country, or with Spanish people, you can pick up the accent from them.

Speaking Spanish
I go to a Toastmasters speakers group in London which has a Spanish speaking member. Even listening to her speaking English helps me to attune to the intonation. I am considering starting a polyglot Spanish
 Usborne books which have several words on a page with a theme.

Now I am learning the first 100 words on Duolingo's Tinycards. It is better to use the regular Duolingo system, which gives you sentences. Then you can hold a conversation. But if I am short of time, I feel like using the Tinycards.

Emails arrive every day to remind you to do the assignment. I must not interrupt my other work. But I can take a coffee break and learn my Spanish at the same time.

Doing Tinycards I can see where I am making mistakes. I also find ways to remember.I was learning the word este for this. I kept forgetting it. The reversing card would come up again, then the line to fill in. Finally, when I had a multiple choice of three words I looked at the word construction. Obviously the word for this was not el or por. Por is for (and two other meanings). I only have to remember por and for to fix this word in my brain with the matching English word. The  O and R are common to both words, in the right order. But what about este? E S T E.  THIS. T H I S.

Let's look at that again. E S T E.  T H I S. Not tes, not these, but this. Este - this. I got it.

Spanish - English
por - for
este - this

English - Spanish
for - por
this - este

It is particularly important to get the word exactly right if you are also learning Italian or Portuguese.

The sticker book says, not suitable for children under 36 months. Contains small parts.

You could buy the book and keep it out of reach for later, learn from it and photocopy the pages to read to a toddler, without having to worry that they might grab it when you were distracted.
The big book cost me £3.99. I must have paid £8.25 for the other. (Those were the days!) It seems a lot for a book to me today. But less than paying a private teacher for a one hour lesson.

Useful websites:
Amazon books
www.amazon.co.uk
www.amazon.com
Usborne books:
https://www.usborne.com/quicklinks/eng/catalogue/catalogue.aspx?area=L (Languages)
www.duolingo.com/courses
www.duolingo.com/courses
www.tinycards.duoingo.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, language teacher.

Buy Travel Goods and services; discounted, or get them Free!

MAPS!

All over the internet for free

Countries , cities and surrounding countries from:

www.wikipedia

www.wikitravel

www.wikivoyage

Photograph your local area map to visit parks and shop.

Photograph similar in your holiday destination.

Maps of London underground are at stations in racks. You could also do a panorama of the map inside the station or train. Mainline city centre stations such as Euston have a map with the small area around the station.

I saw this map produced by Rent-a-car. 

http://www.rentalcars.com

When I tried to make the typed link live, they sent me an affiliate link. I wish I knew what to do with it.

We had already booked a car with another company and thought we had the cheapest deal but I did like their map.  

http://www.rentalcars.com/?affiliateCode=google&cor=gb&label=generic-81_VZpeFBa*rXXunHBqMQwS177283651678&ws=&ppc_placement=&ppc_target=&ppc_param1=&ppc_param2=&aceid=&adposition=1t1&ppc_network=g&feeditemid=&ppc_targetid=kwd-28173230&loc_physical_ms=9045963&loc_interest_ms=&ppc_device=c&ppc_devicemodel=&gclid=CjwKCAjwssvPBRBBEiwASFoVd2pd-5s_104wTSRWrkRREniCtQLjNhWjFVKwiaWLk43YkX_6oiwgVRoC4AAQAvD_BwE

Looking at their map, it was worth remembering your favourite places, Bucharest, the capital is in the south, Brasov, second city, due north. Ask the car company for the map. Usually there should be one in the car, but maybe the previous drivers took it and the car company forgot to replace it. Alternatively, they might tell you that the nearby tourist office has one.

Here's the map of the route taken by the Bucharestcitytour open top bus. While waiting for the bus (buy tickets on board) I photographed the route to memorise it and plan where to get off.

http://bucharestcitytour.ratb.ro

BOOKS and Guidebooks
Amazon : Travel guides. Maps.
Ebay
HMSO (Her Majesty's Stationery Office): Maps
Map shop in Covent Garden, London, England.
Most bookshops.
Motorway station shops and petrol stations: UK Newsagents such as W H Smith with local books and maps.
Racks of free local attractions and County attractions, often with a local map on the back marking the cities, roads and attractions.
Similar free brochure racks are in many supermarkets in tourist areas, as well as local coffee shops.
Free brochures, local maps and hotel cards from most Government or local Tourist offices.

CLOTHING
Look for anti mosquito or anti-insect clothing (NOSILIFE), anti tick socks (sold in Singapore at the shop at the base of the Bukit Timah uphill trail); anti sunburn clothes and swimsuits, and pickpocket proof clothing with double closure, multi-pocket jackets, especially ski jackets with inside pockets and double front closure of press studs with a zip underneath.
You can buy concealed pockets in hats, belts, tee-shirts.
Another travel item is the coat or long jacket with multiple pockets for going on airlines which charge for luggage.

Craghoppers N o s i L i f e insect repellent clothing such as ladies and men's shirts.
https://www.clothingarts.com/products/pickpocket_proof_business_travel_pants
Stocked by several companies such as Blacks.
www.craghoppers.com

Clothing Arts Warehouse
Questions and enquiries about orders, call tel:646 422 9222
email: info@clothingarts.com
3611 14th Ave Number 403
Brooklyn NY 11218

'Wearable Luggage'
Beat the baggage charges, or Pay Less For Luggage:
https://www.skyscanner.net/news/best-wearable-luggage-jackets-reviewed-beat-airline-baggage-charges
Brands reviewed are:
Rufus
Basket
Jaktog

FOOTWEAR

Shoes
www.sportsdirect.com
American websites say sneakers. The British websites say trainers.
Boots
Sandals
Customised

FOOTWEAR Brands:
Sandals for walking around the city:
Clarks; Hotter; Josef Seibel.
You can also buy second hand on ebay - and sell this season's to somebody else if you like to keep up with fashion.
I have articles on buying sandals in
travelwithangelalansburyblogspot.co.uk

HOLIDAYS / BUSINESS
COMPLETE PACKAGES
ACCOMMODATION+FOOD+ENTERTAINMENT
Club Med.
Sandals.
Some hotels in Scotland, such as
Peebles Hydro, especially in school Easter and summer holidays, Christmas, New Year and half-term breaks.
Golfing Hotels.

Country Clubs
Accommodation attached to country clubs - your home club may have reciprocal arrangements, but clubs vary as to whether non-members, in booked accommodation, or visiting for a meal, can use only the restaurant or all the sports and entertainment facilities.
Websites:
www.Tripadvisor.co.uk
www.Lastminute.com
High street travel agents with nationwide branches.
Accommodation advice and bookings at tourist offices in many airports in Arrivals, but may only be open during the working day.

BAGS & SUITCASES SOURCES

BAGS
T r a v e l o n sell anti-theft bags, waterproof items, RFID blocking locking zipper, hidden compartments, chain link construction to ward off slashing of panels and slash resistant straps. Prices range from $45 for a small bag to $80 for a tote and $110 for a backpack (prices Oct 2017).
https://www.travelonbags.com/anti-theft-rfid

The British word is luggage; the American word is baggage.
You have to decide, heavy and robust, or lightest and flimsiest. I want little, lightweight luggage, with four wheels.
https://www.skyscanner.net/news/cabin-luggage-guide-hand-baggage-sizes-and-weight-restrictions

Where to buy bags? (Americans say purse for a handbag).
Amazon
www.amazon.co.uk (There's another version www.amazon.com .)
Department Stores such as John Lewis.
https://www.johnlewis.com
Sports Shops.
Supermarkets
Ebay
Airport Shops

SUITCASE Brands:
Samsonite.
Verify brands, check latest styles, then look for prices.

More will be added in blogs on this website which I am in the process of creating:(www:luxurytravelforless.co.uk/blogs)

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

What to See in Seoul, South Korea: Museums show Handbags, Teddy Bears and Turtle Ships

What to see in Seoul?
Classic and Historical Sights

Two Korean Palaces and
The Secret Garden where royals were hidden.

Seoul, South Korea.

Landmarks :
1 Seoul Tower

2 The Namdaemun Gate

3 Statue of Admiral Yi Sun-Sin, at Sejong no, Seoul, South Korea.
He was the national hero who designed the turtle ships, early defended ships to protect the country.

Statue of Admiral Yi Sunsin by Author HNC197, in Seoul, South Korea.

See models of his ships in the
War Memorial Of Korea Museum.

Lotte World Folk Museum.
The Lotte World Folk Museum was hard for me to find. It was in the basement of the Lotte World Department store, maybe undergoing renovation. Now it has the latest technology to show you the scenes of Admiral Yi Sunsin fighting. Plus a wedding venue, and other historical and cultural scenes

Two Funky, Modern and Unusual museums:
1 The Teddy Bear Museum
If you want real life bears you should go to America or Canada or Romania. If you prefer the fantasy kind they are all here, in snow scenes and kitchen. Some are small size and others are life size so you can have a photo of yourself with a teddy bear chef.
In the shop you could buy a blue or pink teddy bear.
You can buy a combined ticket for entry to the Teddy Bear Museum and the next door Mirror Museum, cheaper than the entry fee for the Teddy Bear Museum alone.

2 Simone Handbag Museum

My favourite bag is the one designed like a red telephone. Another oddity is the football.

Another memorable novelty is the bag shaped like a dog. I remember when these were all the rage as unique Christmas gifts in New York.

This is not the only handbag museum in the world. If you are going to Europe there's another handbag museum in Amsterdam, Holland, The Netherlands. (Holland is one area of The Netherlands.)

Luxury Souvenirs:
Amethyst, ginseng, Han Bo traditional clothes.

Alternatively buy fridge magnets in traditional clothes.

Fridge magnets showing men and women in traditional dress. A gift from a Korean family. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

In shopping malls, the expensive restaurants with waiter service are at the top of the building or upper floors. The cheaper places are in the food courts on the ground floor or basement. That's the same as in Singapore.

What's the best bargain? A cup of Ginseng tea. And in restaurants no tipping is necessary!

What else can you do? Karaoke, singing.   Or Tae Kwan Do martial arts.
For an unusual event, there's the Korean Mud (slinging) festival in mid-July.

Useful Websites
www.SimoneHandbagMuseum.co.ko
http://blog.funtastickorea.com/teddy-bear-museum-teseum-mirror-maze-seoul-review/
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/index.kto
https://www.koreanair.com/global/en.html

Author Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts. 

Learning Korean And What To See And Ski In Korea

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_South_Korea

Problem
The Korean project starts with a piece of overall description. The language goes from left the right. Like the American Mr Webster, who simplified British spelling, the Korean king wanted the language to be easy to learn. It is said that a wise man can learn it in half a day' a fol can learn it in a day.

You start the Korean project and learn letters.

Then you are presented with a word and asked the meaning. The trick is to hover your mouse over the Korean word and the English pop up.

A circle at the bottom of a block is read -ng, so you can distinguish Pyongyang (평양) from Seoul (서울). Further, the Korean words for many common products — coffee, juice, computer — are often the same as the English words, but will be written in hangul. If you can read hangul, you'll find surviving in Korea surprisingly easy.

A must see visit for a student of Language is the Hanyeau Museum. It has all of exhibits relating to the creation and evolution of the language, and another are devoted to the King who made it happen, so that all his illiterate subjects would ave an easy to learn language.

Useful web links
www.duolingo.com/skill/ko/alphabet
http://www.koreanwikiproject.com/wiki/Hangeul_step_1
www.90dayKorean.com
Writeit!Koreanfree
www.Koreanfromzero.com
howtostudykorean.com/unit0
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_EN_3_6.jsp?cid=631659 (The Language Museum)

word fireworks/learn Korean
Tree Week Deep Roots drama is a play about the creation of the alphabet.
Youtube has three videos on pronunciation.

Travel
I accompanied a family member who was working in Korea for a short visit. We stayed in a grand hotel in the capital, Seoul. The temperature was very cold in winter.

I did not speak the language and could not read it so I was afraid to go out on my own. The first day I stayed in the hotel and read magazines and watched TV and had free coffee in the hotel's club lounge.

I then asked reception to book me on two trips. The first tour took me past the city's landmarks, stopped at a park with a monument to a Korean hero. When I was there, I was told that the Koreans and Japanese have a love-hate relationship because Korea was occupied by the Japanese in the past.

I enjoyed seeing the statue in the centre of the city which honours the Admiral, Yi Sunsin, an admirable man, quite a character. He built the Korean fleet, of tough ships which looked like turtles. I enjoyed reading his life story.

I was puzzled by the white half masks covering the noses and mouths of police directing traffic, as well as many pedestrians, and people on the trains. The masks are worn when you have a cold so that you don't sneeze and spread infection to others. Since the trains are constantly crowded, this seems very sensible.

Simpler to understand were the shopping mall, and a ginseng factory with leaflet to exaplain.

I booked a second tour which took the same route, except that it went to an amethyst factory. I was hoping to buy amethyst jewellery. I saw no bargains. Why? This is real amethyst. I came to the conclusion that the cheaper jewellery on sale in London is mainly paler coloured and synthetic stones.

The guide the first day was excellent. One or both of the tours went to the American cemetery, left from the time of the Korean War. As a schoolgirl, I did not understand what the Korean war was all about. Now, everything is much clearer.

Simpler to understand were the shopping mall, and a ginseng factory with leaflet to explain. The asians were all already familiar with ginseng. I wished I had read extensively about it before my trip. You'll make more sense of it if you check up on ginseng before your trip to Korea, rather than after you've ben there and got interested.

Recommended Temples
At the weekend we took a trip to a ski resort,Yongpyong meaning nine dragons, because of the surrounding, undulating mountain peaks.  We are to go to the south with a driver, who spoke no English, and an English speaking guide. The agency told us we needed a guide and the guide could explain things to us on the journey. Our aim was to see two temples which were en route, and the guide could explain them to us.

On the way down we were told that it was better to see the temples on the way back so we could be sure of reaching the hotel in time for supper. We agreed.

Snow
The temperature at the ski resort was minus five, no, it was minus fifteen. I didn't think it was possible. But the signs showing the temperature, with warnings, were up at the entrance to the ski slope. You could not go out, even at ground level, more than five feet from the doorway opening and shutting, letting out heat, without covering your nose and face with a scarf. Even though I was not skiing, I had to buy more ski weather accessories, warmer gloves, a thicker scarf, a tight fitting hat.

Food
 As a non-skier, I had not much to do, after I had been around the shops twice. We had a meal at the hotel. As far as I was concerned, it was not a success. I am allergic to shellfish and asked the guide to check with the waitress that the soup had no shellfish. I was assured there were no shellfish.

As soon as I took the first youthful, it tasted sour. I asked again. Again I was assured there was not shellfish.

I ran my spoon and fork around and lifted what was at the bottom of the bowl. Up came shellfish! I spat into my napkin and ran off to the ladies where I spat again, cleaned my teeth, and made myself sick to bring up anything I had inadvertently swallowed.

Driving back to Seoul, on the road back we seemed to by-pass the first of the three possible temples. Eventually we got half way home and insisted that the guide tell the driver to stop, because we must have gone past it. An heated discussion ensued. The driver wanted to go home early. We could do a tour of the city when we got back instead. We were very annoyed. I had already done the city tour twice and we were due to fly out the next day. As I was a non-skier, the whole purpose of my trip out to the countryside had been to see the temples en route.

The driver and guide were silent. We then stopped at two temples which were stunning most interesting mythology and history and great photos. They were striking, beautiful, exotic and quite different to Chinese temples and Indian temples.

Korean Food
We had once last chance to see and sample authentic Korean cuisine. The food is predominantly Kimchee, pickled vegetables and meat. The vegetables are a bit like pickled gherkins but different colours. If you don't like your food in vinegar, it may not be to your taste and you might soon give up trying and revert to ordering any Western choice.

Koreans In London
Back in London, we went with friends to a Korean restaurant in Golders Green. The food was tiny portions, prettily displayed, but still mostly pickled.

In the UK I met Korean people who were extremely civilized. They were the top of the crop, people who spoke English and were well organized and ambitious and efficient and conscious of timekeeping. I was very impressed by the fact that I told the father on the Friday evening that his son should have an English dictionary, a lever arch file, a pen and a ruler.

The next morning the family arrived arrived fully equipped, with a brand new folder, not old pencils like most pupils, but fresh new pencils, ready sharpened, having driven to the shopping mall to wait outside and be first in when the shop opened, then race back for the first lesson.

If you are as keen on learning Korean as the Koreans were about learning English, you can learn Korean at a Korean university. They have many courses for foreigners, anything from a day to much longer. The language was designed, like American English, to be simpler to learn.

https://wikitravel.org/en/South_Korea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yongpyong_Resort
The King Sejong Story+The King Sejong Memorial Hall
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_EN_3_6.jsp?cid=631659 (The king and his created language)
https://www.koreanair.com/global/en.html

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Duo lingo Korean Has Arrived

Problem
How do you learn Korean letters?

Answer
Duolingo. They have just launched Korean for both a laptop and a phone, iphone or Android.

I started my first lesson. Only three of four letters. But it's a start.

I went to add it to my phone. Then I found the bad news. You have to pay for Duolingo Plus. It's only $10. And I know I will like the product.

Even so ... What if you are short of money this week?

What if you don't trust the internet connection and don't want to give out credit card details?

What if you are afraid that once you commit to this, it will recur on a regular basis and you will be locked in for life to a system which may increase prices and never let you leave?

https://www.koreanair.com/global/en.html

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of languages.