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Ooh! United just announced several new (and useful!) routes in the Pacific SFO – Adelaide . I still haven't been. I could definitely see meeting up with Tim there at the beginning of a visit if we found a cheap fare there. Honestly, though, I thought the same thing with Brisbane and I've still never done that. You figure these routes will help pull people off of the Sydney/Melbourne flights who would have been connecting so that leaves more seats to Sydney for us. They're claiming that SFO-Adelaide will turn 51 destinations into 1-stops versus their current 2-stops. I can't imagine 51 places you can get to directly from ADL that you can't from SYD, but ok.  SFO/LAX – Hong Kong – Bangkok and SFO/LAX – Hong Kong– Saigon . I'm paraphrasing a bit here because they're technically only launching the intra-Asian legs, but they're timed conveniently to line up with United flights arriving from SFO/LAX . I would have preferred direct service rather than a HKG ...

We booked a last minute flight to seattle to surprise my brother for his 50th. Alaska was our best option, but thanks to chatGPT and a lack of info from Alaska, I had no idea they have their own lounge at JFK T7. After buying coffee I went looking for the BA galleries lounge (which I figured they wouldn’t let us into on a domestic itinerary) and, y’know, launched the gay meetup app Sniffies just for fun. Lo and behold what do i see but an Alaska lounge 20 steps away (with no airport signage). They let us in on a domestic first ticket and it had all the usual alaska things: strong coffee, the pancake machine (they’re calling it a pancake printer now) and a DIY trail mix bar.  gorpin’ to the Decemberists whatwhatwhat?! AI is wrong 60% of the time 

( last update Feb 2025 ) It's odd that I haven't written this until now, honestly. I first went to Korea right around the time I started writing this blog 10+ years ago. But I find that I write these guides mostly in response to people asking me for recommendations so maybe more people are going to Korea lately? *shrugs* General Stuff Due to Google and Apple not adhering to Korea's security policies (SK is technically still at war with North Korea), lots of normal digital life stuff doesn't work here (Apple/Google maps, AirTags, Find My, etc). There are rumors that Apple might start complying in mid 2025, but until then,  download the Naver map  app . Even if you get Google Maps to work, Naver is important for checking a business’s opening hours. Google’s are completely wrong.  UPDATE (4/2025): Apple's FindMy works now ! Download the KakaoT app for car hailing . Uber sorta works, but it's only Uber Black and Uber Van. Using a ride hailing app will ensure that t...