Today we were returning home, having only to cross over to the terminal, the day started relaxed. The night before we had booked our seats for the leg Seoul – Amsterdam on the Internet: we opted exit row, so no problem there.

The flight to Seoul was not very interesting but the departure was. The ground crew of Japan Airlines is waving you off like they do at a gas station. During the trip from Seoul to Amsterdam you could, according to the captain, see the wall of China, which we did (not). Flying over Mongolia and Russia gave a feel how cold it was there already at beginning of winter and with signs of people living there in one of the most inhospitable areas on the planet. We we glad to sleep in our own beds after a long day travelling West.

All in all it was a great trip, with some less enjoyable moments due to the weather being unstable (even our Japanese spotting friends confirmed their end of year spotting trips were very wet and cloudy). Some better planning will manage the cost of the freeway use on our next trip to Japan.

We will certainly go back to Japan in the future: the spotting and the people are great and we were made to feel like welcome guests most of the time.