What the hell is a DPRK you might ask! Well, it is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (Chosŏn’gŭl: 조선민주주의인민공화국) or short simply North Korea and I am going there on “holiday”. I will be joining a tour organised by Juche Travel Services and get to fly several antique Russian-built aircraft like the IL-62 as a passenger. It is a special aviation tour and there will be a total of 120 (!) avgeeks from around the world traveling in several groups.
The first part of my journey is rather unspectacular. I took a flight on a Helvetic Embraer 190 operating for Swiss to Zurich. There isn’t much to report so far and I am currently sitting in the Swiss Lounge waiting for my connection to Beijing. Even though I am flying Economy Class I am fortunate to be a Frequent Traveller on Lufthansa equivalent to Star Alliance Silver and entitled to use the Swiss Lounge. Here are a couple of pictures from the bumpy arrival to Zurich and the Lounge:
After my arrival in Beijing early tomorrow morning, I will be heading to a hotel in town. Some of the tour group members are going on a trip to an aviation museum just outside Beijing to get in the mood for the journey to North Korea. Once back from the museum we will head straight to the pre-tour dinner to receive our visas and get some more details about the tour and proceedings in North Korea. I hope there will be Kimchi (love it!). Keep your fingers crossed that everything will be alright!
Don’t forget that you will still be able to place an order for a 2016 Aviation Calendar! If you order in September, you will get a 15% discount when using the coupon code earlybird2016. Just click on of the following links to get to respective product pages:
AIRBUS Aviation Calendar 2016 covering civil Airbus aircraft
BOEING Aviation Calendar 2016 to celebrate 100 years Boeing
MD-11 Aviation Calendar 2016 – my classic 😉
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