Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Minnesota

I have been to Minneapolis-St. Paul airport about 4x perhaps since this is another Delta Airlines hub in the US, and I often fly Delta when I go to the US. These photos below I took last November 17, 2009, then May 24, 2010, my last visit to the airport. My flight then was Houston-Atlanta-Minneapolis-Narita-Manila. But our Minneapolis-Narita flight was aborted while the plane was already somewhere near or in Alaska, we flew back. See my stories below, sometime November or December 2009.

The airport is huge, also glass-steel structure. I walked around the various terminals, there are many walkalators and many shops to see.

Some of the exhibits hanging on the ceiling, could be the Wright Brothers when they first flew, I don't remember these. The man bottom right is an airport police of Asian descent, he agreed to his photo taken.

More photos of the aisles and shops.

Various souvenir shops, coffee and food shops, bookstores, etc.

The main entrance perhaps, top photos. Below are the vans and trucks that bring exiting passengers to their respective hotels.

If my flight did not experience a technical problem, I would not have exited this airport and saw some areas of the state outside the airport.

Indianapolis International Airport, Indiana

I set foot in Indiana, USA for the first time last November 2009; arrived at Indianapolis International Airport November 13, departed November 17. I came from Washington, DC then to attend the Atlas Freedom talks, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall. My destination in Indiana is Terre Haute, about an hour by car from the airport, to visit a friend, Dr. Leonid Nemenzo and his wife Lyn and son Luis. Leonid is a physician and younger brother of a good friend, Dr. Fidel Nemenzo who is a Math Professor at UP.

The airport that time was new, opened only about a few months earlier, so Leonid nearly got lost going to the airport. Besides, they just moved in from Georgia that time, so he was not too familiar with Indiana.

Another glass-steel structure. It's located in a rather remote place away from Indianapolis city center. So it has a huge space for the terminals and the runways.

I noticed that there were not too many passengers then. Or maybe I just got used to many Asian airports that are always teeming with so many people and passengers.

I liked this long wall of mirrors, upper right photo. The spacious pick up area for arriving passengers, lower right.

It was getting cold that time in that state. I was very glad when I saw Leonid picking me up at the arrival area. I invented a joke then, I told Leonid, "Wala akong nakitang Indian na polis dito, puro Kano na polis lang", he laughed.

Incheon-Seoul Airport, S. Korea

I've been to S. Korea 3x (1996, 2001, 2006) but last April 24, 2009, I only landed at Incheon-Seoul International Airport to change plane. I was going to Los Angeles, California, to attend the Atlas Liberty Forum, and I took Korean Air. My flight then was Manila-Incheon-Narita-LA, I didn't know that my plane would make a stop over at Narita-Tokyo airport. On my flight back after more than a week, it was San Francisco-Incheon-Manila.

As usual among industrialized Asian economies, the airport is huge, typical glass-steel structure. Here's the plan and the view from the plane.

Lots of nice and huge welcoming photos greet the arriving international passengers. I like staring at those huge monitors for flight departures and arrivals. They are in major lobbies of the airport.

Glass and steel, allowing natural light to pass through, saving electricity. Modern and silent walkalators abound.

Korean Air's crew are very young and courteous ladies. I think the oldest crew I saw was late 20s or early 30s. One more reason why fly Asian airlines -- the crew are a lot younger and more friendly, food is nice, unlike many US airlines where the stewards/crew are generally old and they can be less friendly sometimes.

* I also wrote this last June 12, 2007,

Seoul, S. Korea, October 2006

It was my 3rd trip to Seoul. The first was in 1996, when I attended the "Technology and Policy" 2-weeks seminar organized by Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). I was working at the House of Representatives then. The 2nd was in 2001 I think, when I joined the University of the Philippines (UP) PDE study tour. This time, I attended the 2nd Asia-Pacific Taxpayers Union (APTU) meeting, hosted by the Korea Taxpayers Association (KTA).

One thing that struck me when I arrived in Seoul this time was the new airport -- it's so big, so modern. The runways are long, and the airport is far from the city, nearly 1 hour away by car.

Since this is my 3rd visit to the city, my impression of it remains more or less the same -- generally clean, crowded with many buildings, many many cars, and few public parks.

Traditional korean food never fails to amaze me. Lots of raw herbs and grass-like vegetables, spicy food, meat and seafoods, and of course, the always present kimchi! I like kimchi, even if my eyes sometimes would be teary because of its hot and spicy taste....