Bournemouth Travel 01: A Same-Day Ticket via Dubai, and Back to My Old Homestay

I bought the plane ticket on the day I flew. Ticket on April 2, on a plane that same night.

April 2023: I left my job and went straight off on a nineteen-day trip. It started in the UK, ran through France and Italy, took an unplanned detour to Egypt, and came back to Rome.

I meant to write it up as soon as I got home. I put it off for more than three years. Here it is now, two or three places per post.

Part one is that night flight, and three days back at the homestay house in Bournemouth, England, where my English began and which I still think of as a second hometown. I went back after four years.

The route in this post

Date	Where	In a line
Apr 2, night	Incheon Airport → Dubai	Same-day ticket, first Emirates flight, a #mybreak KitKat
Apr 3	Dubai transfer → London Heathrow → Megabus → Bournemouth	A full English breakfast on the plane
Apr 3–4	The homestay house in Bournemouth	Max the dog, a croquet lawn, home cooking, a caravan
Apr 4	Bournemouth beach → pier → town centre	Beach huts, The Brass Haus pub, blue sky
Apr 5, morning	Bournemouth → off to London	One last English breakfast

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April 2: Ticket bought, gone by night

It started at Incheon Airport on the night of April 2. A long line of red Emirates signs ran under the steel-truss ceiling, so the counter was easy to find. London wasn't the destination yet. One flight to Dubai, a change, and another flight to London. Two planes to get there.

It was my first time on Emirates, and it was genuinely good. As I sat down, the seat screen showed "Welcome" over a photo of elephants, with "EK323 Seoul to Dubai" above it. For a ticket bought that same day, I was happy with the seat, and there was an amenity kit with an eye mask, socks, a toothbrush and toothpaste. Next time, I want to try the upper deck.

The first meal, and #mybreak

I photographed the whole tray the moment the first meal arrived. A main under a gold-patterned lid, bread, a prawn salad, a dessert cup and a glass of red wine. I can't recall the menu, but I enjoyed it. In between was a KitKat whose wrapper read #mybreak. I had just quit my job.

In the corner of the tray was a little tub. The lid said "김치 Korean Kimchi," and inside were a few pieces of cabbage in red seasoning. You get that on a flight out of Seoul.

April 3: Via Dubai to London

Just before we landed in Dubai, I looked out of the window. Straight orange roads cut through the dark city.

While I waited for my connection, the sky brightened, and Emirates tail fins lined up beyond the glass. The airport I had landed in at night looked like a different place by day.

On the connecting flight to Heathrow, I ate a meal and a half. The first plate: sausage, baked beans, scrambled egg and roasted cherry tomatoes. A full English breakfast, on the plane. The other half-meal was mashed potato with a red stew.

I'm bad at sleeping on planes, so I mixed myself a Jack and Coke and closed my eyes. When I opened them, the little plane on the seat map had nearly reached London.

Landing at Heathrow, and heading to Bournemouth instead

And then, Heathrow. This photo, next to an A as tall as the wall, is my first photo of the UK in four years. The sun was out.

I didn't go into London. I went straight to catch the Megabus to Bournemouth. My bus didn't seem to be on the timetable, which threw me for a moment, but I got on without any trouble.

Bournemouth is a small seaside town on England's south coast. It's where I did a homestay in 2019, and it's where the English I speak today began. That's why I call Bournemouth my second hometown. On a trip I took after quitting my job, of course the first stop was this house, not London.

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Back after four years, this time as a guest

Back at the homestay house after four years. The family has a dog, Max, and he is ridiculously cute. Most of that day's photos are of Max.

I photographed him pressed against a car window, and my own reflection, phone in hand, showed up on the glass. In the garden, instead of sitting on a sun lounger, I followed Max around. Then I got this one up close: chin on the blanket, only the eyes looking up.

The room has a lot of colour. Mint walls with a fan ornament, a paisley duvet, a red floral rug. The chair at the desk looks like a tractor seat. Not a hotel; someone's home. Unpacking in this room was when it sank in that I was back.

In front of the room is the back garden. Two green sun loungers, a yellow parasol and small hoops stuck in the grass. With a peg standing there as well, it was croquet. A game I'd only met in English novels, in a family's back garden.

The thing I least expected in the house was Korean writing on a shelf: a box of Hanju soju next to a box of red ginseng. The box says "Alc. 25% / 400mL."

An English dinner table, with chopsticks

I photographed that evening's dinner from the cooking stage. The seasoned chicken got turned with red tongs, and at the oven a digital thermometer went into a drumstick to check it was done. You don't see that in a restaurant, and I enjoyed watching it.

Sesame buns and steamed broccoli made it to the table. And a pair of chopsticks lay next to a floral placemat. Chopsticks, beside buns and drumsticks on an English table. That's my favourite part of this picture.

Breakfast at the table of "The Best GRANDAD"

The next morning, the breakfast table had a fruit bowl, cereal boxes and a "The Best GRANDAD In The WORLD" mug. I picked up a small pear and took a photo of it. Nothing fancy on the menu. After four years, I was sitting at this breakfast table again.

We pulled back the green cover on the caravan in the drive and had a look inside. Lift a wooden lid and there's a two-ring hob and a sink, with a small fridge underneath. A little kitchen on wheels.

The last photo I took at the house was of the washing line: white and pink towels under a blue sky. Ordinary scenes like this are why I love this house. And to this day, I still keep in touch with the host family. A 2019 homestay became a 2023 return visit, and it's still going three years later.

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April 4: Bournemouth under a blue sky

On April 4, the sky over Bournemouth was deep blue all day.

The day began with the beach huts. Little huts painted white, blue and green stand in a long row below a hillside of yellow flowers. Huts on one side of the promenade, sand on the other.

Walking along the promenade, Bournemouth Pier gets closer. Two-thirds of the photo is sky, the rest waves and pier. In England, nobody promises you a sky like this tomorrow, so I took as much of it as I could. The beach is wide, and people were sitting here and there. It was early April, so nobody was in the water.

A Ferris wheel stands in the square in front of the pier, and behind it are the Lower Gardens, a park with a rock garden and palm trees. The walk up from the beach to the town centre goes through this park.

A late lunch at The Brass Haus

A late lunch was at The Brass Haus: brick walls hung with greenery and a patterned tile floor. The clock on the wall-mounted TV said "2.01 pm Tuesday," the screen was trailing that night's game, "CHELSEA LIVERPOOL Tonight 7pm," and the ticker below ran "Graham Potter sacked on Sunday evening."

On one section of the green leather bench, Max lay with his chin resting down. This is my favourite photo of the day. You bring the dog into the pub and have lunch together. That's one of the reasons I love the UK.

On the table: a meat plate and a salad plate. Steak topped with a fried egg, two sausages, grilled tomatoes and peas, with the chips standing up in a hammered metal cup. The salad came topped with fried chicken.

After lunch, I walked slowly through town. Past the entrance to The Arcade, a red-brick Gothic-style building has a LUSH on the ground floor. The buildings in town are worth a look, not just the beach.

Dinner was back at the house. Prawns and vegetables stir-fried and mixed into rice for two bowls, and in another pan, something with kidney beans.

April 5: The morning I left for London

On the morning I left: toast, a fried egg, bacon and mushrooms. There was an OLD SPECKLED HEN beer coaster on the table.

On the back seat, Max sits in his own bed and looks out of the window. Time to leave the house and head up to London. I had spent three days as a guest in the house I used to live in.

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Visitor info

📍 Bournemouth · south coast of England (the homestay is a private home, so I'm not sharing where it is)

• 🚌 Getting there: I took a Megabus straight from Heathrow Airport, no need to go through central London.
• 🏖️ Beach huts → pier: one long seafront promenade.
• 🌴 Pier → town centre: go through the Lower Gardens in front of the pier and up to the shopping streets.
• 🍺 Where I ate: The Brass Haus (late lunch; we went in with Max)
• 🗺️ Map: Bournemouth Pier on Google Maps

How to get lost a little less

• 🚌 The Megabus from Heathrow to Bournemouth can be hard to spot on the timetable. Screenshot your booking details in advance.
• ☀️ Go to Bournemouth beach on a clear day. Save the beach for whichever day the forecast shows sun.
• ✈️ I flew EK323 (Incheon → Dubai) in April 2023. Flight numbers and times change, so always check your own ticket.

Jayden's verdict

The first stop of a trip on a same-day ticket was my Bournemouth homestay, where my English began.

• Highlight: going back to the homestay house after four years. My second hometown hadn't changed.
• Emirates: happy from the first flight. Upper deck next time.
• Bournemouth beach: I arrived fully armed with English-weather complaints and never got to fire one. Blue sky, all day.
• Tip: the Megabus from Heathrow takes you straight to Bournemouth without going through central London.

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Next up is London. Under a grey sky, the day starts at 12:01 with three red phone boxes.

19 Days After Quitting series

1. UK, part 1: Via Dubai, and back to my Bournemouth homestay (you are here)
2. The UK, part 2: a day in London, from Big Ben to a Soho pub
3. France: Nice and Saint-Paul-de-Vence
4. Italy, part 1: Milan's Duomo and San Siro
5. Italy, part 2: Venice, San Giorgio and Burano
6. Italy, part 3: Florence, Pompeii and Positano
7. Egypt: Escaping the rain to Sharm El Sheikh
8. Rome again: Italian food and the way home