The Journey pt. 2

Ok, so for those of you that have read pt.1 and are eagerly awaiting pt.2... this one's for you!

Where was I... ah yes... 

"Long but not bad"

We landed in Chicago at around 7:45. Because of the time difference we have already lost an hour... slowly going back into the future (come on everyone say it with me dum dum dum.) The hour layover in Chicago was pleasant enough. Nothing too exciting happens when you're dead tired on your feet and you've just lost an hour. Unless your William Shatner that is... or Chuck Norris. 

(Yes another fast forward to the flight)

Once again we take our seats on the plane. This time next to an older lady going to Fresno (forgive my spelling if it's wrong... I'm only an english teacher.) Tara and I talk to her for a bit then settle back and await take off. The in-flight movie is Horton Hears a Who. Of course it doesn't start till the last part of the flight and we miss the ending sound due to the captain welcoming us to San Francisco! One thing that surprised us was that we weren't served food on the four and a half hour flight. All they gave us was a small bag of tiny pretzels. What ever happened to the peanuts??

With little sleep and no real food in our stomachs, we head out into the terminal of San Francisco. Our layover here is about three hours. We have enough time to walk up and down the terminal deciding what we should eat to appease the grumbling of our midsections. We decide on a pannini sandwich and settle in to eat. While this is going on I'm valiantly trying to pay my student loan. Which would have been easier if I had remembered where I had put the routing and account numbers (later I found them right next to me in my camera bag.) 

"Sardines"

With the three hours flying by, we made our way to the United Air section. After being pushed aside on the escalator by a rude Korean person of course. "What have we gotten ourselves into" was, I'm sure, the thought racing through both our minds. 

We start to board the plane. In our heads were thoughts of the cushy seats that everyone kept telling us came with international flights. The pictures in out heads matched what we saw... and then we passed through first class. Ok, you might think ha ha, but then we saw the next section. Business class rocks just shy of first class. Too bad we didn't book either of those sections. As we pass into the economy section the tired crest-fallen look must have told stories to the other passengers. After we put our carry-ons in the bins overhead, we cram ourselves into our seats. With our knees spread apart like a birthing mother we await take-off. Next to us is sitting a gentleman who has been stationed in Korea at the U.S. Air Force base outside of Seoul. Interesting enough, he was a bit on the "don't leave your kids alone around him" kind of guy.

So, as I said before, there wasn't a whole lot of room. After take-off the person ahead of me decided to put his seat back. This puts the back of his head right under my nose (this is a slight exaggeration but pretty close.) The look on my face was enough to make the guy across the isle laugh. I felt bad for the guy behind me but that didn't stop me from putting my seat back as well. 

Throughout that flight the movies in the head rest would play a cycle and then turn off for about an hour then start up again. This was bit annoying but I guess not all that bad. Between short naps and the food, the only real exciting thing that happened was when we hit some turbulence and the plane jumped for a split second. Other than that it was a long cramped boring trip.

"Sleepy Time"

Once we landed in Seoul we had a revelation. This is going to be hard but worthwhile. Getting from the Incheon Airport to the Gimpo Airport proved to be an adventure in itself. Yes, I will say it... we got taken! A cabby charged us $90 US for the 30 min trip. At the Gimpo Airport a wee bit of confusion had us a bit worried. Korean Air couldn't find our reservations. After getting three different employees to help we finally discovered that through a mistake our names were miss spelled. With that settled we went about calling Mrs. An. (this folks is where I make a big blunder through no fault of my own) In order to make the call we needed change. We found an ATM and I proceed to take out 50,000 won ($50 dollars.) Little did I know the ATM is counting in 10,000 so in fact I took out 500,000 won ($500 dollars, roughly.) We find this out later and I chalk it up to the sleep depravation. So we make the call and I speak to Mrs. An for the first time. 

"The Meet"

So now we're waiting for the plane down to Ulsan. I suggested to Tara that we stay up for the flight so we could sleep later. This seems like a good idea when we board the plane. An hour later we wake up having just landed in Ulsan! We march down the gang plank and get our bags. This is when we finally meet the famed Mrs. An, Colleen, and Jake. 

So to end this 26 hour trip is a great feeling. Ending one adventure with the start of possibly the greatest adventure of our lives is really exciting! We love our apartment and look forward to meeting the students monday. So from this weary traveler to all our faithful stalkers and family out there good afternoon or good night!

More to follow as you surly well know.