Disclaimer: These next few entries might bore you to death with details, so please feel free to skip any unnecessary paragraphs. There will be no quizzes at the end.
I woke up at 3:30am Thursday morning, wide awake and excited, maybe even a little nervous. I kept thinking to myself that there will always be time to sleep later. Like a man I knew once said "sleep is overrated" and so maybe a few bags under the eyes is worth it when you have to soak up life as much as possible.
My bags packed, kids kissed (with a little tear in my eye) and notes written, Ty and I headed out the door ready to drive the 2.5 hours to Birmingham. It was early, but in order for us to make the 9am flight, and give us enough time to get through security, we left at 4:30am. We made a stop in Tuscaloosa for a sausage biscuit at Hardees and then we arrived at the airport around 7:30am. Ty parked the car and I checked the bags at the curb (and yes, Dad, I made sure to tip the baggage guy like you always suggest) and hoped that my one bag would make it all the way to Seoul.
On the drive up, Ty asked me what I wanted to ask my family. Things I wanted to find out about my mother and their life in Korea. A few things I came up with were: what was it like to live in South Korea after the war, what was my mother like, who was our family, where are the grandparents buried, what were the details behind my mother's immigration and I was always hoping for some added information. Something that would help me put the pieces together and at the same time help me to remember my mother through their eyes. I want to know about them and their lives too. Every relative I would get a chance to meet would be one more aunt, uncle or cousin I have in my life.
I made it through security, but I totally forgot about the weapon-like nail cleaner and the nail clippers with the metal file attached that I packed and so we were a little delayed. I was a little nervous that they were going to throw me down and detain me all because I wanted to keep the dirt out of my nails, so when she instructed me to not touch anything at all while she took my bag to someone else, I did exactly what she said.
I won't lie that I wasn't a little misty as I had to give Ty a final kiss and farewell and watch him walk out the door to leave because he couldn't go any further without a boarding pass. I wished he were coming with me. He's always good about helping me calm down and reminding me of the things not worth worrying about. Little did I know that I would need some of that later, but I was ready for a little break too. A break from Columbus and household duties.
After waiting a little while at the B'ham airport because it didn't take as long as I anticipated, I boarded the tiny little plane that would take me to Atlanta where I would meet Jean. I had received a text message on the drive up telling me that her Nashville flight was cancelled. Because she was there early, she would be able to take the earlier flight and arrive in Atlanta earlier than anticipated. In this case, earlier is good-- it would be bad if she missed the international flight. We did have a plan though, if we got split up for the international flight, we would go to the hotel. At the time, it sounded like a simple enough plan, but as you'll find out later, we were spared the frustrations of having to do it alone. It would have been near impossible.
I touched down in Atlanta and quickly looked for the next flight gate. The actual flight time was only 35 minutes, I almost fell asleep, but the cramped seats made me do otherwise. I called Jean right away and we met up near the food court near our gate. I was so thrilled to see her, so happy to have her as my travelling companion. We ate some frozen yogurt that cost us $6 and then we waited a few hours before we could board the plane. I've never seen so many Korean people in one place. Actually, there were Koreans, Vietnamese, Chinese, etc. people. Apparently, Incheon would be a stopping place for some of those going on to China and Vietnam and other Asian countries.
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| Our Huge Airplane |
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| Inside View of the Airplane |
Before the 14 hour flight (see we are still smiling)
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| Flight Attendant that became Jean's angel |
There were at least 10 airline attendants and let me tell you, they looked like they were straight out of a Korean movie! So pretty and petite, and dressed in light teal green shirts, khaki skirts, hoses, black shoes and a cute hair ornament. They would prove to be the most pleasant and hard-working people in the next 14 hours.
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| Bi Bim Bop (so good!) |
We boarded the plane and braced ourself for the long flight. There was plenty to do at your seat like video games, music, movies galore. We sat by a tiny Vietnamese girl and she slept most of the way, curled up in a little ball. I'll not bore you with details of the flight, but Jean did get motion sickness and had to depend on the help of the airline attendants and the little white pills they brought her. She kept it all in and fought on like a trooper. She had a headache on top of it and couldn't enjoy the traditional meals and snacks they brought us, but we did manage to have a pleasant enough flight. I will say that 9 hours into it, I was done and my but was killing me. I did try and walk around, but because it was such a full flight, space was limited. At one pointed I wanted to yell out and run down the aisles, but I held it in.
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| Jean next to kimchee pot (in the Incheon Airport) |
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| Jean waiting patiently for the bus after our 1.5 hours in the airport |
When we touched down in Incheon, we were an hour behind schedule because of the delay in Atlanta. What a large airport! Luckily though, it wasn't too busy and packed. We made it through immigration and customs just fine and spent the next 1.5 hours trying to work out the details of transportation during our stay. We bought and loaded t-money passes, picked up our reserved Korail passes and made reservations for the next day's train ride to Daegu and bought tickets for the Limo bus that would take us near our hotel.
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| Outside Incheon Airport |
I'll bore you the details of us getting off of the bus supposedly a 3 minutes walk from our hotel. We didn't find our hotel until an hour later, and that was after lugging our luggage around the busy market, sweating like pigs (because it is like subtropical heat here!) and finally walking up to an information building and in broken English asking for directions. Thank goodness for a little map sitting on that desk and the kind Korean woman that took pity on me.
We didn't get checked into our hotel until 9:45pm. Let me tell you, It was one of the longest days of my life! But it hasn't dampened my spirits any! I mean I'm in Korea for crying out loud!!!!
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| Myungdong Area near our hotel |
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