A Long Day of Travel

This posting makes it obvious that Korea and I have now found a stable internet connection. A lot has happened in the past 38 hours since leaving Los Angeles at 12:30 on Tuesday.

The flight from LA to Incheon Seoul was around 13 hours but flew by. I watched four movies on the plane, slept for about three hours, and looked out the window for the rest of the time. One weird thing about the flight pattern was that we didn’t go directly to Seoul; we went all the way up to Alaska then west into Russia and then south into Seoul. Looking at the flight map, this seems to be about 30% longer.

The Flight Path

The Lunch Menu

The golf course is either Buenaventura or Olivas Links in Ventura, CA

A partial view of our cabin (you can see I was sitting next to a Korean - The flight was about 80% Koreans)

Lunch Appetizer

Ramen Dinner

Looking out of the hotel to the left

Looking out of the hotel to the right

 

We had a three hour layover in Seoul where we had to exit the international terminal and then re-enter the domestic terminal. Customs was really easy. A simple passport and two little postcard sized forms had to be presented and you were good to go. Checking into domestic went smooth too, especially at security. We could keep our shoes on and didn’t have to go through any body scanner or pat down. The one hour flight to Busan was over in a flash and next thing you know there were six of us crammed into a minivan with all of our luggage. It was a cozy 45 min. drive to our hotel in Changwon.

At around 11:45 p.m. Korea Time on Wednesday we were finally at our destination. I’ll be the first to admit I am an inexperienced international traveler, so my first thoughts on the room were a bit jaded. The pictures on the hotels website are extremely nice and before arriving I had my doubts about if the online photos would hold true or not. I have to admit I was lucky to be in a room but quickly questioned if I could stay in this small room for 3 months. It took me about 10 minutes just to turn the lights on. Right when you enter you must put your room key in a slot to keep the lights on. The idea is that when you leave with your key the lights shut off and energy is conserved, pretty creative. Also, another 50% of the lights are controlled by the alarm clock. This I found out this morning at breakfast when I mentioned how I had to sleep with one light on because I couldn’t find out how to turn it off. The king size bed is super sized at about 8’ X 8’, not leaving much room for anything else. The closet space is about a foot wide and there is no desk to set-up a little office area, only a long lounge seat. It felt like a very Las Vegas-type hotel room. Maybe my first reaction was because it was late and I was tired but I was in Korea and that was what really mattered. I could probably spend all day talking about this hotel room but to wrap it up, I am moving to a new room tomorrow. It is the same size but a different layout with a desk, much more comfortable feeling. Ill post pics of both rooms once I move.

More stories to follow, time to head out breakfast.