Trial tribulations and technicalities of traveling

This is a long one… WITH PICTURES. Oh wait they all have pictures… MORE PICTURES!!

Getting to the airport wasn’t so bad, in fact it was kinda fun to get to ride with my friend. We talked the whole way. I almost feel bad. I bet her parents were wishing we’d shut up. We said goodbye after they got their ticket and giving hugs and I headed to Korean Air. I already had a 5 hour wait and now I was surprised to know I couldn’t check in until 10:30 am and it was only just after 7. I grabbed something to eat found and outlet and watched Jane Eyre. Before it was over I checked in #3 in line and took off for my gate. My flight wasn’t until 2, and it was just after 11:00am I was hungry and went for chicken and rice… WORST CHICKEN AND RICE EVER!!!! I don’t know how you could mess that up, but they succeeded. I chilled out to Pink Floyd while I waited for the plane.

 

 I read some… and waited some more. Before I knew it, the plane had pulled in and my row was being loaded. It was just before 2:00pm and I hadn’t slept for 22 hours. I was tired. I was surprised to have the whole row to myself. I fell asleep before we finished taking off. When I woke up the beautiful stewardess was asking what I would like to eat. Chicken Beef or Bimbim bap.

She then asked if I knew how to eat Bimbim bap. It was good! At one  point the guy sitting across from me got wide eyed at how much gochujang (hot pepper paste) I was putting into it. I only saw him out of the corner of my eye, but it was funny.

After I ate I fell back asleep and when I woke up they were feeding us again. PASTA,

 so good!Like really good. I went back to sleep and woke up shortly before we were 

to land. I could see the islands as we turned into the Incheon airport. *no pictures because devices had to be off.   

It was humid as we got out of the plane. It hit as soon as we exited That was nice. I went to baggage and WAITED impatiently. I made it through customs with no issues, no questions. I saw HS as I came through the doors. I dropped my bags and RAN! I missed her SO much. Her mom was with us. VERY nicely dressed. We arrived at their house and I was shown to my room!

And their dog has officially adopted me. We had dinner and we walked to the grocery store and back. I wanted to be taking photos, but it was dark by this time. I slept VERY well. I awoke to the sound of screeching brakes and honking. It was raining out. Very humid too. It took me forever to dry after my shower… I still haven’t really. I am not complaining about the heat, but I am sweating so much. I heard “dawa” (*hot in Korean) so many times today.

We RAN to the bus and an hour ride later we arrived at Gangnam station. Here’s where the trouble began. We went to get a T-Card for me, for buses and subways, but the machine only took cash. I hadn’t gone to the bank yet, and only had my credit card. HS bought the card. It stuck in the machine. We had to call maintenance to come retrieve it for us. We went back up out of the subway and it was raining HARD. We were at Gangnam station. We decided to get something to eat and went to School Food.

HS has this thing where she take pics of me all the time

Lee Soon Shin

It was great. We left the restaurant and braved the torrential down pour that had descended to go to the embassy, where we were told to go to the online website, the one I had already filled out before I left the U.S. Well, at least it was taken care of. We went to a bank to with draw some money. I was told my credit  NICE. So we found a CitiBank and used their ATM.

card needed a pin… yeah I don’t have one of those for that, and the ATM didn’t recognize my debit card. We hunted out a B of A and after much searching FOUND IT! Yay. Okay Not a Yay… they only do business accounts, not personal accounts. This is something I discussed with them BEFORE I left the U.S. They said it wouldn’t be a problem. They lied.

Finally CASH. I will be using my credit card for most things apparently. It’s okay NEXT adventure.

I call it “can we find me a cell phone?!” Short answer “NO”

We went to one place and they wanted $90.00 just for one month service. That did not include talk time OR text. I’m not kidding. I talked with my phone company about international service, but it was something like $120.00 after everything. I called a No Go on that.

After that failed experiment we went to the Chongyecheon. I have been wanting to see it SO MUCH. It was raining off and on A LOT, but I got a couple pictures we promised to come back on a nicer day. 

HS told me about a really good place to get something to snack on at the Seoul Plaza. Just before we went in I realized my dress had ripped…. Right over the left boob. Yea my bra was rather visible. HS asked for a safety pin and I made a temporary fix. We considered getting another dress after our snack of Caramel Bing Soo. It was GOOOOOOD .

We left the plaza, after about two hours, of sitting and talking, to meet up with HS co-worker.  

 He was very nicely dressed with a nice messenger bag. Why can’t more American guys have this style. We went up about 8 flights on the escalator through a department store until we reached a restaurant.

He paid for our dinner (it was expensive 0_0). He was very sweet and told HS he liked me, and I should call him Oppa. He said he liked that I was quiet, HS and I laughed at that one! Anyone who doesn’t know me, thinks I’m quiet, anyone who knows me, wishes I was ~

He gave us a ride back to the bus station and we drove along the Han River. The three of us talked and Oppa tried to convince HS that we should go to Jeju ~

 We passed the bridges…slowly. HS announced “This is a Korean traffic jam. Enjoy it” I laughed and we passed the Banpo Bridge. I hope to get some photos later. It was getting dark by this time.

I couldn’t help but giggle as we passed a tall building with KY displayed prominently in red lettering.

We were almost home after a bus ride where we watched videos about architecture and Seoul…

 우리 집! We were home!

Today we went to

Gangnam Station (강남)

SKT

BANK (a lot of good that did us)

Subway (T-Card)

Gwangwhamoon (광화문)

School Food

Embassy

Exhibition (underground) 세총대왕 & 이순신

*Sae Chong Dae Whahng & Lee Soon Shin

청계전, Chongyecheon

Korean Tourism Tower

Seoul Plaza Hotel – Caramel Bing Soo. Where we sat and talked about life for two hours.

Sae Chong Dae Whahng

Sinchon (신촌)

Hyundae Department Store

 – Dinner at 일품정 we ate 등심주물럭