Good-bye Canada, Hello South Korea

So lots of people want to know how the flight was. In one word, LONG... but we all know how much I like to talk and so this is going to be much more than one word.

Regina to Vancouver
I left Regina at 855 am on Thursday October 15th. I flew Air Canada to Vancouver. The flight was normal and nothing special. I felt like I was going to be sick the entire time. I had to choke back tears on the flight. I found any time I thought about everyone in Regina the tears would start coming. I decided that the best course of action would be to push any of those thoughts to the back of my mind for the time being.

Vancouver Airport
When I landed in Vancouver I left security and was met by my sister who was holding some Tim Horton's for me! It was a great surprise. We walked to the international terminal and there was a food court right outside and the smell of it made me realize that I hadn't eat since 600 the previous night. There were a few Asian style places and then a pizza place. Being I was going to a country where all I would be eating was Korean, I opted for Pizza. So at 10:45 in the morning I was eating Pizza and drinking an Iced Capp. Nice.

Going back through security was fine, my bag did get swiped but all ended up fine. I stopped in the duty free and picked up a bottle before headed to my gate. I must have perfect timing because after sitting for about 5 minutes they started boarding. There was a fair amount of white people on the plane, a few younger white guys and a couple and then a few white ladies about my mom's age. Unfortunately I wasn't sitting by any of them.

Vancouver to Incheon
One of my biggest fears was having a middle seat and horrible seat mates. Well I hit the seat jackpot! I got the aisle seat in the Emergency exit aisle. Plus, my seatmate was a young-ish Korean guy who not only shared the armrest, but did not fart once or elbow me in his sleep.

How did I occupy my time on this 11 1/2 hour flight? Well thankfully being unemployed for the past three months has taught me to be waste time efficiently. I watched three movies (The Hangover, The Proposal and My Sister's Keeper). I had two meals, neither worth writing about. I read a couple of magazines. The most trying time was the last two hours, my entire body started to hurt and my tv was acting up so I couldn't watch any more movies. I basically just sat there wishing for a stronger tailwind to push us there quicker.

Incheon
After getting off the plane, I followed the crowd (and the one white guy I spotted) to immigration. Everything went fine and I was off to get my luggage. After getting the luggage I went to go through customs and I got pulled aside to get my stuff scanned. Damnit. I had hid some rye in my checked luggage that was going to be a gift for my principal. However, they scanned it all and didn't say anything so I could breathe a sigh of relief.

I walked, and walked and walked until I finally found the Dunkin Donuts where I was told someone would meet me with a sign. I found him and one of my fears came true, no English. He dragged me to a bus stop and we stood there for about half an hour. When the bus arrived, he talked to the driver and then pushed me on the bus and away I went. The bus was super squishy and my luggage barely fit. My big suitcase was in the aisle and as more and more people boarded the bus it got pushed to the very back. I was sitting in the front.

45 minutes later I was told to get off the bus, at least that is what I assumed the driver was saying when he was yelling and pointing. I got off the bus and my principal was there, then I had to get back on and fight my way through all the Koreans in the aisle to get my suitcase. They all stared and no one helped, something that I'm going to have to get used to I guess. I had prepared myself that I might be taken to the school immediately, and of course, I was right...I arrived at the school around 530.

This is the end of the travel portion of my trip. In summary, I can't complain. No real hiccups occurred. I didn't get lost. I didn't cry. I am still alive. Basically it was okay. Long but okay.

Many more blog posts to come... stay tuned