Say Hello to Korea (and Bam)

[still can't upload pics... sorry folks!]

Most of Monday and the early part of Tuesday were spent traveling to Seoul, Korea. I woke up and had one last crappy/free breakfast at the Travelodge with all the CCSA people, ran upstairs to do some last last minute packing, then hung out in the lobby for a few minutes taking some last minute pictures. At 11am, we all hopped on the Murray's Coach bus and headed off to the airport.

The trip to the airport was pretty uneventful... Once we got there, I had to split off to check in at the Malaysian Airlines counter, but my flight left about an hour after CCSA's, so I headed over to their gate after going through security. We saw Bam Margera from the TV show "Jackass" (plus some Right Guard commercials, if I remember correctly). He was on the same flight to LA as the CCSA people. Unfortunately for him, so were about 75 middle school children, all of whom wanted his autograph. It's a living, I guess.

Anyhow, after giving/getting a few more hugs and shaking some hands, I parted ways with the rest of my CCSA people and headed back to my gate (with a pitstop at the airport Wagamama for some noodles... mmm...). My flight left without incident (something I still wasn't used to) and what's more, I practically had an entire row of seats to myself. Awesome. I watched the Pink Panther movie (the recent one with Steve Martin) about 6 times. It was surprisingly good... I especially liked the bit about the hamburger.

We landed in Kuala Lumpur around 8pm local time. I had nothing to do until 12:15am when my next flight was taking off, so I decided to wander around a little bit. I noticed the escalators were very efficient, only turning on when someone approached it. ...well, I thought it was neat, anyhow. I found a free internet kiosk which occupied me for a bit... unfortunately, the mouse didn't work, so all I could do was find out that I had some new e-mail-- then sign off. I grabbed something to eat at Sabarros, which I normally would not do, but it was the only place that would take credit cards (stupid Burger King). Actually, I was the recipient of a random act of kindness... The BK had a few internet stations, but unbeknownst to me, you had to go buy an access card at the counter. So I just queued up behind this one girl... but when she noticed I was waiting, just gave me her access card and explained that it was worth 100 minutes and there was no way she was going to use it all. Sweet.

The flight to Seoul was, again, uneventful... No real good movies or anything. I did get a seat in the row with the door, which theoretically was supposed to give me more leg room... unfortunately for me, there was a large bulkhead sticking out of the door. So much for more leg room.

I arrived on time and breezed through baggage claim and customs. My mom and brother were waiting on the other side. It was great to see them... Chris tried a few Tim Tams, but didn't really see what all the fuss was about. He's obviously crazy.

It was good to be back in Korea... It's been about 5 years since I visited. As per usual, the thought of being in a country full of Korean people combined with the thought of being forced to speak my clunky, inadequate and generally horrible Korean both terrified and excited me. Well... Okay, less excitement and more anxiety, I guess. But, hey, it's all part of the experience, right?

Right.

-e