Korea #1

I left for Korea on Aug 2nd from Chicago. I was late(sorta) to the airport. I was ontime, but since I had to check 2 large bags, and get them through security, the lady at the counter said I was late. Since the lady behind the counter said I was late, she said that I would have to hope to get on the plane on the next flight via stand-by. She also told me that she didnt think I would get on that plane since it was a sold out flight. Even after talking to a manager and telling him that if I do not get to Los Angelos for my flight, that I could be arrested by the military for being Absent Without Leave (AWOL), they still could not gaurantee a flight for me.

So I got through security, and headed for my stand-by flight gate. All of a sudden, I heard my name on the intercom… I was being paged to a gate just a few gates down the hall from where I was from. I headed over there immediatly and they rushed me onto the flight I originally was supposed to be on! How lucky is that?

I get to Los Angelos and wait about an hour and a half for my luggage to come around on the baggage claim belt… nothing. I file my claim and tell them that I am leaving the next morning at 9:30 AM for Korea and that I need my military duffle bag for my job. What do they care?… not much.

I come back to the airport almost 4 hours earlier than my flight, and deal with the baggage people. They have one of my bags, but not my duffle bag containing all the clothes I need for the military. Several hours later, I am almost late getting on the flight headed for San Fransisco then onto Korea, and I still do not have my duffle bag. I’m off.

I land in San Fran, and head down the hall to a doorway for flights to Asia. We get on a little bus, and head to the International terminal. I have about 10 minutes of spare time and buy some double A batteries for my cd player. They cost me $7.00. Then i board the Boeing 777 bound for Korea.

I slept on and off, watched the movie Basic with John Travolta, listened to some CDs, and then watched a little bit of Fear and Loathing on my portable DVD player. Twelve hours later, we land in Incheon International Airport in Seoul Korea….

more to come later in Korea #2