pan-scrapings of an over-tired brain

I'm not really sure that it is of interest to anyone, but I am bored and the internet access here is free. Pan-scrappings are in no particular order.

Asiana provided little kits with eye pillows, socks, and toothbrush and toothpaste. Yeah Asiana.

I was allowed to bring my solid lotion bar onto the plane. Yeah LUSH!

The inflight internet that Asiana advertises is not currently available on these flights.

For all of you on my blogrolls that keep clustermaps or stats, I just clicked you from Seoul.

We are really really sleepy. We are on our second cups of "bad" coffee waiting for the good coffee shop to open.

Big shout out to my sister who called to say farewell and was ebullient about her new niece and nephew. Warmed my heart. Also, thank you neighbor J, for your email, and niece K for your call and cousin J for your last minute phone call, we must have missed you by nanoseconds. Extra happy to get to see Aunt C and Uncle D from Nebraska the morning we left. I do hope we weren't babbling idiots. Y'all feel free to leave a comment now.

I listened to Russian on my iPod as I slept. Do you think it will help?

At SeaTac, it's $10 bucks per pound over 50 for each piece of luggage. I puppy-dog-eyed the agent explaining how we are packing for four. He did knock a few pounds off our bill, but not as much as I would have liked. Pack fluffy gifts, or buy them there.

Yeah, the breakfast cafe gal just arrived! Food and good coffee are coming our way soon.

Maybe, if you are lucky, I'll post more pan-scrapings later.

Airport blog-a-thon: LAX and INC

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25 August Friday
* depart LA at 12:20 am on Asiana 203

26 August Saturday
* arrive Seoul at 5:00 am
* miles on this leg 5999: miles total 6953
* dink around until 7:00 am at which time the SHOWERS and the GOOD COFFEE SHOP and the INTERNET opens. Choices. Choices.
* depart Seoul at 10:10 am on Asiana 572
* arrive Khavarovsk at 3:10 pm
* miles on this leg 886: miles total 7839

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Posting from: Incheon Airport in Seoul
Local time: 5:42 am on Saturday
Time en route: 1 day 1 hour 54 minutes and 48 seconds

No blog from LAX as we had to RUN to the gate and get in our line to board - we basically arrived at the gate and boarded, all in one hot rush. Fifteen more minutes and we would have been too late. I don't even want to think about what missing the flight to Seoul might have done to our court date. Sure there are lots of flights from LAX to Seoul, but only a few a week from Seoul to Khabarovsk. Our flight arrived really late, and in addition LAX has very poor signage and we were a bit hard-pressed to navigate our way from domestic arrivals to ground transportation to international departures and the ONLY way we did this was that I asked questions of every person in uniform we passed. How someone who doesn't speak English would do this is beyond me. I can see why the aunt and uncle of our new friend Yang were anxious to find him some helpers.

The good news? We each got a row to ourselves. SLEEP! I think we got about 6 hours of real rest and another 3 of tossing and turning.

We've decided that traveling without snacks is a really bad idea. Since Thur morning we have had - a bowl of granola (though Jamie didn't), a plate of fish and chips, and a Korean meal called BimBampBo which was quite nutritious, but not very filling. We are looking forward to ordering breakfast when the cafe opens.

Apparently, Y and A and S, whom we expected to catch up with on the LAX-INC flight, did not get on the flight. This is very worrisome, as they are on the same schedule as we.

Lisa, the flight was hot and stuffy, just like last time. If you are indeed on the very same itinerary, hustle through LAX even if your SEA flight is on time. It's a long long way, even with the bus, which is on an indiscernible schedule. You want to wait at the BLUE bus stop for the A busline, and if you can find any signage that reveals this important info, please take a pic for me. LAX is my new most-dreaded airport. Also, wireless works at the little cafe in INC; the one with the really good coffee.

We adjusted our clocks 20 hours ahead of Pacific time, and then get to set them back two hours when we fly to Khabarovsk. Yipee, two extra hours today.

mush for brains! edited to say that I know that something is wrong with the above time zone stuff, but I am too shattered to think of it. However it worked, we got to move our clocks ahead when we got on the plane and got rid of two hours. Yeah!

Airport blog-a-thon

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24 Aug 06 - Thursday

* depart Seattle at 6:20 pm on United 703
* arrive LA at 8:57 pm
* dink around for 3 hours
* miles on this leg 954: miles total 954

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first stop: SeaTac. Travel time at posting: 7 hrs 2 min and 12 seconds.

If you read our older posts, you'll remember the story of the young ESL student in Seoul who found us and asked for help with his homework. Well, I must have accidentally put on my ESL magnet this morning, as we now have in tow, entrusted to us by his worried aunt and uncle, one very nice Chinese student whom we promised to guide through the LA airport and onto the plane with us to Seoul.

PS - first flight delayed two hours which turns our three hour layover in LA into a one hour.

More on Seoul

Well I can't sleep so I may as well type up the Seoul report. We knew that we had a hotel room provided by the airline for our 26 hour layover, but we didn't know that it was in the heart of downtown Seoul in the MyongDong shopping center, which, if you are a 20something upscale Korean person, is the place to be on a Saturday night. After a wee bit of asking about at the airport, we found our way to the correct desk and found a very hospitable young man awaiting us. He scurried us through money exchange and ticket buying and onto the bus to our hotel. As we drove into town, we were a bit surprised to see Hammering Sam's galpal here. We were even more pleasantly surprised to find ourselves in a very nice hotel (excepting the malfunctioning air conditioning of course).

We had a very light complimentary meal at the hotel and then wandered about in MyongDong area. The contrast between Seoul (green foliage, healthful and wholesome looking people, big wealthy city) and Khabarovsk (dead grey late winter, sallow complexions, and Soviet style buildings) was quite sharp. The fashionable streets were filled with fashionable young people and fashionable shops. As we strolled along a young man approached us asking for help with his English language homework. We answered his questions and smiled a lot and eventually his hands stopped shaking. We very graciously presented us with a wrapped gift (two lovely coffee cups) and his profuse thanks. How lovely. There we were in a humongeous city and within the first few hours a stranger gives us a gift.
The next morning we made a bee-line for the LUSH store. More pictures? Well, if you insist. (If you have no idea what LUSH is, click the pretty pictures to your right.) There were five LUSH stores in Seoul and I only visited one. How's that for restraint?

Then we toured a historical but unoccuped palace (I forget which, dreadful, I know) and wandered the streets. The last member of the Korean royal family lived in the palace we say until he/she died in 1989. The Royal family was pretty much decimated during the decades of Japanese occupation. As we strolled along, we crossed paths with these lovely matrons leading a wedding procession. And here is a cute tour guide from the Palace of the Forgotten Name.



We very much enjoyed Seoul and Korean people: gracious, warm, and wholesome. After a week of being glowered at, it was so refreshing to be able to assume the good-will of strangers. Jamie especially enjoyed the large platters of sushi and I even got brave and tried some kimchee, though I did rinse it off in my Udon bowl first.

It is now 2:25 am and I am still wide awake and Jamie just got up cause he can't sleep either. Tuesday is going to be a long hard day.

Hasty Greetings from Seoul: Saturday April 29th 10:00pm

Hello!


Asiana has generously put us up in a luxury hotel in downtown Seoul, so we are taking in the city and enjoying all the freebies (meals, transportation, etc.). The Royal Hotel is pish-posh and one block off the shopping strip where all the young'uns hang out to see and be seen. There is a Starbucks half a block up the street.

The internet room closes in one minute, so I must go.

Best,

Suzanne

edited to add that there is a Lush store -- actually several -- in Seoul. :)

Greetings from Seoul

Here we are, nine time zones and two airports later, enjoying our 5 hr layover in Seoul: free internet, and in a few minutes the showers open.

Our flight to Seoul was lovely, as much as an 11 hour flight can be. The plane was only about half full, so -- even though we had exit row seats -- we were persuaded by the stewardesses to move to empty center rows where we could stretch out. I think we each got about 5 or 6 hours of sleep.

Later today we will fly to Khabarovsk, check in, walk to dinner, and then to bed. We have tomorrow free I believe, and will visit the orphanage on Monday.

Lisa and Derik have been coaching us on pronunciation: Har Bar arsk is the preferred way.

Much too sleepy to be amusing. More later,

Suzanne