(This was written my first night in Busan... I just been so busy that I'm posting everything 4 month late~)
I have finally made it to South Korea safe and sound in 1 piece! What's funny is that my first night in Busan I ended up staying at a "Love Motel" in Sassang, which is where I'm at right now typing this blog entry. Long story, but before I get to that let me run through my past 24hrs!
Since Globalinks had us traveling to Busan I had 3 flights to catch. Because there are not international flights directly into Busan, I was going to have to stop at Incheon International Airport.
Flight #1: Phil. Int. Airport to DTW (Detroit)
Since my flight was set to leave at 9:05am my mom and I decided to leave the house around 5am in order to skip the rush hour traffic jam. Waking up at 4am I started getting ready and finish up last minute packing. By 5:10am my mom, Chrissy (little cousin), and I were off to the airport. As we're driving right before we even hit the highway my mom realizes that she forgot her wallet at home and we had to turn around, which to me was funny and didn't mind having to go back home because we were only 10 minutes away from the house, so it wasn't a big deal.
Once back on the road we made it to the airport around 6:40am, thanks to my mom using her GPS on her cellphone... I swear who ever thought that up is a genius, because the GPS on my phone saved my life many times lol... Anyhow, getting to the airport drop off point Chrissy and I got out to wait in the bag check-in area while my mom went to park the car. When my beloved mother returned after 15mins of getting lost, we started taking pictures together before checking in my suitcase. As I'm checking in I realize that because I was flying nationally (within the US, Philly to Detroit) there was a 50lbs limit. Of course my bag came out to 66lbs, which meant I had to pay to each extra pound. The cost came up to $75! Now I know I'll be shipping things back before leaving Seoul lol. However, it was a one time only fee since flying internationally there isn't a weight limit.
After checking in and handing off my suitcase of bricks, we headed upstairs where the security clearance was. Because my boarding time as at 8:25am my mom and I sat down around the corner where some homeless lady was sitting (... I'm still wondering how the hell homeless people get into the airport... That just blew my mind...). Since T-Mobile was closed on Monday, thanks to President's Day, we called customer service to see if my mom could take over my account while I'm gone. Surprisingly we were told that I could pay to have my number suspended for $10/month from now to until I return, which was great news. Instead of my mom having to pay $60 to keep my number alive, she now only has to pay $10... See this is why I love T-Mobile.
After getting everything with T-Mobile taken care of we just chatted and took pictures before I headed off to the security check check point. I hugged my mom and cousins a tight good bye and got into line. Shockingly enough I realized the line was going quickly and as I'm hurrying to take off my little earrings I turn and see my mom taking pictures of me and my cousin just standing there shaking her head lol. After getting scanned in and checked I was off towards Terminal E, which to no surprise to me was the wrong terminal. Realizing that my gate is at Terminal D I just turned around and causally strolled to the other end of the building. Since it was only 7:40am I knew I had plenty of time and there was no rush... Which came to bite me in the ass later when I decided to buy some dumbass headphones which bothered my ears... Agh, why do I do this to myself...
Flight #2: DTW to Incheon Int. Airport
By 10:58 I had arrived in Detroit and began heading straight towards the gate of my flight to Incheon~! After knowing I was going to be flying there on Delta I wasn't thrilled to say the least. Mainly because when I traveled to Seoul in the summer of 2009, I was on Korean Air which was just absolutely amazing. As for my flight back... I was on Delta and hated it. Then again I wasn't in a good mood that I was leaving Korea lol.
Anyhow, due to boarding being at 11:15am I had to run all the way to the other end of the airport. As I'm walking I begin to realize... "Wtf... Where am I going?", seeing the boarding gate to Tokyo I decided to as the two gate women. The one woman was Japanese, clearly... But the other girl looked White but I was confused if she even was White. So as I asked her where my gate was I just looked at her trying to figure out what she was, until she told me my flight gate was right next to theirs lol.
Finally being able to board the plane I get in line. Walking through to find my seat I see at least 3 Black men sitting through out the rows just looking at me... Yea Black people when we travel to a different country it's like we sense other Black Americans out of the crowd lol. Its funny because I can tell in each of our minds we're alike "Hell yea we're going to Korea" lol!
Finding my seat I see a Korean guy about my age in the aisle seat, his reaction when he saw me was funny. It was like he was shocked and happy at the same time, I never got his name but we talked a bit before an older Korean man came who sat between us. When everyone was seated on the plane we were all given a menu which listed the "First Entree" choices, "Mid-Flight Snack", and "Pre-Arrival" entrees. In each entree you had a choice between a "Western" dish or a "Korean" dish.
Of course I picked the Korean dishes and they were all really good. Although it only look like a little bit of food it really filled me up. The first entree I had was some kind of grilled chicken with mushrooms, egg, and broccoli. Which also came with a side of fruit and bread. Then a few hours after the first meal right when I started to get hungry again came the "Mid-Flight Snack" which surprisingly was REALLY good... Seriously the picture below does this meal no justice lol. Then before arriving in Incheon the final entree came out and it was 비빔밥 (bibimbap)! Now that was really good, and it was a great drive into Korean food. I must say that after my last experience Delta's international flight to S.Korea they improved a lot.
During the 19 hour flight I planned on being productive and brush up on my Korean skills... Unfortunately, I failed to do that and just started listing to music, playing around with the crappy headphones, watching movies, and falls asleep randomly. The first movie I watched was Disney's "Brave" which I never got to see and I won't lie it kind of got me tearing up. Unlike other Disney Princess movies this one was very different, it's not about finding true love or any of that but about a bond between a mother and daughter. I also had a chance to watch the comedy movie "TED" which was ok, I expected more from all the hype it had gotten when it first came out.
After eating, watching movies, playing games, and slipping in and out of sleep we were finally a few hours away from Seoul. By this time I was ready to get off the plan and I just started staring at the in-flight tracking screen lol.
Landing in Seoul! Words couldn't even explain how excited I was to actually be landing back in Seoul after almost 4 years.
Flight #3: Incheon Int. Airport to PUS (Pusan/Busan/부산)
Finally touching down in Incheon International Airport I made my way through immigration which actually didn't take much time at all. Because I had to take a connecting flight to Busan I had to stay within the airport. My layover in Seoul was only 3 hours so I decided to walk around the airport for a bit and exchange the money.
After walking around I headed towards my gate to Busan with 1 and a half hours left. As I found my gate I sat and just waited until it was time to go, by this time I was dead tired and just wanted to sleep.
After being loaded on to the plane we took off towards Busan which was only an hour flight. When we finally arrived I noticed we were in the middle of no where and we exited the plane by stairs. After freaking out a little bit inside I realized that there were buses which took people to the main airport. Once inside the airport I went through another immigration line which was very fast, grabbed my overweight suitcase and entered the lobby of the airport.
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