On Sunday we stayed up all night packing. The kids didn't get much sleep either. We were all pretty exhausted when it was time to go. The dean previously agreed to meet us on Monday morning at 4:30 a.m. so we were rushed to finish up on time.
I got 1 hour of sleep, but Colonel stayed up all night. We hurried to cover everything with plastic, empty trash, and eat breakfast. We waited for the dean until 4:40 a.m. Colonel tried to call the dean, but he wouldn't answer. Turns out he was at the wrong building. After we found him, we realized that his car was too small for 5 people and 4 suitcases. Our luggage wouldn't fit in his trunk. On top of that, it started to rain heavily. We got soaked as we rearranged people and bags. It was very slow going at first.
After several tries, we put Aolani in the front seat with me, one suitcase in the back of the car that Colonel had to hold, and one between Cyprus and Colonel. We still couldn't get the trunk to close though, so it banged against the car the whole trip.
We did finally make it to the bus. We weren't late so that was good. The dean helped us to be seated by our children on the bus. Initially, no one wanted to move so that we could sit together. The kids were several seats away from us. The bus driver rearranged people and got us all situated together. In the end, the bus left 1 minute early.
In the airport, we met a Christian family who was also traveling on the same flight. They had about 7 children. The kids really enjoyed themselves. It was cute to see each kid pull out a stuffed animal or two and begin playing with them. They had a whole menagerie of creatures. It turns out that the family were all Christians. When we left, the 10 year old boy said to me, "We'll see you on the other side!"
The flight was nice. We had a decent meal and there were t.v. screens in the back of the seats. We could all watch whatever we wanted or play games. They even had a button where I could put parental restrictions on what the kids could watch. Our plane landed safely in South Korea after 2-3 hours of flying time.
After the flight we learned that there are free tours in South Korea. We just had to pay $3 per person for insurance. We went on a very nice bus tour. The first place we went was closed, but I got a few pictures of it. The next place was an open market. They gave us all 3000 won in coupons to use there. 1000 won is roughly equivalent to $1 and is enough to buy a small bottle of pepsi. We used our money to buy some things that tasted like chewy donut holes, fruit, and water. We didn't really have enough to buy anything good. The exchange rate was about $1 to 1068 won or something like that.
Everything feels super expensive because of all the zeros.
At the airport we tried to check in for our next flight. They claim you can check in 24 hours early, but after a few hours of wandering from desk to desk we found that it's actually same day check-in.
We gave up and went to Duncan Donuts and McDonald's. The food was okay, but the donuts were wonderful. While me and the kids ate, Colonel went to find us a hotel to check into for the night. He found a room for 98,000 won, which is about $98-$99. We got a free bus to take us there and to pick us up the following morning.
We got to the airport around 9 a.m. the next day. We checked in and went to play the waiting game for our flight. So far I love Korean air. All flights have touchscreens where you can watch movies or t.v., play games, listen to music, radio, or audiobooks, and watch a real time view of life outside and underneath the airplane. They gave the kids activity bags on both of our flights. They fed us delicious food (even on our 3 hour flight). They gave us free headphones on each flight. They also gave us slippers, toothbrushes and toothpaste, bottles of water. Everyone was so polite. I absolutely love Korean air. I will definitely fly with them again. The flights are most relaxing. Even the layovers aren't so bad with free tours, cheap hotel stays, good airport food for several different ethnic groups. I wonder what business class is like on these planes.
I'm starting to feel more comfortable traveling in Asian airports because I can recognize English, Japanese, and Chinese. Maybe I should study a little Korean too!