Our last day in Republic of Korea! Where has the time gone?! We have really kept busy and done some unique adventures and had opportunities for visiting with Aaron, Jeong Mi, and her family. But it was time to go... we awakened to news that an airplane flying from Seoul-Incheon Korea to San Francisco (the day before) crashed on landing at San Francisco Airport. It gave family and friends quite a concern until they found out that we were not on that plane. Interesting to note, that our itinerary began with a Pittsburgh to San Francisco to Seoul-Incheon Korea, but we were UNABLE to book the same route going back). We flew on United airlines and we were only able to book a Seoul-Incheon flight to Tokyo-Narita Japan; Tokyo-Narita to Chicago-O'Hare international airport, then Chicago-O'Hare to Pittsburgh International Airport.
We have learned (through experience) that is is better to pay more and fly with fewer connections! Fewer opportunities for things to go wrong... we offer up our prayers for those involved in the airplane crah. It did make us a little jittery as we began our travels the next day.
Kelly made his last visit to McDonalds for my coffee and then it was pack up, clean up apartment (thanks to my Hubby for his endeavors in this task!), and head out the door when Aaron and others arrived at 8:30 AM.
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| Enjoyed going to McDonald's for breakfast, or lunch, or drinks |
Wang, Jeong Mi's best friend, offered to take us to the airport and she, Jeong Mi, and Limmy were waiting outside the apartment when Aaron, Kelly, and I left. We tearfully said our goodbye to Limmy and then Jeong Mi's best friend, Aaron, Jeong Mi, and I headed to Seoul-Incheon International Airport.
Some sites we observed along the way:
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| Love the flowers along the streets in Yeonsu |
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| New Songdo |
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| Outside of Seoul-Incheon Airport.. won't tell you what Aaron says it looks like.. |
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Thanks to Aaron and Jeong Mi's friend for taking us to the airport!!
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| Saying Goodbye to Aaron and Jeong Mi was very sad and painful |
We went inside the airport and we were amazed at the large amount of customers waiting in the United airlines lines. At least four lines deep and we were at the end of the fourth line. Fortunately we were there by 9:00 am and our flight did not leave until 11:40 AM. We got our boarding pass and found out that they moved the flight up 30 mins. so we got through security and customs and headed on the terminal train to the boarding side of the airport.
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| We had a front row view of the tunnel our train navigated from one side of airport to the other |
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| Kelly getting pic taken again |
We found our gate and had time to spare. Some more pics from inside the Inchon Airport:
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| Traditional Korean cultural center inside the airport |
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| Edie waiting by gate |
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| Our plane to Tokyo-Narita International Airport (a B777) |
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| Before we boarded our plane to Tokyo-Narita Airport |
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| Saying goodbye to Korean soil! |
Then it was time to board for our long journey home! The plane trip to Japan lasted about 2 hours and was all in all pretty uneventful. They served some small sandwiches and beverages on the way.
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| Hello Japanese soil! |
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| Coming in for a landing! |
We landed safely and traveled into the airport to find our gate. Our boarding pass was to go from Korea to Chicago and we did not have a gate boarding pass in the Japan airport.. so we were confused. The United reservation desk was completely filled with passengers trying to change their itinerary since all flights into San Francisco were cancelled due to the airplane crash the day before.
So Kelly checked in the United Club and she looked at our pass and told us the gate we were to leave from. She said for $50.00 dollars that day we could hang in the club; we politely reclined the offer.
We checked out the Japanese stores and purchased an ice tea and coke for 700 yen; (Kelly found out that 100 yen equals one dollar). Saw these rice cakes for sale and decided that they were Bruckart picture worthy.
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| All one needs to know about rice cakes |
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| Rice Cakes for sale |
By this time the United desk attendants were at the gate desk, so Kelly made sure that our boarding passes would work and soon it was time to leave Japan. Pics below from the Tokyo-Narita airport..
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| Smoking area |
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| Making sure we were at the correct gate to Chicago-O'Hare Airport |
Now for the very long leg of the trip. Over eleven hours with a number of meals and beverages offered throughout the trip. Our seats were very close to the bathroom which made that convenient (although Edie did not like the light/sound coming on all the time. This plane had individual monitors in the back of each seat that permitted one to choose offered movies, TV shows, Audio, map of plane's progress, games, and even language classes. Edie had an opportunity to see 3 movies and play some games, while Kelly checked out a lot of TV shows, and Speaking Korean language activities.
Pics of our plane trip itinerary taken from the monitor:
We landed in Chicago-O'Hare Airport and the real "fun" began. We exited the plane and headed to immigration (where we had to do a computer generated check-in) and got our bags where we went through customs. Then we had to recheck our baggage for our connecting flights.. Next, we had to take a terminal train by rail where we had to go through security for our carry ons and walk a long way to get from Terminal one where we were to terminal two where our gate was! And we were upset that the areas were not better marked! But fortunately we had time between our flights.. we noticed a number of passengers sprinting down the hall and we can understand how that would feel to miss a connecting flight!
We were able to finally call Jeremiah and Melissa and private facebook text Aaron that we had arrived safely in Chicago and that we were on schedule for our Pittsburgh flight. We called a number of other family members and we were able to get a cold drink and use the airport restrooms before we got on our Pittsburgh bound plane.
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| Pittsburgh bound |
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| Window seat permitted a little cloud watching |
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| We always seem to sit on or near the wings |
We enjoyed seeing the Pittsburgh landscape as we approached the landing strip for the Pittsburgh International Airport! Edie slept most of the one hour flight having gotten little sleep during the other 2 flights.
Pic taken in the Pittsburgh Airport:
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| Franco Harris |
We figured that by the time we actually got to Franklin we had been traveling in car, traveling in planes, sitting and or walking in airports for over 26 hours.. it was a very very long Sunday for us which began at 8:30 AM Sunday (actually 7:30 PM Saturday ((Franklin time)) in Yeonsu, Incheon City, Korea, and ended at 9:30 PM Sunday night in Franklin, PA!
While we so enjoyed our visit with Aaron, Jeong Mi, and her family, we were happy to be home, see and visit with Nipsy, and sleep in our own bed! One of us showed their appreciation for USA soil!
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Symbolism of thankfulness for landing safely on American soil
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Nipsy (though she may not look it!) was happy for us to be home so that she could be outside again!
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Monday Morning, July 8, 2013
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Kelly and I will have reflections and thoughts in the days and months ahead that we may add periodically.
But these are the main events of our 2013 Korean adventure. We thank everyone for any part they may have had in our successful trip!
