Seoul - Day 1 & 2

To prepare for our 2-week adventure in South Korea, Scottie and I made an unconventional trip to Wal-mart to buy some "gifts" for Scottie's folks: 7 cans American Spam, 4 cans Libby's Corned Beef, 4 containers of Orange Tang, 2 containers of Centrum multi-vitamins, and 1 tube of lotion.  I just had to laugh as we pulled up our cart for check-out, but we certainly aimed to please!

On Tuesday evening (April 12), we put the finishing touches on the packing of our 2 traditional suitcases, our 2 big honker suitcases, our 2 backpacks, and 1 camera bag (for my big honker and wee cameras!).  For our last meal, I cooked Mediterranean-style preparing lamb burgers in a pita with tomatoes, spinach, and a side of hummus.  For drinks, we sipped on what I assume would be our last micro brew for 2 weeks, one of our favorites in the Spring, Bell's Oberon.  I figured lamb and Bell's were pretty rare in South Korea.  We managed to stay up as late as we could the last 3 nights in order to help ease my way into sleeping a little on our 14-hour flight and the 13-hour time difference from Detroit.

On Wednesday morning (April 13), we started off the morning with long showers and dined at Commonwealth Café, an independent coffeehouse by the same owners as Ronin in Royal Oak, in Birmingham for a quick egg sandwich and some strong, pour-over coffee.  Read more about the atmosphere at this "unique" establishment in the freep.com review. It was actually my first time there and it worked out quite well since our refrigerator was looking a bit empty at the moment.  I think the contents included beer, more beer, and various condiments.  Not the most healthy breakfast!

At the Detroit Metro Airport, we parked in the long-term parking (Green Lot), which was new for us and cheaper.  We checked our bags and made it to our gate with enough time for a round 2 of coffee from Starbucks (our last American Starbucks) and quick flip-thru of our left-over Wall Street Journals from the week.

Aboard our Delta B-777 direct flight to Seoul, Scottie and I were pleased to find our seats were almost exactly as planned using SeatGuru.com.  Scottie found the Economy ones that included an outlet, were relatively close to the front of the plane, reclined, and near the bathroom (but not so near to smell and hear everything!).  Initially, we were worried when we realized my seat (a middle) was not in the same aisle as his.  Plus mine was close to the bathroom, did not recline, and with no outlet.  Eventually, we figured that I could just sit in the seat we originally picked for me next to Scottie's aisle and we hoped that no one would come. Luck was in our favor.  And we were off to Seoul, one of the 31 Places to Go according to the New York Times...in 2010.

The plane was equipped with seat monitors that provided us with free movies, music, and games throughout the flight plus a flight moving map (that I enjoyed watching quite a bit!).   Our flight was going to fly north across Canada and Alaska to the Pacific crossing over Japan and Russia before South Korea to land in Incheon in South Korea.  We were lucky to have a direct flight to South Korea as opposed to the tradition flights that stopped in Japan.  In addition to the monitors, we were pleased to find that beer (including Korean beer, Hite!) and wine were complimentary as well as a meal service (including a Korean meal choice of bulgogi, rice, cheese, bread, and fruit) to start and end (some sort of egg omelet with chicken sausage) the flight with snacks (peanuts, pretzels, and a sandwich, chocolate, and more bread) in-between.  I can't to see what business class brings us next time! haha!

After watching The Social Network, reading half my book, watching Knight and Day, and reading another half of my book, we landed in Incheon!  Passing through customs was a breeze and we met Scottie's Dad immediately after passing through immigration with our luggage in tow.  Unfortunately, we just missed our bus ("airport limousine") out to where Scottie's folks lived, so we grabbed a cup of coffee and waited for only 20 minutes before the next ride out.  The 1.5 hour bus ride was from Incheon to Uijeonbu where we picked up a taxi to the apartment complex where Scottie's parents lived outside of Yangju City, the GS Xii Apartments (or as pronounced by the bus drivers, the "Gi-e" apartments). 

It was about 8pm local time before all was said and done, so we chatted a little over a home-cooked meal that included breaking out some Soju, clear potato liquor (like potent water!) to cheer our arrival.  We unpacked and turned in early (for us!).

More pictures located here.  A map of our trip located here.