Korea - Day 14 - Home at last!
Around 4:30am there was a buzz at the train station. By 5:00am the buzz had grown and a flurry of morning activity was underway. Shopkeepers were opening their stores, cleaning crews were putting away their tools, gates were being opened - Seoul Station was waking up. I smiled as I picked up my belongings and made the trek around the corner. Seoul Station was about 1/2 mile from the subway stop that would get me to Gimpo Airport, where I would transfer onto the AREX for the ride back to Incheon.
I reached the subway station just as the gates were opening. I bought my ticket and boarded the first train to Gimpo. Once there I bought my ticket to Incheon and made the transfer with no difficulty. Incheon is quite a distance from Gimpo, which is already a good 30-minute subway ride from Seoul.
Once at the airport I made my way to the ticket counter. It was 7:15am and the ticket counter didn't open until 8:00am. I made a run at some last-minute souvenir shopping and mailed some postcards before heading back to the check-in counter. By now there was over a hundred people in line for the counter. I smiled and walked over to a kiosk to print my boarding pass. As I pulled my passes from the machine a Delta representative told me that even though I wasn't checking any suitcases, I still needed to line up. Thankfully, my elite flyer status put me in a line behind only eight people. As I stood there I heard some mumbling from the "other" line about special treatment.
(I used to be one of those mumblers. Now I'm on the other side of the line. For those of us who travel week in and week out, any opportunity to reclaim even 15 minutes of our lives is worth it. I understand the perception of unfairness and, well, life is unfair. For years I was getting the short end of it, but now I do get treated a little better by the airlines. However, it does come at a price - just ask my family how many birthdays, concerts, tournaments and other special occasions I've missed while being "pampered" by the airlines.)
The line moved quickly, and soon I was at the counter having my boarding passed stamped with the words, "DOCS OK." All that just to make sure I have a valid passport? Whatever. I made my way through security, enjoyed one last look at the shopping before calling home and heading over to the lounge (yes, another one of those perks). Once there I grabbed a plate of food for breakfast and sat down to catch my breath. At this point sleep really wanted to become part of my day, but I was holding out for the second leg of the trip to sleep as a jetlag-defeating strategy.
A few minutes later I was boarding the plane. The flight from Seoul to Tokyo took about two hours. Once we landed I made my way to the transfer desk. After clearing security (On international flights you get to re-do the security check at every stop) I headed straight for the lounge. I had one hour before the flight to Detroit boarded, so I hopped into the shower to wash away two days worth of travel. A quick re-pack of my bags and I set up at a counter to charge my laptop and iPod while eating some lunch.
Shortly after it was time to board. I made my way onto the 747-400 and down to my assigned seat - 36C. Nuts - I just missed out on the exit row by one number. That exit row would have given my legs all the room they needed. Instead, I was going to have two people climbing over me to get to the bathroom for the next 12 hours. (Travel tip: When flying on a wide-body (i.e. 2-aisle) airplane, get the aisle seat in the middle section. At most you'll have one person to let out.) As I was wondering who my seatmates would be, a large gentleman stopped one row short of me. He was at least 6'5", 330 pounds (probably bigger on both counts; I'm trying to be kind here). And his seat assignment? Yup, 36B.
I smiled as I let him into his seat. And, to his credit, he smiled at me and was very self-conscious about this arrangement. He did his best to fold himself into his seat and keep his elbows to himself. Poor fellow, I thought. At least I have the aisle to hang into for relief. Our rowmate at 36A finally showed up, and the two elephants got up and let him in. Wouldn't you know it, but the smallest guy in the row had the best seat? On this plane seat 35A is missing because of the emergency door, so our short, skinny Filipino friend had the most legroom of us all. Here again is another reminder why business travel is not as glamorous as George Clooney made it look.
But God is good, and even in this challenge he showed up to take care of me. After the aircraft door closed the flight attendant came over to our two rows and told us that both 35 and 36 were considered exit rows. As she went over the safety briefing she must have assessed the situation. A moment later she was talking to the little old Japanese lady in 36D who had TWO open seats next to her. Whatever the flight attendant said bothered the lady, but she grudgingly stood up. Then the flight attendant motioned to my large companion and invited him to occupy those two seats. On his way over he blurted out, "Can't be any worse than it is here." Eventually he settled into 36E and the left side of 36F while the old lady continued to give the flight attendant the death stare while muttering under her breath.
I smiled and said, "Thank you, Lord!" as we took off from Narita at 3:00pm Thursday afternoon. With the time change, we were scheduled to land at 1:40pm Thursday afternoon. Yup, the International Date Line strikes again! The way I figure, I was born in the Eastern time zone so as long as I end up here I'll neither a borrower nor a lender be. Once we completed the climbout from Narita and the seatbelt sign was turned off, my remaining seatmate confided a medical condition that would have him going to the restroom frequently and wondered whether I would be willing to change seats with him. Not wanting to turn down the chance for the legroom I obliged and discovered that I could still let myself in and out of the window seat by stepping over the bumpout at the bottom of the emergency door. This was working out great!
The flight had a few moments of good turbulence, and the plane's age predated seatback video. But the flight attendants were on top of the meal service, feeding us three times. The food quality was pretty good - chicken curry for dinner, light snack (can't remember - sandwich, yogurt and fruit maybe?) and a breakfast quiche with sausage and fruit.
It's hard to say that a 12-hour flight went by quickly, but it did. I managed to get a lot of sleep (Thank you Bose QC15 Noise Cancelling Headphones!), and did stretch out a couple of times. As we made the final approach to Detroit I tried looking out the window, but the window was over my back shoulder. Even then all I had was a good view of the wing. It wasn't until the wheels hitting the runway jolted me in my seat that I knew how close we were.
After getting off the plane I ran all the way to Passport Control, where the officer greeted me with the words, "Welcome home." Floating I ran to the Customs checkpoint, turned in my declaration card and proceeded out the door.
There she was - my beautiful wife waiting to bring me home after a long, long trip. Eighteen days away seemed so long, but they are quickly fading into the past as I hold her hand and head into the future with her.
It's good to be home.
