So my South Korean trip has begun. Today is Wed, Sept 7, 2013. It's still Tuesday at home, but I'm 13ish hours in the future. Cause I'm awesome like that.
So my Monday started like any other. Got up (Argh super early..I kept waking up over and over that night. Such a pain. But whatever).
Went upstairs, gave my diabetic dog her insulin, took my thyroid medication and went out to take care of the horses (I have a horse farm). My dad was home, and I was surprised as he said he wasn't staying home. But he incorrectly assumed that my brother would drive me to the airport (yea..uh huh)..so he decided to stay home to be with my mom another day (She had been super sick last week), and to drive me to the airport, as Brett (my brother) is a major fail. 

So off to  the JFK Airport (which is farther away than I thought), and after only a little traffic and we were there. My direct flight on Asiana Airlines left at 1pm, so I had wanted to be there at 11ish. (we were. yay!).  Dad, of course, had to walk me inside (Aww daddy..) and then I went in. I am happy to day that my suitcase passed at 23 kg.

So the flight was rather uneventful. Minor turbulence and I was one of 3 or 4 non-Asians. (Kinda feels weird, but I am going to South Korea..so..)

The lady in my section was nice, but we didn't talk much. Thankfully there was no one in between us, so we had more room to stretch out. Yay!. I watched Iron Man 3 (loved it) Jack the Giant Killer (awesome), and 1/2 a Korean movie...I can Sing ( I think), but I got tired half way through so I never finished it.

All together I think I was only able to get about 2 or 3 hours of sleep during the 14 hour flight. , but if I am not comfortable, I don't sleep overly well.

So we landed. After spending 14 hours stuck behind the Flatulence Queen, (omg I swear it was every 20 minutes), and in front of Sir Hacks-a lot, we made it down the runway at Incheon Airport.  (The plane food wasn't anything to write home about). Out of customs in about 10 minutes (seriously the U.S. needs to work on that), and off the carousel 19 for my black suitcase with blue and purple plaid duct tape (gotta make it stand out somehow!).

While waiting, I got to watch some kid (I say kid as he's Korean, and therefore could be anywhere from 16-30. lol),  who may or may not be 'someone'...who knows..was acting like it. Big dark glasses, had 2 older men with him, and acting like he was Important. I had no idea who he was, and didn't take a picture. Oh well.

Once my suitcase was grabbed, off to the bus info to see which one to take. (You can take an airport bus for roughly 12-15,000 won ish. and it will take you either to your hotel..depending on which one you are at..or in the general area of the hotel. Taxis are available (take them from the ones that are in front of the airport..not the ones where the guys bug you from inside before you get out...and don't take black ones. Those are luxury taxis and are more expensive.) and can be anywhere from 30-100,000 won depending on where you are going. You can also take the subways to your station as well. That is probably the cheapest, but if you don't know where to go, taking the bus or a taxi is the safest bet.

The people at the info places are super nice and speak pretty good English. You can also take money out of many ATMs in the area, or have your money exchanged at those type of kiosks.

My hostel was booked on Agoda.com (cheapest place I had found), but unfortunately the address was incorrect. It stated Hongdae, when in fact it was located in Yeonnam-dong, Mapo-gu. (ARGH!) So I had to take a taxi to figure out where the hell it was. The first driver had no idea, the second driver was smart and used his GPS (all taxi cabs have them). So yay we found it.

The driver was nice and asked me age (I'm 33), and was shocked I'm single. (I know, I'm awesome. lol). Haha. called me beautiful and offered himself. Haha. Thank you ahjussi. Sarangaeyo! I know I'm awesome. lol. :-D

So then he let me out in the general area (we both had no idea where exactly it was), and it turns out the hostel was right across from me, but I am an idiot and never looked. But when I asked for help, this super awesome couple found it, and walked me over. Yay awesome Koreans!

So into my hostel room. Which is a little smaller than I thought, but no big deal. (I wanted a place that had a washing machine, and can't do a 'real' hostel. I went to college and am done sharing bathrooms and dorm like rooms. I want a room to me. :-D ) And went about unpacking.  I had to hang my clothes on the drying rack as there was no closet. I do get a sort of balcony with the washing machine on it. Huge windows and a sliding glass door next to the bed. Hard bed is hard, but deal with able. (My back didn't hurt from it! Yay...I have a bulging disk or a messed up nerve in my back. So it usually hurts..) and even though I am supposed to get free wifi with the room I couldn't get it to work. So I have to ask about that later.

So as much as I would have liked to, I couldn't stay awake and was asleep by 8 pm ish (flight landed at 4ish and I was at the hostel by about 7ish). Then I woke up for a couple hours around 11pm and then back to sleep until 430 am. And I was awake. ugh.  (The hour difference...well from New Jersey in the US, Subtract an hour and make it AM if it's PM in SK or vise versa. So if it was 430 am in SK, it was 330 pm in NJ. I hope that makes sense.)

And this is where I will end it for now. :-) I tend to go back and forth in my tenses, so I hope it makes sense! :-D