Half Way There
Sorry – no posting yesterday. We're currently awaiting our 10 hour flight from S Korea ro Brisbane.
The joy of traveling for an entire day – 3 planes and many thousand miles later we found ourselves briefly in South Korea. Day 1 went without a hitch. The girls have done GREAT!!!
By the time we got to the hotel last night it was about 5 am Florida time – which means we’d been awake with the exception for about 2 hours of sleep for about 25 hours. Ugh. I think we all at some point thought “is this worth it?” though it was a very brief thought. Meredith pretty much was the only one to get her normal day’s allotment of sleep (we would pay for that later, however. :) )
We have essentially lost a day of our lives – July 4, 2005 – due to the crossing of time zones. Will get it back when we depart on the 31st and arrive in Ft. Lauderdale on the 31st.
Korean Airlines: the Andersons and Young Hoovers were in row 55 (of 57). Occasionally the Head Bloke and Head Sheila made their way back to us. Food much better than anticipated (had been warned by several), though not sure exactly what we were eating during the 2 meals served. Bizarre – kids lunch consisted of pizza, fruit, bread and 3 desserts – tapioca, M&Ms and a Twix bar. Dinner had 3 desserts, as well.
Korea: Incheon Airport nowhere near Seoul (will try to stay in Seoul on return). Hyatt nice. Beds on first look appeared fluffy but queen beds were basically oversized twins and upon closer inspection it was clear we’d be sleeping on something with a softness level akin to an ironing board. Lisa and I agreed it was at least softer than a bamboo mat which we imagine was the inspiration for the mattresses.
People: Very polite. Think we need to bring the greeting “bow” back to the US. Walking through the airport – saw the KFC and McDonalds – but absolutely not one single fat person.
First night: sure enough, we all pretty much awoke around 11:30 pm feeling like it was time to get up. And of course, Meredith got up for good around 2 am and spent the next 4 hours getting up and out of bed, hopping around like a kangaroo, watching Veggie Tales and Scooby Doo DVDs. After wanting to put her out in the hall we ended up laughing -- out of part resignation and part exhaustion. Felt urge to order coffee around 4 am but forced ourselves to stay in bed until 6 – Meredith all the while bouncing around the room.
Morning: since we're so far from Seoul, any tour is out of the question so we thought we'd spend couple of hours exploring what was billed as an 8-level shopping megaplex attached to the hotel. It was recently opened for business but naturally only 1 floor had actual shops. So 15 minutes later we decided our best option was a nap.
The Young Hoovers are the first to get Golden Boomerang demerits (Golden Boomerang to be awarded to the best traveler as determined by Head Bloke) for sleeping through our hotel departure meeting time. All get a good laugh at the thought of Young Hoovers jumping out of bed naked and frantic that Head Bloke will be less than happy.
We are now sitting around the Incheon Airport -- voted 2nd best airport in the world for cleanliness and shopping -- sure enough the ladies are quite impressed with the available fashion at duty free pricing, the handbags in particular (naturally).
Strange Hotel Note: you must insert your card key in a slot to activate the room's power -- including the A/C. You only get one key so when you leave the room the A/C goes off. Very odd and not good if it's a hot summer day.
The joy of traveling for an entire day – 3 planes and many thousand miles later we found ourselves briefly in South Korea. Day 1 went without a hitch. The girls have done GREAT!!!
By the time we got to the hotel last night it was about 5 am Florida time – which means we’d been awake with the exception for about 2 hours of sleep for about 25 hours. Ugh. I think we all at some point thought “is this worth it?” though it was a very brief thought. Meredith pretty much was the only one to get her normal day’s allotment of sleep (we would pay for that later, however. :) )
We have essentially lost a day of our lives – July 4, 2005 – due to the crossing of time zones. Will get it back when we depart on the 31st and arrive in Ft. Lauderdale on the 31st.
Korean Airlines: the Andersons and Young Hoovers were in row 55 (of 57). Occasionally the Head Bloke and Head Sheila made their way back to us. Food much better than anticipated (had been warned by several), though not sure exactly what we were eating during the 2 meals served. Bizarre – kids lunch consisted of pizza, fruit, bread and 3 desserts – tapioca, M&Ms and a Twix bar. Dinner had 3 desserts, as well.
Korea: Incheon Airport nowhere near Seoul (will try to stay in Seoul on return). Hyatt nice. Beds on first look appeared fluffy but queen beds were basically oversized twins and upon closer inspection it was clear we’d be sleeping on something with a softness level akin to an ironing board. Lisa and I agreed it was at least softer than a bamboo mat which we imagine was the inspiration for the mattresses.
People: Very polite. Think we need to bring the greeting “bow” back to the US. Walking through the airport – saw the KFC and McDonalds – but absolutely not one single fat person.
First night: sure enough, we all pretty much awoke around 11:30 pm feeling like it was time to get up. And of course, Meredith got up for good around 2 am and spent the next 4 hours getting up and out of bed, hopping around like a kangaroo, watching Veggie Tales and Scooby Doo DVDs. After wanting to put her out in the hall we ended up laughing -- out of part resignation and part exhaustion. Felt urge to order coffee around 4 am but forced ourselves to stay in bed until 6 – Meredith all the while bouncing around the room.
Morning: since we're so far from Seoul, any tour is out of the question so we thought we'd spend couple of hours exploring what was billed as an 8-level shopping megaplex attached to the hotel. It was recently opened for business but naturally only 1 floor had actual shops. So 15 minutes later we decided our best option was a nap.
The Young Hoovers are the first to get Golden Boomerang demerits (Golden Boomerang to be awarded to the best traveler as determined by Head Bloke) for sleeping through our hotel departure meeting time. All get a good laugh at the thought of Young Hoovers jumping out of bed naked and frantic that Head Bloke will be less than happy.
We are now sitting around the Incheon Airport -- voted 2nd best airport in the world for cleanliness and shopping -- sure enough the ladies are quite impressed with the available fashion at duty free pricing, the handbags in particular (naturally).
Strange Hotel Note: you must insert your card key in a slot to activate the room's power -- including the A/C. You only get one key so when you leave the room the A/C goes off. Very odd and not good if it's a hot summer day.
posted by Big Daddy at 7:13 PM
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