Loughborough to Incheon

Loughborough Train Station
29th Aug 2009
Nowadays, i look forward less and less to work trips
just because i need more time to actually stay in the lab and work!
and even though i'd never been to South Korea
i'd scheduled my flight so that i was going almost exactly for the duration of the conference
not even allowing any time to recover from jet lag

i paid so little attention to my trip that i didnt even know that time of my flight
until a few days before i was due to leave
yea..
so by the time i booked my train tix, it was too late to reserve seats
and it being a bank holiday weekend, it was all packed out
it was all i could do to get a seat on the train!
people who boarded from Leicester were left standing all the way to London

I almost turned back when i saw the crowd at St Pancras
in fact, i did turn around.. but darn, i had a flight to catch..
(such is my mental allergy to crowds)

turned out there was some carnival at Notting Hill
so i got my camera out and asked the guys to pose for me
;)

so i dumped my luggage and went for duck rice with roger and angie
helped them with some apartment hunting
and dragged myself off to the Heathrow
i'd never felt so reluctant on a trip..

by the time i reached the airport, i had a massive headache, and my stomach was acting up
the uni travel agent has booked an aisle seat for me though i'd specifically asked for window
and there was no free seats left so i couldnt switch
...

just as i'd gone through the gate, i realised i was going to get sick
so i had to ask permission to leave the gate and rushed to the toilet
and........ -drum roll- found a row of korean women brushing their teeth in unison
how quaint!
(i was too miserable at that point to take a sneaky shot)

thankfully for me, salvation arrived in the form of a cute blonde toddler
as i sat at the gate telling myself this must be the end of the bad luck
she climbed on to the seat beside me
and started showing me her socks, her pyjamas and her teddy bear
(which looked more like a monkey and she christened him Poo Poo)
she sulked when i asked her to follow her mummy
but cheered up when i started walking with them to the plane
and she decided that she wanted me to carry her..
so.. yea, it was the first time i boarded a plane with a child in my arms
..

when i got to my seat, it was occupied by a pixie young korean lady
who said "oh my god" a hundred times when i said it was my seat
the guy beside her (who i later found out was a jap) found it very amusing...

so things got better..
my seat mates were non-chatty and hardly went to the toilet
the bibimbap they served on the plane was the best flight food i'd ever had
just because boiled meat/veg can't go much wrong at high pressures

11 hours and 3 movies later (Fast and Furious, The ghosts of girlfriends past, 17 again)
we arrived at Incheon Airport

we were checked for temperature with a thermometer
then again walked through heat scanners
at the end of which we were handed out individually wrapped wet towels

at this point, a european man approached me and asked if i knew what it was
when i told him, he was most impressed by the gesture
That is the official South Korea though.. (at least in my opinion)
fast, efficient, hospitable and squeaky clean
the immigration officer hardly even looked at my face before he processed my passport
the quickest time i'd ever entered a country for the first time!

when i was looking for the airport limo to the hotel, touts descended like vultures
but my skin has gotten much thicker after the many trips to BKK
so i managed to get to the coach unscathed

the airport itself reminded me of an armadillo

if only i knew that the ride was going to take me more than an hour
and make me car sick...