Fly away

I've been back in Korea about a week, but I want to recap my travel experience. My left New Year's Day at 6 AM, but I was at the airport around 4. The line to check in was surprisingly long, but my mom waited with me. Then in security I ended up behind these hippies (literally) wearing tie-dye and dreadlocks and trying to bring water and granola on the plane. TSA loved them almost as much as I did. 

Then I got on the plane, and we sat. And sat. And sat some more. Then we drove away from the gate and had to sit some more so the plane could be de-iced. You would think that in Minnesota someone would have thought about that before we were ready to take off. Then the de-icing machine broke and we had to wait for another one to be available. We took off over an hour late, and I landed in Denver 10 minutes after my connecting flight was supposed to leave. I've traveled a lot this past year and I've never been horribly lost or late or stranded, so I wasn't very worried. I've got faith in the system. However, the girl next to me had no faith. She was freaking out about not being able to get to San Francisco and having to spend the night in Denver and all her plans being ruined and her luggage being lost. Then I started to get a little worried because international flights don't leave very often and I had to be at work the next morning and it would be really bad if I was stuck somewhere in Denver. Luckily they held our connecting flight. They made an announcement and told us to literally run to the gate. At that point I pretty much kissed my luggage good-bye, but somehow it made it all the way to Korea with me. Lesson learned: God even cares about my travel plans.

My international flight was only half full, which was the greatest thing ever. Everyone got to spread out and I had 2 seats to sleep on. The flight attendants came through with meals every few hours, but they put all the pop and snacks in the back of the plane and told us to eat whenever we felt like it. I'm not sure if they were just being lazy, but that is a really good idea. All flights should do that. I slept as much as I could and listened to a lot of Hillsong. The lady next to me stayed awake the entire time knitting a purple scarf. Every time I woke up it was 4 inches longer. 

I took a bus back to Ulsan. The family next to me spoke English, Korean, and Spanish. I wish I had their skills. 

It took about a week for the jet lag to wear off. I've done the international thing 3 times and this was the worst. I got tired every day after work and then again at 9 or 10, which is early for me. But, after a lot of coffee and sleep, I think I'm back to normal. When I was in America I felt like I had never left, and now that I'm back in Korea I kind of feel like I never left here either.