De Plane, De Plane!

So the upcoming post was written over the course of the 22 (or so) hours I was in transit. Whenever the occasion would present itself I would whip out my laptop and tap away at the keys in attempts to relay all the things that were rushing by me, and rushing into me. Because of the way that this was written you'll have to pardon any parts that seem disjointed, enjoy :).




Everyone was right. It wasn't real until I was sitting on the plane waiting for take off.

Let me start by saying the first plane, the one from Columbia SC to Atlanta Georgia was a tiny little shack of a plane. Low ceilings, and cramped quarters, worn seat backings whose leather was peeling away to reveal the felt like material underneath, with crumpled news papers and magazines stuffed messily inside them. Delightful.
It was the Volkswagon of planes: you could really feel the "plane" if you will. I haven't flown in a while and needless to say my flying paranoia has increased 10 fold. But whatever, all that aside I met a lovely woman named Linda who was heading to Alabama for a cousins reunion and an earth wind and fire concert. She is a professor of education at a University in SC and a cool lady to share my Korea-bound excitement with. Probably in her mid-fifties this woman was hip. Turquoise earrings, the beige version of my black sketchers sneakers, and a stylish lime green purse.
She was a very cool single serving friend, to quote fight club.

On to Georgia. So I get to Georgia and I'm like, crap, where the hell do I go? After weaving my way through the airport down to the nether regions where they seclude the international travelers I found Korean Air, got my boarding pass, then went to use the restroom and had the toiled flush probably about 6 or 7 times (no joke) whilst my bare ass was still sitting over it trying to finish peeing--totally awesome. Haha, after I was done laughing about that I had a good hour and a half before the plane to Seoul started boarding and let me say, in spite of getting about 3 1/2 hours of sleep the night before I was alert and aware and excited! My emotions were on high volume, one minute I was sitting at the gate laughing to myself about how, fucking A, I'm actually doing this! Shit! Then the next minute tears are welling up in my eyes over who knows what, but either way there they were.
Then they were gone, and I went back to feverishly doodling in my journal to pass the time.

Then! Holy shit the Korean air plane pulls up--let me tell you this thing is a BEHEMOTH! I'm on it right now typing away in my middle seat near the window. So the plane is ENORMOUS. In case you didn't understand that from the prior statement. Two huuuuuge engines on each wing and its a double decker with three seating sections across plane. Three rows near each window and four in the middle--huge. (Sidenote: I keep thinking of Lost b/c the plane is a similar build, awesome.)

I think the funniest thing about the plane was when I saw this truck drive up and stop right next to the plane that said "Gate Gourmet" I thought that was a hilarious usage of alliteration and wrote it in my journal. Then the next time I look back the thing is up at the level of the plane, raised off its axis's by some sort of metal triangular accordion lift thingy (thats the technical term btw) and I could see people walking to and from the truck to the plane by a walkway. I was like well I'll be damned, I guess they have to restock the food somehow.

Anywho I'm now about halfway through the flight. Its 8pm eastern standard time, so its about 9am in Korea-land. They live in the future. Soon, so will I.

I have never been on a plane this long and it really blows, we are not yet halfway there and I'm realizing that I'm going to be on this plane for a good 7-8-9 more hours. I'm starting to sympathize with Jack Nicholson's character from the shining a bit, but since they don't allow any sharp objects on the plane I'm sure everything will be fiiine just fiiine. :D

Oh, and random, we're flying over the artic circle right now--the light is blinding so they had us close all the windows, it's pretty crazy.

Speeding along at over 500mph 34, 000 feet in the air in a temp controlled metal people holding box for 15 hours no appeal to me. Oh well. I'm Korea bound, and after this shitty flight I may just never come home!

So the most interesting thing about this horrid 15 hour flight are the people I wound up sitting next to. To my left a very sweet Thai woman who had lived in the US for a good two years and is currently getting her degree in social work who happened to be going home to visit her family. To my right a man named David Cochran--astrologer, mathematician, studier of physics, software programmer (for his astrology company in FL) who also happens to have a BA in psychology, who is traveling to the Philippines so he can attend the wedding of one of his Philippino wife's family members. Needless to say we had some very very interesting conversations. The majority of the time on the plane he's been scribbling complex calculations onto a note pad or reading out of a statistics book. When he wasn't doing that I was grilling him on precisely what it is he does, and also what the Philippines are like. He was a very engaging person to speak with because he is so intelligent and observant. He was very eager to speak of the Phillipines, which he has visited on about 7 or 8 different occasions. It was great because me, him and the Thai woman (whose name I foolishly forgot to get) were discussing Asia and the general similarities between Asian cultures, it was very enlightening to say the least, and really cool to connect with these two total strangers.
So astrology right? I'm like what the hell does a mathematician/sorta physist/former psych major/ software writer do? Well, he owns his own astrology software company, he writes the programs that help astrologers draw up charts for people. He also runs a very small astrology school, and travels around the country giving lectures on astrology. It was interesting talking to him b/c though an astrologer by trade, as he as been for the past 30 years, he's very skeptical of the field, and that is why he knows so much about math. He is currently going back to school to get his masters and Phd in math, and is in contact with a number of other mathematicians and physicists b/c he is working on some theories that connect astrology to wave theory--a physics theory regarding wavelengths and mass and how mass creates and affects wavelengths (I think...)-basically as a means to give astrology a more scientific background. He had some really interesting ideas that I kept asking him to expound upon. Needless to say he was a really interesting character. (Later on I googled him and he's totally legit. What a randomly cool person to sit next to on the plane. )

Its 6:43pm Korean standard time. Which is to say for all yous guys back home, and to my travel wearied body it is 5:43am. Dear God. Any who I'm at the Gimpo airport right now waiting to board my final flight of the evening to Ulsan.
The kicker about being in the Gimpo airport is that I had to make my way from Incheon to Gimpo by bus--a singular fact I carefully omitted to me Moms so she wouldn't have a heart attack at the thought of me navigating the Korean bus system by my lonesome with little more than the word "gamsahamida" (thank you) and my Korean-English dictionary that a one Sonja Elder so graciously bestowed upon me (this thing has already been a life saver). Any who after finding my luggage, botching a number of words in Korean, and stumbling my way to the bus terminal (and telling a couple of taxi drivers to leave me alone) a very kind bus driver (for a different bus than the one I needed) helped me out, in spite of his limited English and my limited Korean we seemed to work things out and I found my way onto the right bus. Whew.
Speeding along Incheon was lovely. It's really the coastal part of Seoul and not very city like at all. The landscape is gorgeous. Flying in there were all these little island-mountains rising out of the sea, that were covered in green, with the occasional beach by the shoreline dotted with a small hotel and maybe some houses. There was also this huuuge bridge that must have stretched almost a mile from the mainland out to a small island in the water. The funny thing was the bridge wasn't very high up, actually it was very close to sea level. Guess they have calm seas there. Anywho the bus ride was great, aside from the fact that I thought I was going to pass out from exhaustion/hunger. Running along side the road were all these trees that looked like a combination of palm trees and pine trees--the branches were top loaded but instead of palm fronds they were pine like, they looked really cool. In the distance there were all these jagged and beautiful mountains rising in every direction, and closer towards the road there were so many hills, and a few rice paddies (i think) sprinkled along side the highway. Every so often there was a cluster of very clean stark white Hotels (or apartments) rising up along the shoreline in singularity, then giving way to the tree lined landscape that surrounded them.

I hate planes. I am now on the final flight to Ulsan and I keep having all these visions of doom and destruction--I think its partly because my sleep cycle is F'ed beyond comprehension thereby giving way to my neurotic tendencies. Oh well.

In spite of my severe plane hate (newly born, hopefully soon to die b/c it will be hard hating planes and traveling the world, I think I need to learn more about aviation...) the sunset from the air port was gorgeous. I tried to take a picture, but it did little justice to the beauty of the colors and the landscape they were sinking behind. The sun was this glowing magenta ball that was slipping behind jagged mountains probably a few miles away back from the runway of the airport. I've never see the sun glow so vibrantly pink, and yet I could stare right at it. I wonder if the fact that it's setting in the west makes the rays less potent here in the East. Holy crap, I'm in Korea.

Sidenote: there's a Dunkin Donuts here! Believe you me, it's not like back home. I'm such an arrogant American, I see a Dunkins and I"m like oh yay they must speak English! Nope. Needless to say I had to whip out my Korean dictionary and garbled a few words then a man next to me helped me out, and told me that my Korea was very impressive. Haha, awesome I've already been mocked by a Korean. Oh well, I'm trying! I know how to say thank you and hello pretty well, I think those are two of the most important things and more is sure to come.

OK so flying over Seoul. Seoul is enormous, and covered in a thick cloud of smog that the setting sun illuminated into this eerie mist that hovered about the city with a ghostly presence, it was really beautiful because it caught some of the magenta hues of the sun, but at the same time sort of sad and gross, that much pollution is really quite terrible. What can you do? Probably see the same thing flying over New York I bet, sans the gorgeous magenta sun.
Oh another thing: the stewardesses look like dinner mints. They wear these pale green shiny shirts with soft beige lady suits over them, its great. And they're all so dainty, like little dolls, with sideways cancer/support the troops bows in their hair (seriously thats what they look like its kind of funny).

There is so much to observe here. I know that with everything I write I am omitting something else, some small detail that would color the things I am describing differently and make the experience I am trying to communicate more vivid, and more real, however there is only so much I can pull from my travel wearied brain at the moment.