Seoul Day One
We survived the trip!
Excited for this long awaited vacation, neither of us slept as we waited for the car service to pick us up at 3:45AM. We actually bumped into Susan & Jeffrey Popplewell at Newark Airport of all places! They were headed to, as Jeffrey put it, exotic Indiana and looked bright eyed and chipper at 430AM.
After check-in, we headed to the United Club Member lounge (courtesy of Nicole & her mom - thank you!) and had a nice, relaxing pre-flight meal. They had conference space, workstations, a bar, shower stalls, two continental breakfast areas, a variety of free newspapers, a television lounge area, and plenty of comfy seating. We felt like we were members of a secret frequent flier club and part of the "in" crowd.
Our flight was on time, boarding at 5:25AM for San Francisco where we had a short 1 hour layover. Both flights had very little turbulence (yay!), service was amazing (friendliest flight attendants ever), and both flight running on time. It was all great....minus one small detail...which probably wouldn't bother most people, but for a germaphob like me, it was a little bit of a ...well...a nightmare.
I was seated next to someone...who. was. sick. The poor girl was not well, but the hypochondriac in me was not as sympathetic as I could have been be. We survived without catching her cold, so I can be much more compassionate now (yes, after the fact). Mind you, I was kind to her the entire flight....but I won't lie....the insides were crying the whole time.
Anyway, we arrived at current world's best international airport and it was a swift process through immigration, baggage claim, customs, foreign money exchange, and ticketing for the bus to Gyeongbokung station. Seoul is a very efficient city and already, we are in love.
We checked into our Airbnb rental with just a few minor hiccups, but thanks to google translate, we were back up and running at full speed.
Our first night involved walking around the Gyeonbukgung area and acclimating ourselves to our home for the week. We had a great dinner and then headed back home. Can't wait for an early start tomorrow!
We survived the trip!
Excited for this long awaited vacation, neither of us slept as we waited for the car service to pick us up at 3:45AM. We actually bumped into Susan & Jeffrey Popplewell at Newark Airport of all places! They were headed to, as Jeffrey put it, exotic Indiana and looked bright eyed and chipper at 430AM.
After check-in, we headed to the United Club Member lounge (courtesy of Nicole & her mom - thank you!) and had a nice, relaxing pre-flight meal. They had conference space, workstations, a bar, shower stalls, two continental breakfast areas, a variety of free newspapers, a television lounge area, and plenty of comfy seating. We felt like we were members of a secret frequent flier club and part of the "in" crowd.
Our flight was on time, boarding at 5:25AM for San Francisco where we had a short 1 hour layover. Both flights had very little turbulence (yay!), service was amazing (friendliest flight attendants ever), and both flight running on time. It was all great....minus one small detail...which probably wouldn't bother most people, but for a germaphob like me, it was a little bit of a ...well...a nightmare.
I was seated next to someone...who. was. sick. The poor girl was not well, but the hypochondriac in me was not as sympathetic as I could have been be. We survived without catching her cold, so I can be much more compassionate now (yes, after the fact). Mind you, I was kind to her the entire flight....but I won't lie....the insides were crying the whole time.
Anyway, we arrived at current world's best international airport and it was a swift process through immigration, baggage claim, customs, foreign money exchange, and ticketing for the bus to Gyeongbokung station. Seoul is a very efficient city and already, we are in love.
We checked into our Airbnb rental with just a few minor hiccups, but thanks to google translate, we were back up and running at full speed.
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| view from the 2nd floor loft |