Time to head back to the States. My 10-month adventure as a first year teacher has come to an end.
Unfortunately, the worst part about international travel… is the travel. Thankfully, the trip was practically non-stop with only one layover. Not bad considering my trip back in August will have two. The other nice thing was it was a late afternoon flight, so I had practically all day to get things tied up at home.
My friends, the Lowells, were joining me on this voyage back to the States, so it was nice to have traveling companions.
We arrived at the airport and I had my last meal of shake-shake fries from Lotteria. We made our way to the gate, boarded the plane and waited for takeoff. I sat down in my seat and looked at the seat-back in front of me. A strange sight met my eye: a working video console!!! Hopefully this one would hold out the entire flight and I wouldn’t find myself trying to conserve computer battery life as experience proved I couldn’t recharge it in the bathroom.
We taxied out to the runway and accelerated for takeoff. I glanced at my watch.
Sunday, June 13. 6pm.
The flight was enjoyable. Got to watch the excellent “Midnight” episode of Doctor Who… which seemed slightly inappropriate for an airline flight as it deals with people trapped on a broken down shuttle with no escape from an alien that has possessed one of the occupants. Thankfully, nothing like that happened here.
I started watching “Book of Eli” but the picture was too hard to see and I figured I had better quality on my own computer. Plus… I wouldn’t have international subtitles. “When in Rome” was watched solely for Kristen Bell and wasn’t horrible, but was predictable.
Read a little of the first Percy Jackson book and tried sleeping. Alas, sleep has never come easily to me when I sit in the middle seat. I got perhaps 15 minutes of shuteye spread out across the entire trip.
I talked to the woman next to me who was heading back to the States to pick up her son and bring him back to Korea. She’s in the military, found out she was going to be there long term, and felt it was best to bring her son over. I tried to tell her about the exciting things to do in Korea as she claimed she hadn’t ventured very far from Yongsan military base. I advised her to jump on the subway and not be afraid to get lost. The fun of Korea is the adventure of the unknown and the discovery of what you find. She said she’d give it a try and that with her son going along for the ride, perhaps she would be braver.
I played some video games on the entertainment system. Unfortunately, it’s a touch screen system and the man in front of me got really peeved at all the tapping that was keeping him awake. Sure it bugged me too, but I just learned to ignore the kids giving their game their all behind me.
The guy on the aisle was a bit… how can I put this??? Hefty is a good word… and sleepy. I was only able to get out of my seat once and unfortunately, the storage compartment was not as conducive to monkey swinging as the other flights I’d taken. Oh well…
The food was okay. Definitely not as delicious as the Thai Airlines food during Christmas break.
The announcement came over the loudspeaker… we would be landing soon!!!
As the wheels touched down, I looked at my watch. We had arrived early. But not just earlier than anticipated… we arrived 15 minutes before we took off from Seoul!!!
Sunday, June 13. 5:45pm.
My mind was literally blown. I could now say, “That’s 15 minutes of my life I did get back.” I’m wondering what those last 14 cramped hours I perceived were all about. Hopefully, though, there will be no repercussions related to this gaping hole I just ripped in the space/time continuum.
We hung out in Detroit for about 4 hours before we both jumped flights to our respective final destinations. The butterflies were starting to fill my stomach as we got in the air for this last leg. At this point, I was just ready to land and get into a bed.
When we landed at the airport, the doors opened and I stepped outside. I stood at the top of the steps for a moment, surveying the familiar landscape as I took a long, deep breath of the air I had been longing to breathe. It was the freshest, best smelling air my lungs had encountered in 10 1/2 months. I stepped down, grabbed my carry-on and proceeded to the terminal for a surprise.
And so begins 7-weeks of rest and relaxation… I hope.
