Korea, we have arrived!

After a hectic final week of packing, (slacking), saying goodbye to our friends, and eating at our favorite Chicago establishments Caroline and I have successfully arrived in South Korea.  Here's a breakdown of how and why we almost never made it:

1.  The two of us are so "excited" for our 15 hour plane ride that we check in at the wrong United counter at O'Hare.  Instead of using the International kiosk, we accidentally check in for a domestic flight creating anxiety number 1--will our luggage arrive in Korea?

2.  After repacking our luggage so that it would adhere to the weight limits we head for security.  Upon arriving at security we realize that Caroline does not have both of her boarding passes.  We head back to the United kiosk and they print out a new one.

3.  We arrive at our gate only to find out that our airplane is having a mechanical issue and our flight is being delayed indefinitely.  Panic sets in.  Anxieties 2-8 pop up--what if we miss our connecting flight in SF?  where will our bags end up?  how can we get in touch with our contacts in Korea and so on and so on...

4.  It's been almost an hour since we were scheduled to depart and we finally receive some information about the mechanical problem our plane is having.  It turns out that the landing gear is leaking fluid so this particular plane will not be flying anywhere.  Luckily, Saturdays are not heavy traffic days so United is able to pull another (presumably safe) airplane around for us.  We rush to the new gate and board.

5. I'm sitting in my seat as Caroline passes me in the cabin.  She waves and unknowingly drops all of her boarding passes and her passport on the floor behind her.  Thankfully someone notices and returns these (extremely important) items to her.  She laughs and I shake my head.  This brings me to anxiety number 9--will Caroline make it to Korea with all of her valuables?  (She did and I've been teasing her about this relentlessly).

6. San Francisco is a blur.  We land.  Rush off of the plane.  Rush over to the International Terminal.  Breeze through security.  Rush to our gate and learn that our flight has been delayed for an hour while the crew finishes cleaning the cabin.  Bummer, but at this point we're just glad to have not missed our connection and happy to hear that the plane is only dirty, not without a landing gear.  Anticipation begins to take hold.

7. Our aircraft is clean and ready to house us for the next 12 hours.  The flight is smooth and mostly uneventful.  I spend my time watching Korean cartoons and studying survival phrases.  The guy in front of me watches The Hunger Games.  The girl to my left keeps falling asleep and jabbing me in the foot.  The girl on my right is watching KPop videos.  When dinner is served I choose the Korean dish, Bibimbap.  My tray has many components and I'm not sure what they all do so I mimic the girl on my right.  The meal is pretty good.  It consisted of rice, vegetables, noodles, and kimchi.  Somehow I am able to fall asleep.  When I wake up my legs are so cramped that I can barely stand.  We're about 3 hours away from Incheon so I turn on the TV and watch a movie.

8. Incheon airport.  We've landed.  We can finally exhale.  We have two simple tasks ahead of us, exchange some money and check in at the EPIK counter.  First, we go through immigration, then we claim our bags and head through customs.  I've never been through customs before and I expect it to take some time however we're only asked to hand over a piece of paper stating whether or not we have anything that needs to be claimed.  They don't even check our bags.  It's off to terminal A to meet the EPIK team.

9. Terminal A is on the opposite side of the airport and the airport is massive.  A little boy in a SF Giants hat stops to stare at me.  I motion to his hat and he laughs and runs away.  I probably looked like a giant.  The EPIK team checks us in and then loads us onto a bus.  There are about 30 of us and we're all heading to a city called Jeonju.  Jeonju is 3 hours away.  It's back to sitting in small seats, cramped and basting in my own filthy clothes.  The airport is on an island and the bridge that leads us to the mainland spans a gigantic bay.  I try to take a picture but it's dark and rainy so it doesn't come out.  It was truly a sight though, I promise.  Incheon is also sprawled along the coast and it is bright and colorful.  I see billboards in Korean and it finally settles in.  We've made it.  We're here.