Back on the ROK

Well, after a massive bout of jetlag I am finally getting around to posting here about my flight to Korea. It was quite an adventure so I'll start at the beginning.

Of course the whole thing began with tears. Veronica, the kids and I all shed tears as we said our goodbyes at the Sacramento airport, and little Katie didn't want to let go of me for anything. It probably wouldn't have been as bad if it hadn't been for the airline people. They had announced that the flight was delayed until 10:45am, so we figured we had some more time together. But a couple minutes later I hear my name being called over the PA system to hurry up because the plane was loaded and ready to go. No call for loading before that. It took us by surprise and kind of made it more difficult to say bye.

Then after I got on the plane we sat there on the tarmac outside the gate for about 10 minutes. Thankfully I was on the side of the plane that could see the terminal and I could see Veronica and the kids all waving and blowing kisses. I did the same and could tell that they could see me just as well as I could see them.

The flight down to San Francisco was uneventful and pretty relaxing. After getting off the plane though I noticed that my flight to Seoul was delayed until 2:40pm.

Hopefully you can all read the wording in the picture. It says:

UA893 G2 6615
Seoul/Incheon
DELAYED TILL
14:43 PM

and the clock on the wall reads:

1:43 (that was about the time my flight was originally scheduled for)

So I had about 3 hours until my next flight. It gave me some time to get lunch and relax a little bit more.

Finally they started boarding the plane for Korea. Then after about 20 minutes they told us they had some mechanical and computer problems that needed to be fixed before we could go. So we sat there... and sat there... and sat there until about 4:15pm. So my initially 2 hour layover turned into a 4 and a half hour layover. This was a concern to me as my itinerary showed us getting into Seoul at 7:30pm Korea time. I also knew that the last bus to Osan AB left the airport at 10:30pm. I was worried that this extra 2 and a half hours would put us into Seoul at... about 10pm.

I don't know whether my arival time in Korea had been exaggerated or maybe the pilots knew a quicker route, but we landed in Korea at 8:30pm... only an hour later than my original arrival time on my itinerary. Of course getting there involved a 12 hour flight. And 12 hours in coach does not lend itself to a very good sleeping environment. Throw in a couple periods of heavy turbulance and a cup full of ginger ale and it made for quite some fun. Luckily I was able to keep my beverage from spilling all over the place and was still in a fairly good mood after touching down in the Land of the Morning Calm.

After waiting in line to get through Immigration, waiting to get my luggage at the baggage claim, and waiting in line for Customs, I finally made it to the USO counter where I... waited in line to get my ticket for the bus to Osan. The bus ride added another hour and a half to my travel that day, but at about midninght we drove through the gate at Osan AB.

But wait, there's more. This wasn't the end of my trip. Once we got to the reception center on base we had to sign in and wait for our sponsors. And me? Yeah, I didn't have a sponsor even though I had requested one. They had never assigned anyone to be my sponsor. I guess they thought since I had been here once I should be fine. But they still wouldn't let me leave the reception center without someone coming to sign me out. So I waited some more for someone from my squadron to come and get me. After another 45 minutes I was lucky enough to get signed out and made my way to the Turumi Lodge, the hotel on base.

Seeing that room and the bed was like a dream. After nearly 21 hours of travelling I finally got to rest. It wasn't the best sleep (I was still working against my internal clock), but it was comfortable.

Well, that was my trip over. I will write more later and keep you up to date on all my doings while I'm here.