The start!

7:53

Alright, I’m awake, showered and feeling only partially asleep. Normal for me when making this kind of trip. Not doing anything like breakfast yet, maybe take a granola bar or sumting.

Okay, I’m just rambling now. I thought I’d make an entry before leaving… but I don’t have anything to actually say right now.

Well, I suppose ‘The cats are gonna go crazy without me here’. Not because they just looooove me persay, but they loooooove my room, which is gonna be locked up to keep it clean and stuffs.

Alright, we were gonna leave at 8 and I’m almost making us late now haha

As if this family ever does anything on time..

9:57

Sitting at the gate looking out at the plane. *staaaare* The gate looks pretty busy already, but apparently there’s 60-some seats open, so I won’t have to worry too much about not getting on. The only question being ‘First class or not?’ dun dun dun!

I’m off to go see if any of the staff are at their flight yet (right next to mine). I got my cheap flight through delta while they’re flying Korea Air. I stop over in Narita, they in Seoul. I leave half an hour before them, and arrive in Pusan like an hour ahead. Horray.

I think?

2:27

Okay, so obviously I won’t be making a running free-thought journal this trip since they don’t have power-plugs in the seats here. Ended up sitting in 54K. Last section in the tail (by a window at least). Thankfully we don’t have a middle person on our three-seat section, so me and the lady on the aile get to spread out a bit more. She’s apparently sick so mostly slept so far on the trip, but she’s friendly so I consider it a win.

Met with the teachers before I got in line to board, all but Kim. Told them the basics about the crappy camera and the runaround I’d been given. But whatever.

The flight so far has actually been okay. Slept for a little bit while we taxied out, even ate before I could get up to get my bag with all my stuff inside. Until then, was just amusing myself with a book and my camera. I’m finding it a little odd that there’s no tiny-tv screens in the back of the headrests or the like. Last year the guys on the study abroad said they had them and were playing a LAN game of poker against eachother for a lot of the flight. I guess THIS is one of the 747’s that they didn’t bother putting in the new entertainment system *sigh*

In good news though, our flight is going to be the shortest I’ve been on yet. We have clearance to fly over Russian airspace, so that cuts over an hour off the trip. And once we were cruising, the pilot said the wind was weaker than expected, so that takes off an extra 15-50 minutes. Groovy~

Once I get to Narita, have to find a ticket counter and sign in again to get on the standby list there. Yep yep.

I’d rather just stay in Narita. Maybe drop by the Ramen Parents and ask to stay there for two weeks making ramen with them XD That actually sounds like a whole lot of fun to me…

Currently flying over: the tip of the lake west of the Great Lakes (I can’t see the TV’s very well from here)

Outside temp: -65F

10:15

Without a watch handy, the trip actually seems kinda.. short?

I can’t keep track of time without turning on my ipod or something, and I’m trying to save as much battery life as possible. Those Bose headphones really are nice~ The rumble of the engines just 20ft away turn into a low hum.

One thing that’s annoying about the entertainment system is not being able to watch the movies when I want to. Between my.. coma-sessions, I’ve seen the ending of Whip It, which I suppose I want to see; a few minutes into Where the Wild Things are, which made me all eeeeh. I really don’t care about that movie, the book was a waste of time and I’ve heard the movie is just as pointless. Now watching Star Trek. Kinda surprised it’s still playing here, I figured they would play the new movies instead of ones that’ve been out on dvd for months.

Eh. It’s a good movie, no complains.

But one complaint about couch-seating, they don’t’ give drinks. Dryyyy mouth x.x

1:37am (3:37pm local time)

Well, I’m sitting outside the Seoul flight in Narita, Japan. I really wanna just stay here instead.. I mean, I know I know nothing about Korea, but I DO know a lot about Japan, so I’m more comfortable here. This stuff, as weird as it can be/is, is familiar. Boy, what’s that say about me? Haha

Anyway, I’ve got an hour and a half until the flight boards.

What to do until then… hm.. I guess I should read those research papers for my paper on the theory of para-social interaction.

(If you’re curious (and too lazy to google it), it’s the idea that people have ‘relationships’ with characters in media. Like how some people think of the cast of Friends as if they actually know them, or Hollywood celebs.)

Still have to check in at the counter to let them know ‘hey, this cheap-skate standby person is here to pick up a seat, don’t give my spot away!’ or something.

Oh, one last thought about the Atl/Nrt flight: it honestly didn’t seem that long. I watched half-ish of Star Trek, read my book, played some Devil Survivor (which reminds me it’s still sitting on in my coat pocket..), and slept. 12 hours just flew by~ lol

*20 minutes later*

…. I’m bored. So I’ll just keep rambling. The bookstore. That’s what I want to spend money in most of all here. That and the drink vending machine. But noooo I didn’t bring that handful of yen I had last time. “I’m only laying over for an hour, I won’t need it.” Bah! And I have cash, yes, but I don’t want to exchange like $10 and get $7 worth of yen due to some high-ass airport exchange rate plans or something.

2:58 (4:58pm local)

The gate changed so almost everyone sitting there trekked over to the new gate across the concourse. Once I got here and took a seat (facing the windows, very nice view), a man came up asking if I could spare a few minutes.

I reflexively said ‘sure’, then immeditetly kicked myself thinking it was someone collecting for disaster relief (common here.. er.. the collecting, not the disasters), or religious ‘education’. Turns out it was just a little survey about Narita’s local tourism. “Have you heard of the Circle Bus line around Narita?” “What, if you had time, would you like to explore in Narita?” stuff like that. And for that 2 minutes I got a pair of chopsticks and a sticker of Narita-city mascot.

On sticks: Narita Tousai Temple

Wrapper: Have a safe trip

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s an eel! (I’m not kidding)

7:02 (9:02pm)

A bit of rest. Sitting here in baggage claim, watching the people gather ‘round the conveyer belts like peigions to a flipped over popcorn truck. I don’t see the other flight yet listed, the flight info said it’d be landing at 9:10. Although I haven’t seen it listed yet. Hrrrrrm Or something.

Anyway, I didn’t post anything while on the flight because of a number of reasons: it was only an hour and a half long, weather so bumpy they never turned off the seatbelt light, and I just slept the whole time after snack.

But yeah, seat A1. First class. B-) With actual pillows, sheets and glasses. Very nice~ I was worried we’d be late arriving here though. While we were taxiing onto the runway, someone complained about the wing making ‘grinding’ sounds while moving (sounded like squeaking styrafoam to me). Then apparently some old bat locked herself in the bathroom and refused to come out, so they made an extra loud page that ‘everyone MUST be seated before this plane can move’ in Korean.

And here I thought the most interesting thing about the flight was going to be the fact that behind me was a guy I swear could be the voice-double of XO Pressly [Mass Effect] and XO [Battlestar Galactica].

Well, I guess I’ll go through customs and wait outside.. instead of sitting on my leg leaning up against tone of the empty conveyer belts.

7:50 (9:51)

Forgive my typos here, the roads here are efhla bumpy. So turns out I wouldn’t’ve seen their flight.. because I was in the international terminal and they took a domestic flight. Craaaaaap! So I ran down to the right building, getting there at about 25 after. Since their flight landed at 9:10 I was scared as hell I was gonna miss them, have to take a taxi. Speaking of, the taxi drivers all stand inside wandering around jangling their keys asking ‘you need taxi’. But I stood by the arrival’s door and just waited. Tada~ There they were. So after all that I still beat ‘em haha

Now we’re all riding the baseball team’s mini-bus/van to the hotel. What’s with these curtains..? One of the teachers is passed out, the others are talking amongst themselves or to the local profesors jjjkljkljjdjjka jeezus! Do they take road-leveling tips from the Ausies? Iz a freaking washboard pavement or something.

Forget it, finish the rest when I get to my room

8:47 (10:47)

“just a 20 min drive from here” my butt :p

The hotel is really nice. But odd thing is it’s got its own night club on the first floor.

Right now I’m just happy to be out of my shoes and jeans. The room’s power is just like last year in japan. They try to be cute, to turn on the lights you have to jam your key into a holder. Since they’re keycards, this time it’s a slot. Something I can’t fool by jamming a toothbrush in this time XD

And as soon as you put the card in the lights and the tv come on.

Right now it’s playing the equivalent of America Bandstand.. but with Korean boybands. It’s so silly I can’t turn it off…

Speaking of turning off, the converter I got for the power scares me.. In Korea, instead of using two/three prongs like in America, it’s two cylinders. But the converter is this big heavy thing.. and it’s crackling D= When I wiggle it so that it stops making angry buzzing sounds.. it doesn’t work. Craaaaap D=

Anyway, I guess I’ll just unplug it after I charge up some things and take a shower. I’m feelin’ pretty good right now. Sore from carrying the backpack full of tech stuffs, but otherwise just fine.

I didn’t get to exchange any money so I won’t be joining the teachers running out to the 25 Hour store next door for snacks. Then again I’m too fat to need snacks lol

If I get reeeeeally hungry, just break into a jar of peanut butter I brought. That’s right, I packed a whole jar. It’s a lot cheaper than buying a basket of junkfood. That and it’s not Korean food! I doubt I’ll be able to take Korean food for 2 weeks straight..

Anyway, I’m heading off to shower and watch bad Korean tv. Night all.

PS- right now there's a song called "oh oh oh oh" by "oh oh oh oh" Sounds a tone like "Womanizer"... But with more latex