July 3rd, Gone Forever

July 4, 2009
Airport Lounge on the 4th Floor in Seoul, South Korea
7:27 AM

I arrived in Seoul at 5:10 on the morning of July 4, 2009. I left LAX the evening of July 2 (shortly after midnight if you want to be techincall, it was July 3rd). Basically I've got straight from the 2nd to the 4th. The 3rd is gone forever, lost in time, space, and sleep on the plane.

Moving on.

We arrived at LAX about 8 o'clock last night. By 9 PM the group was assembled and we made our way to the ticket counter, saying our goodbyes to our loved ones. We hauled our suitcases over to the security inspection area and the security woman took the bags for the first two people (Greg and I), and then wouldn't take the rest of the bags because the machine was broken. Eventualyl we all went through security--hopefully all our bags make it to Taipei this afternoon. No reason why they shouldn't.

We killed some hours waiting to board the plane, chatting, using the last of our phone time to contact people in the States before we headed out. Unlike the last time I flew out to this part of the world where I didn't sleep a wink, I slept most of the flight. Dinner was decent, and I watched Marley and Me. When I woke up we still had four hours to go. I brushed my teeth, watched the latest Witch Mountain remake, Race to Witch Mountain, which wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. The plane had 9 seats across, in 3 x 3 x 3, and we were all in one row. We didn't even know there was a toddler in the row in front until towards the end of the flight--she was adorable and well behaved. When we got off the flight, we had to hand in health forms they gave us and we each had our temperature read by a little device they put kind of on our necks behind our ear. I was a little worried about the temperature taking since I had little bit of a low grade fever before I left the house on Thursday, but I took some ibuprofin beforehand and made it through just fine.

We've been killing time, wandering around the airport and I signed onto this computer to send a couple of emails home to let everyone know I was safe. I even got to chat with my mom, Mike, and Russ for a few minutes. Not a lot was open when we got here (not surprising considering the time) but we found a great lounge--they offer baggage services, comfortable chairs and sofas, television, internet, a snack bar, nursery area, massages, restaurants, etc. This really is a very fantastically luxurious airport. Some how or other, I'm hungry again and I'm going to join my group and find something to eat.

Updating as soon as she can,

Erin

7:46 AM
July 4, 2009
Airport Lounge on the 4th Floor in Seoul, South Korea