The Flight and Arrival in Korea

September 22 to 23, 1989

Twelve to thirteen hours in a plane is a L O N G time! OK, two movies, neither of which I'd seen nor would have likely ever bothered to rent, and decent food (several meals). Stuck between two rather rotund people, in the middle seat, and neither talkative in the least. Not so good. Specially when I had to get up and walk to the back of the plane. The one on the aisle was snoring and would not budge when I tapped on his arm. Desperate, I rang the attendant who nudged him again, then suggested I try to climb past, but not quite over a sleeping giant. Well, I managed. By the time I returned, he was awake and grumpy.

We finally arrived at the Seoul airport around 6 pm or so. We'd left in daylight, it was still daylight when we arrived. Hmmmm. Only now, it was the next day. We'd crossed over the international date line somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. I'd changed my watch to Seoul time as I boarded the plane in San Francisco, as guide books suggest to "avoid jet lag." From then on my brain said one thing and my body something totally different. I was, essentially, on auto-pilot.

The customs and immigration were no problem, just as a coworker had predicted. It did feel somewhat odd to be addressed as aliens, though. Anyways, when we exited that area, we were met outside by Mr. Hong, who would be our guide, and a driver, and brought to our hotel, the Hotel Manhattan, located on an island in the middle of the Han River. This was, ostensibly, the "American Seoul." The traffic reminded me of Los Angeles, the driving of Boston and New York with a bit of Rome thrown in: He who has the strongest nerves wins. Horns blared constantly. If there was an empty space, several cars rushed to fill it, immediately. No way would I ever drive here. Wasn't too sure about walking either.

It took about a half hour to get to the hotel, where we were assigned to our rooms, had our luggage brought up to our rooms, and were told to meet downstairs where we joined our host for drinks. I chose cider, which was similar to 7up. We asked our guide a lot of questions, but found we often had to rephrase them so they'd make sense to Mr. Hong, who felt his English wasn't good. It was very good, specially considering how different Korean is from English.

I don't know what time it was, but it was late when we went upstairs, where I started this journal.