Hello...Hong Kong?!?

Sorry all of these blog entries since coming home have taken so long to write! Between the first few weeks of my new job, catching up with friends, family and life (still have yet to catch up with everyone/thing yet!!) they have been slowly coming. I last left off with my flying to Hong Kong, where I was to have a layover (8 hours) before boarding my Virgin Atlantic flight to Sydney, via staff travel. 

Before I continue, I should take a second to explain a bit about staff travel. My friend Colin works for Virgin Atlantic, I am very fortunate and lucky to be on what is known as his staff travel list. This allows me to fly on Virgin Atlantic operated flights, without him, for very little. My ticket from Hong Kong-Sydney (around 8 hours) was around $70 for me. The only drawback is that you have to fly standby, meaning you go if there are empty seats. Colin has access to flight loads, and is able to see how many seats are left and thus my chance at getting onboard any given flight. The Hong Kong-Sydney flight unfortunately only goes once a day, but I didn’t think it would be a problem because of the number of available seats (around 30). The check-in process is much like a regular check-in process, except that you are waiting around until most other passengers have checked in, before you know if you get a seat. The other factor to take into consideration is the stand-by list. I am what is known as a Category C, which essentially means I am behind anyone who works for Virgin who is flying standby, and any immediate family members or spouses of Virgin crew, but above employees from other airlines and their family members. Because of the above factors, I really was not worried about the flight. Previously flying standby, Colin and I have come up with contingency plans (i.e., fly out of NYC instead of Boston, take a later flight etc…), but no such contingency plans were hatched this time around….what a nightmare that would later turn into.

I arrived in Hong Kong around 1 pm, and my flight wasn’t until 8 pm or so later that evening, but I decided it would be best to hang around the airport, re-arrange my luggage that I had frantically re-packed when I had been forced to check my largest carry-on in Seoul, and wait out my next flight without having to deal with finding a place to store my luggage, figuring out the city and etc. I was pretty disappointed flying in that I wouldn’t be spending anytime in Hong Kong, as the city looked amazing from the plane! I even thought how I wished I had time to spend there…words that I would later eat. 

My day passed surprisingly quickly, I repacked, got lunch, got a 20 minute massage, cleaned myself up a bit, and passed the time on my Korean cell phone surfing the internet and texting Colin. A few hours before the departure, I strolled up to the check-in desk, ready to check-in. I was informed I would have to come back 45 minutes prior to departure (I was there three hours ahead, as I had been instructed to do). I thought this was VERY strange, as this had never happened before, and I knew there were around 30 empty seats available. I killed a few more hours, and like clockwork, went back at the time I was instructed to do so. I really didn’t think anything was wrong, and was expecting to check in. They then told me to come back in 15 additional minutes, that there were some weight issues on the plane. At this point, panic set in.

One of the fellow standby passengers was a Delta employee, and hence a seasoned standby traveler. I was panicking quite a bit, but he reassured me there was nothing to worry about, it was typical (especially for Hong Kong) and that if either of us were getting on the plane, it was me, because I had a higher boarding priority than him. The minutes ticked away, and soon there were only 20 minutes to go, and the gate agents were closing up their kiosks and getting ready to leave!! Without having said ANYTHING to us regarding our boarding status…not a good sign! The Delta employee and I approached two different people. I walked up, asked about boarding, and was told due to a weigh restriction, I was denied boarding. Apparently, even though there were around 30 available seats, the cargo weight was too heavy and thus they would not be taking any additional passengers. I couldn’t really believe what I was hearing, I could hear them telling me that I didn’t get on the plane, but it wasn’t really being processed in my brain. I walked away, and approached the Delta employee. He goes, “Ok, ready to go back?” holding up his ticket. I was like uhhh; no I didn’t get on the flight. He was very confused, and said, “There has to have been a mistake, if I got on, you had to have gotten on, you have higher boarding priority.” He asked one of the gate agents, and even offered to take a jump seat (people flying on staff travel can do this if all seats are full). They explained it wasn’t due to seats, but a weight restriction. I had no idea WTF was going on and how he got on but I didn’t, but they clearly weren’t going to do anything to help me. Bewildered, I walked away towards a ticketing counter as I was directed to do, “if I wanted to rebook my flight for tomorrow.” The Delta employee was just as confused as I, but nothing was to be done.

I sent Colin a text explaining what happened, but as he was in the air, I knew I wouldn’t be hearing back from him for quite some time. I went to the ticketing agent, explained my situation, handed over my boarding pass, on the verge of tears trying not to cry or panic, and waited. All of a sudden she was like, “you can go now.” So freaking rude! I walked away, pushing all 150 pounds of my luggage, not having a clue where to go, what to do or how I should proceed.

For a few minutes, I was just completely frazzled, there was no Plan B. I was never not getting on this flight; there was plenty of space. I had no contingency plan regarding Hong Kong if I didn’t get on; there were plenty of seats so it wasn’t a concern for neither Colin nor I. I sort of paced and panicked for a few minutes; I was map less, I had no Hong Kong money, I had no where to go, it was dark out, I had no where to go, and my cell phone was almost completely dead and had no way of charging it because I had no converter for the Hong Kong electrical system.

I willed myself not to cry. After a few minutes I thought to myself, “COME ON KIMBERLY!!! You can do this!!! This is NOTHING; you were born for crazy ass shit like this traveling!!!! Buck the fuck up!!!” After my mini pep talk, I bought something from a coffee stand to get 15 minutes of free internet in order to find a place to stay in the city, figure out how to get there, and see if I could potentially change my ticket home from Sydney-Seattle, to Hong Kong-Seattle. The gate agents told me the same thing would, “most likely” happen again tomorrow, and I was freaking out. I had a reward ticket with miles for Sydney-Seattle, and there was a ticket I could change it to leaving from Hong Kong the following night, but no more for a few days. All sorts of possibilities began to swirl in my head: Was I going to even be able to get to Sydney? If it takes three days to I get on the flight, should I even go? (Colin only had so may days off at the onset of the trip). Was I going to have to pay for a normal, last-minute ticket to Seattle from Hong Kong, and was it going to be ridiculously expensive?!? While I panicked, I booked a hostel, got directions for how to get there from the airport, went and got Hong Kong currency out of the ATM, and then went and bought an adapter so I could charge my cell phone ($40 later for a 50 cent piece of plastic that I already had but had shipped home in a box….). I walked out of the airport sort of in a daze. I was utterly exhausted (I had been at the airport over 12 hours and had traveled at this point for over 18 hours already) and was venturing into a city (which was freaking hot, dark and unfamiliar) without a map or a clue of how to get around. Not to mention, I was lugging around all of my luggage which was EXTREMELY difficult to navigate alone. I finally figured out the correct bus to get me into the city and after dragging (and dropping) all of my shit onto the bus, I sat down, put in my Ipod, and settled in for the 45 minute bus ride.

Between the exhaustion and subsequent adrenaline, I was wiped out. As we were driving through the city (which was huge and overwhelming and I couldn’t really comprehend what I was about to do) I was almost laughing. It was like, OF COURSE. This wouldn’t happen to anyone else. Who gets stranded in random cities halfway around the world, without a guidebook, map, plan or general idea of WTF to do next? Me. I went back and forth between exhaustion, insane laughing and on the verge of tears. Pretty sure the entire bus thought I was insane, but hey, what’s new? My stop eventually approached and I (painfully) gathered all of my stuff and stepped off the bus into the unknown. 

Hong Kong was overwhelming. No, bewildering. It was bright and loud and in your face. There were people everywhere, and it was around 11 pm. I appeared to be in an extremely shady neighborhood with tons of Indian guys trying to get me to go to their hostel. Eventually a guy pointed me in the direction of where I was supposed to go, and after a 12 story ride in the world’s oldest elevator, I found my hostel. When I got there, they couldn’t find my reservation, the front desk guy spoke NO English (this has never, ever happened at any hostel, around the world for me) and I just wanted to sleep. At this point though, after the chaos that had ensued, this seemed like nothing, hardly fazed me and was almost comical on top of everything else. Nothing was going right today!! Thankfully, there was space and I got a new reservation. I got into my room, and immediately left for some bottles of water. I spent about 30 seconds in the scary neighborhood near the hostel, got water, and went back upstairs.

I spent HOURS (literally) on Skype with Continental (either on hold or being transferred) trying to figure out my options for changing my reward ticket for the following evening if it would even be possible, if I didn’t get on the flight again. I decided to wait to make any changes, but decided that if I didn’t get on the Sydney flight, I would immediately change my ticket, and leaving a few hours later on a flight(s) bound for home, via two stops in Germany. Around 1 am, and nearly 24 hours of being up, I tried to figure out clothes for the next day (my bags were packed for colder weather in Sydney, and Hong Kong was HOTTTT), which turned out to be very difficult and involved almost complete unpacking, then repacking, to get to the summer clothes at the bottom of my bag. I packed everything up, set out my outfit and toiletries for the next day, and set my alarm for a mere 6 hours later, so that I could make the most of my day in Hong Kong.

The alarm went off seemingly minutes later, and I was completely exhausted. But, I wanted to get up and see as much as I could in the city that I had wished from the plane that I had the chance to explore. I hopped down from my bed (which I didn’t manage to get hardly any sleep in due to assholes coming in around 4 am, turning on all the lights and making unbelievable amounts of noise). I went for my neatly stacked pile of clothes and toiletries on top of my suitcase to get ready…only to find them and my bag MIA.

It was dark, I was tired, and thought maybe I put them somewhere else (the room was full of bags) I was trying to feel my way through the dark (being courteous of the assholes sleeping whom were not courteous of me), but couldn’t find my shit. I was in a room full of guys, so was very confused as to where my shit could have gone. After awhile, I had no choice but to turn some lights on and start moving shit around. I started finding my stuff, piece by piece, and found my bag. But, I couldn’t find my pants, which were skinny jeans. Nobody (especially not guys, would steal or hide them, right?!?). After about a 15 minute search, I finally found them, UNDER a guy’s bed, shoved all the way in the corner, with all of his shit in front of them!!!!!!! WTF?!?!? Well, whatever. It was very strange and didn’t help my mood, but I thought FUCK IT! I am going to see HONG KONG!!

I asked at the front desk where the double decker bus tour left from (I decided this would be the best/most economical way to cover the most ground while in Hong Kong). He had no idea AND they hostel had no maps. For those who have never stayed in a hostel, this is VERY strange. Hostels usually have tons of brochures, free maps and the workers are usually very knowledgeable about the city. I left my bags in the lobby, and set off into the unknown.

The city was still asleep. There was really no one around. I had no map. I had no idea where I was going. So, I just set off, like any normal person would do, LOL. I found a Starbucks, and figured someone in there would know something. Thankfully, I found a fellow tourist, and she knew where the buses left from. I found my way there after a Starbucks breakfast (I was trying to have a very authentic Hong Kong style breakfast, obviously, LOL), and went off on my tour! Part of my tour included those famous boats that people associate with Hong Kong, so I started with that.

The harbor in Hong Kong is BEAUTIFUL! The city really was amazing. Hong Kong was under British rule until 1997 I believe, for nearly 150 years or so, so the architecture is a very interesting/strange mix of British architecture and very modern, contemporary buildings. I really didn’t know a lot about Hong Kong, other than the fact that there is a Disney park there and there is excellent shopping, neither of which I had the money/time to indulge in, unfortunately. As a result, I figured whatever I saw, would be more than I would have. I ended up seeing a ton of stuff in the city. I took a catamaran ride, took a trip up this mountain overlooking the city via an awesome cable car ride, saw the famous “walk of stars” (it has a famous Bruce Lee statue) and seeing all of the famous buildings. I didn’t get to the “Ladies market” that has lots of shopping (of all price levels.) But, oh well, maybe next time I get stuck there!!

Around 5, I headed back to the airport, very badly sunburned. I had worn a one-shoulder tank all day, and had spent the vast majority of my day atop an open bus, and thus had a very red burn, but only on one of my shoulders, and part of my face. My sunglasses gave me a very intense red raccoon burn, and I now had a white triangle on my shoulder/chest where the one side of the tank had been. I officially looked like a freak, but what else is new?!?

I left the city feeling great about having had the opportunity to see Hong Kong, which turned out to be an amazing place. It also had turned out to be one of those life-learning experiences, where I realize how far I’ve come as a traveler, since starting my adventures over five years ago. It turned out to be a very good (albeit chaotic) 24 hours. I headed to the airport feeling confident that whatever was meant to happen, would.

Much of the same ensued over the three hours prior to departure that happened yesterday, EXCEPT that Colin (who had been very angry that I was denied boarding over a Delta employee the day before) had called the Hong Kong ground staff manager, and as a result I was “explained” the situation. She claimed that only Virgin staff were put on the flight above me (not true) and that a Delta employee would NEVER be given boarding before someone on Virgin’s staff travel list. She said I was simply, “confused” and must have, “seen and understood things incorrectly.” No, bitch, he was from Georgia, was American and worked for Delta. I didn’t want to push the point as I wanted on the flight today and she had the power to say yes or no. So, for three hours, I stressed and hoped and continually checked in, and finally, FINALLY. 25 minutes before DEPARTURE, was told that I had gotten on the flight! I was ecstatic, but then immediately started to panic. I had 25 minutes to check my bags, have my ticket issued clear customs AND security, and make my way through the airport to an entirely different terminal. In the end, it all worked out AND I flew Premium to boot!! I have never, in all of my days, been so happy to step onto an airplane, and I thoroughly enjoyed my free champagne.

After an amazing meal (gotta love premium!) and more free bubbly, I dozed off for my 8 hour overnight flight to Sydney, where I would be FINALLY seeing my Colie!!!

After many phone calls and emails exchanged between Colin and staff travel, no real resolution/answers came about for why a Delta employee was given boarding priority over me. But alas, it is just a part of the perils/adventures of flying standby!

Stay tuned for my Sydney adventures! ( :

Good-Bye Korea...

Ok! I know it has been weeks since my last blog update, but between a week of English camp and 14 hour days, traveling and adjusting back to life here, I have been busy! This will be a very long update; I have a lot to cover!

I have been back a full week now, and things have been going great. I am loving being home, seeing all of my friends and family, being in a familiar environment, eating good food, it has all been great! But, before all of that…

My last full week in Korea was spent at a regional English camp, staying at the university where the camp was held. There were four other native English teachers and although the days were insanely long (around 14 hours) my friend Rebecca, helped keep me sane! I am pretty sure everyone there thought we were actually insane, as we both are very silly and crazy at times. Some of my very favorite girls were there from my school (five schools were there, and only the best English students from each school were there, a total of 50 middle school students), and I really enjoyed getting to know other students, all of whom wanted to be there and spoke much higher levels of English than the average student. They were the, “good” students. It was really interesting because it was a mix of girls and boys, and because I’ve only ever taught girls, it was interesting to see not only how boys act, but how they act together! It definitely created an interesting dynamic, some flirting and things like that, but much less than I would have expected. It was fun to have a last hoorah with a bunch of students, teaching only fun lessons. I taught a lesson on the US, how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (peanut butter is NOT  big in Korea, and I had students literally gagging because they had never had peanut butter!) and a few other fun lessons. We had a homeroom and had to prepare them in creating a skit and song/dance. We (I, lol) chose the song, “Baby” by Justin Bieber (lmao!) and I choreographed an entire dance for them! At the performance at the end of the week, I was like a stage mom I felt like, because I was in view of them, doing the entire dance so they wouldn’t forget anything! Camp was overall fun, other than one crazy Korean teacher who was leading it, and one stupid annoying native English teacher, but no one liked him, so no big deal! It was nice to have my last week Jang-free! One night in the dorms, Rebecca and I made PBJ sandwiches for tons of the girls with the leftover supplies that we had! It was a fun time that I will remember (mostly) with fond memories.

After my week of English camp, I had my last weekend in Korea. I was leaving Korea on Tuesday, and had one more day of work left on Monday, and I did the weekend up in a good way! It happened to be the Mud Festival, which is a festival of…well mud. It is like clay-ish mud, the kind you would have put on your face in a spa. There are inflatable toys, slides, mud wrestling and other such insanity, all in mud! I had been told this was the, “best weekend in Korea” so was really excited! I left early Saturday morning with some friends and we arrived bright and early. My friend Molly had the most ingenious idea ever! No bottles of any kind were allowed into the Mud Festival, including water, so she bought and filled up a huge squirt gun with SOJU!! She (and the rest of us) took turns squirting people and drinking from it. Such an awesome idea! The first thing we did was go on this very tall, inflatable slide. I got to the top and looked at my friend Sarah, and was like, this is REALLY steep!!! She was like just go!!! She went, and I followed, very hesitantly (I have a moderate-severe fear of heights, though it has never stopped me from doing anything, but is has resulted in a few tears, LMAO!!) and began my descent. In my panic of sliding down a mud filled, very steep slide, my natural reaction was to stick my arms out to stop/slow myself. BAD IDEA. But, I was scared and wasn’t thinking. My right arm and right leg got caught where the slide folds up…but the left side kept going. I spun around, eventually became free and landed at the bottom. I was lying in mud, and all I could feel was intense pain in my shoulder, it felt like it potentially could have been dislocated. It was clear right away to the people manning the slide that I was hurt, but I was just thinking, “get up, GET UP GET UP!!!” You know, when you have hurt yourself, but not enough to overshadow embarrassment? That is what I was experiencing. I willed myself up and as soon as I stood I realized my knee was very screwed up too.  Fortunately, after a few hours, my shoulder was back to normal, and my knee after about a week or so. Unfortunately, it turns out I sprained my hand (I went to the doctor a few days after I got back) and it is still hurt! Oh well, all in the name of MUD!!!  After the slide, we did some like partner hugging thing where you are on a bungee, attached to the wall, and have to run to the middle and hug your partner (also on a bungee) and then let go and fling back!! Remember, everything is wet and muddy so you slide pretty damn fast! It was really awesome. Then, we went to, “Mud Prison” where you are in a prison and mud is flung at you. Was great…until it got in my eyes while wearing contacts! Mud Festival is NOT for the faint of heart, apparently, thank god for SOJU!!! After that, we decided to get painted. There was colored mud and people painting for free! We waited a good while and the Americans in the party (the majority) were very embarrassed by the very crass  and obnoxious (and drunk) American military people around us at 10:00 IN THE MORNING! We survived them and all came out painted! It felt sort of strange on your skin, sort of drying, so after not too long we all went for a very cold swim in the ocean! It was cold, but AMAZING! I ended up in and out all day and stayed for long periods of time. It was amazing to just be out in the water again, I love swimming! 

The novelty of Mud Festival wore off after awhile, and that combined with drinking in the sun for many hours, we were all tired and wanted to head back. We had originally planned to stay with a  friend who lives in the town where the festival was at, but decided because we were leaving so soon, we would just change our train tickets and head back early. The only problem: our friend was MIA and all of our stuff was at her apartment!! We had very unwisely each only brought enough money to get us in and buy ourselves lunch, because we were worried about losing money. We didn’t have cell phones, credit cards, or anything. Not the smartest move on our part! After hours of not seeing our friend, the three of us decided she had probably gone home, and we would go to her apartment. Only problem: No address and we didn’t know where she lived!! We found someone else who knew where she lived, and told the cabbie. We arrived to her apartment, a bit forlorn at this point to find that she….WASN’T HOME!! At that point, panic set in. Full on, absolute panic. We had used up the majority of the money we had left together to get to her apartment, had no way of contacting anyone else, and had almost no money left. We were starving, and so went to the convenience store and got some ramen for around $1 each…as that was all we could afford, lol! We took it back, ate it in her hallway and tried to figure out WTF to do. We ultimately decided we would take the train back (about 90 minutes) because we had a friend meeting us at the station with tickets he got for us…and would have to come back in the morning. We used literally the rest of the money we had left to take a taxi to the station. We were still muddy, hadn’t changed (or showered) and Molly didn’t even have a shirt! She did have a Rambo headband and a squirt gun full of soju though, and I mean, what else matters in times like these? We hung out at the station like a bunch of muddy hobos for a while until our friend with the tickets showed up. He had talked to our friend (where we had planned on staying/where all of our shit was) and she was back. It was decided that Molly would go back (she had no return ticket for the morning, Lindi and I did, and they were all sold out) we would stay the night and bring all of the stuff back in the morning. Everything ended ok, but for many, many hours, we were literally homeless and had almost no money! It was an experience, very stressful, but I can laugh about it now! I found some face wash in the bathroom at the train station and used it to wash my face…lmao. That is how desperate the situation was! It wouldn’t have been a proper send out had Korea not provided one last crazy ass night for me.

Monday rolled around, and my last day as a teacher in Korea had finally arrived. I had been counting down for so long, that I hardly expected it to ever roll around, but alas, it did. I went to school and saw Mr. Jang for the first time in weeks (he was in the hospital for over a week with high blood pressure, and then I was at English camp), and let me tell you, there was no hugging or hand holding! I had nothing to do for the day except send my money home (it was payday) and close my bank account. I was leaving in the evening for Seoul on the train. I spent the morning playing around on the internet and watching some TV, and then after lunch headed for the bank to pay my final bills (my coteacher escorted me and THEN asked for the receipt as proof) so that my school would pay me my salary. After that was finished, and there were some awkward pictures with the principal (who speaks no English) and my shitty co-teacher, I was told I had been paid, could not only go to the bank, but could leave early! Woo Hoo! My coteacher had told me (all throughout the day) that I had to clean my room (my apartment) that it was my duty. I understood completely (although when I got my apartment, it was NASTY, I mean absolutely disgusting) and was tired of him saying it constantly. When I left to go to the bank, he handed me a small, hand-written note. I thought, could it be? Could there be perhaps words of thanks? An apology for being a dick? Or perhaps him telling me to fuck off?  None of the above. Instead, it said, “you must clean your room. It is your duty.” OMG, at that note, I was like THANK GOD I am done with this POS man who is a horrible human being!! Off I went to the bank, practically skipping with joy! Until…I got there. No money! I hadn’t been paid. The transfer is instant, we have the same bank and I have access to the money usually five minutes after they do it, and it had already been over 20. I called stupid Mr. Jang…and of course, no answer! I kept calling and calling and finally called the area supervisor and explained my situation. She called the school and then he called me, said it had just then been paid, at this point; I had been at the bank over 30 minutes. I waited a bit, checked after while…and…NO MONEY! This process would be repeated for two and a half hours. Keep in mind, I had to send my money home THAT DAY, because I was leaving the country early the next morning. Business hours were closing in, I was actually starting to panic that they were going to completely screw me. Finally, at 4:25 (the bank closed at 4:20, but allowed me to stay and finish my transaction) they made the transfer (the bank kept checking their end, since they have access to see my school’s account, and they didn’t do it until 4:25), this was over THREE hours after they initially said they had made the transfer. I was LIVID. Just another reminded to me why my school is shitty. But, I got my money and was able to transfer it, so all was well in the end!!

I went home (ran home, because I was so late) finished packing, and met some people for one last dinner. I had kimbap, Korea’s version of sushi, one of the only Korean foods I ended up liking. After dinner, Rebecca helped me carry my ridiculously heavy luggage to the station. She waited with me until the train came, we said our goodbyes, and then I was off!  Last time on the train in Korea! I got to Seoul, and had to find the airport rail link, which involved some walking. My backpacking backpack on my back was causing me excruciating pain, and I couldn’t figure out why. It felt like my shoulders were going to fall off. The journey from the train-subway (about a five or less minutes walking) was probably the most physically difficult five minutes I have ever walked, it ended up taking about 20. I finally got on the train and realized that my bag was adjusted for the tallest setting (I need it on the shortest) and as a result, no weight was being displaced to my hips. I was carrying 55 pounds on my shoulders only! I fixed it and it was much better! I got to the airport, and before getting picked up by my hostel to be taken where I was staying for the night, I had to weigh my bags. I was flying Thai Air to Hong Kong, and could only check 44 pounds free of charge. Every kilo above and beyond is $7, which could potentially add up very quickly! I weighed my bag and it clocked in at 54 pounds!!!!  I lugged them out of the airport, and went to the hostel.

I arrived and knew I had to completely repack, AGAIN, for the third time. I emptied out every suitcase and bag, and started a mad, crazy getting-rid-of-shit-athon. I got rid of tons of clothes, pretty much all toiletries and other crap. I could hear my friend Kristina and my sister in my mind (they have gone through this with me, forced me to get rid of shit) saying, “Really? A half used bottle of hairspray? THROW IT AWAY!!!” So, I did. I was sort of blindly getting rid of shit for weight purposes, and there are a few things that I wished I hadn’t gotten rid of, but oh well, it is just stuff.

I left bright and early for the airport and checked in, dreading what my overage charges would be. My bag was still overweight, but they charged me NOTHING!!! I was shocked. And very happy. Then sort of pissed off because I had just thrown out seven pounds of shit for apparently, nothing. I said, oh well, just be happy it was free! I went towards security, and a security agent pulled me out of line and made me weight my carryon suitcase (which of course was overweight and I knew it was, but I have NEVER, EVER, had it weighed in all of my travels) and was told I had to check it!!! Now, I was flat out panicking. The cost was going to be exorbitant, and I had stuff in the suitcase that couldn’t be checked (some glass vases and other items), so mad rush to repack/reorganize #4 commenced. I approached the desk and low and behold, they didn’t charge me again!! I was overjoyed at that point. I raced through security and immigration, was told that I was canceling my visa and wouldn’t be able to come back on the same visa if I did this, and they asked if I understood, and it took all of my power to not say, “I am never coming back!!!!” I practically skipped away towards my gate and boarded my four hour flight to Hong Kong. This would be the first four hours of nearly 27 hours I would fly in a week! 

I flew away from Korea, very happy, ready to get to Sydney to see Colin, knowing it was putting me ever closer to home and my friends and family! Although I will miss the friends I made in Korea dearly, I was so ready to leave. I am glad I went, I learned a lot about myself and had a good time outside of my job, and it just wasn’t the situation for me!

To be continued…