Leavin' On a Jet Plane

The plane ride over to Korea went great. We left Salt Lake City at 0830 on Friday morning. I made it through security with no problems, which was a huge relief because of all the baby food, formula, and medicine I had in the diaper bag. They didn't even make me take it all out so they could inspect it. I was so grateful. And the security guards were very helpful. The plane ride from SLC to San Francisco was about 2 hours and Morgan slept most of the time. She had a little ear trouble at first, but it didn't last too long once she started sucking on her pacifier. The flight attendants were really helpful getting me on the plane with a baby in a carseat, a diaper bag and a carry on bag. I couldn't have gotten it all on without them.
When we got to the San Francisco airport we went straight to the international terminal. I overheard a security guard telling the guy in front of me that if he took the bus to the terminal, then he wouldn't have to go through security again. So I followed the guy to the bus gate because I didn't want to have to get Morgan out of her carseat and do the whole security thing again. Turned out there was no elevator down to the ground level for the bus, so the guy in front of me carried down the stroller for me while I carried Morgan and my baggage. Once at the terminal we got some food, found a comfy spot to park and spread out on a blanket so Morgan could play and I could read.

We flew Singapore airlines and I can't even tell you how awesome they were! They took care of my stroller and my carry on bag before they even started calling for boarding. (thats when I accidently left our passports in the stroller and they had to run after it to retrieve them). The entire staff was from Singapore and they were so friendly and nice (and beautiful). A lady carried Morgan onto the plane for me and then helped me get her settled in. Then, throughout the entire 12 1/2 hour flight to Korea they constantly made sure Morgan and I had everything we needed. They even thought to ask if they could warm up her baby food for me.

(in the San Francisco airport)

The 12 1/2 hour flight was very uneventful. I watched Batman, Kung Fu Panda, Wall-E, and Mama Mia, plus played some Tetris in between. We were served 2 full meals and had snacks and drinks about ever 2 hours. Morgan stayed in her carseat most the time. I was sitting in one of the front seats where you have lots of leg and floor space in front of you, plus we had the whole row to ourselves. So Morgan was able to get down on the floor and move around a bit. She only fussed once and it was nothing a few treats couldn't take care of.

(my little angel baby, being so good)

We arrived in Korea around 6 pm Saturday night. It was actually pretty scary. First, when I got off the plane there was a big sign saying "paging Morgan Webb". So I go up to this lady and say, "that's my daughter". She starts talking on her radio and to another worker and then finally explains to me that one of my bags didn't make it to Korea. She told me to go talk to the airline on the 2nd floor, but I didn't completely understand her directions, so I had a feeling I should just go to the baggage claim and figure it out from there.

I was following signs to the baggage claim when I realized the elevator and the escelator were out of order. All the sudden, 2 Korean airport workers walk up to me talking to each other in Korean. Never even trying to explain anything to me. Finally, one of them says, "this way". So I follow him down a hallway to another elevator, go up, walk down another hallway to another elevator, go down and then he shows me to the baggage claim. I stood there looking around for Clint for about 5 minutes before I realized that no one but passangers were allowed to the baggage claim. Which meant I would have to carry 4 bags, plus push Morgan in the stroller with the diaper bag. I just stood there after I realized this and wondered what in the world I was going to do. I finally turned to go get one of those cart things and a guy was walking toward me with one. Thank Heavens! So he helped me get my bags onto it and then left me to push it by myself. So I start pushing this cart full of bags and pulling the stroller behind me, not making much progress, when another worker sees me and runs over to help me. He takes me out the exit where family members are waiting and then says, "I go back". I managed to get the cart and the stroller over to a bench where I could sit down. I didnt' see Clint anywhere, so I just sat there. Praying that he would find me. I only sat there for about 8 minutes before I saw him walking toward me and then I heard angels singing!

While we were hugging and he was gauking over Morgan some guy walks up and tries to get us to take his cab, which made Clint pretty angry. We got our stuff to the bus stop right outside the exit and only had to wait a couple of minutes for the bus to arrive. It was 2 bus rides and almost 2 hours from the airport to K-16. We tried to take a cab instead of a 2nd bus, but all of my bags wouldn't fit :)

Clint's apartment is pretty small. Just one bedroom. No dishwasher, a tiny little fridge and oven, and the whole building smells like a hospital. K-16 is SO small. There are basically 2 streets. And you can walk the entire post in a matter of minutes. There is small PX where you can buy the bare necessities of groceries. We'll have to take the bus to Yongsan to do major grocery shopping (about a 45 minute ride). I can see the airfield from our bedroom window and its kind of neat. The Koreans have airplanes here that they fly. Its so noisy during the day. Every couple of minutes they have a gun shot that goes off to keep the birds off the runway so they don't get sucked up into the engines. It scares me everytime! We don't have airconditioning, so I have no choice but to keep the windows open.