Travel

Landed

6 months ago

by JR in Korea and Culture, Travel

Woke up early this morning after crashing out early last night. We stayed up the entire night before heading to New Orleans on the third,and I got very little sleep on the plane. We were surrounded by children whose mission in life had to be to aggravate as many people as possible. After a long 14 hour flight from Chicago to Seoul, we landed in Seoul, and made it through customs and immigration with little to no problems. The weather, although muggy, has not been terrible, but it does look like the next few days are going to be rainy. We decided to stay near Kkachisan Station since it is close to Gimpo and to JJ’s sister’s house. We grabbed a taxi after taking the limo bus from Incheon to Gimpos, and I was quickly reminded of why I never wanted to drive in Korea. Our driver was able to simultanesosly enter the address into his GPS, handle conversations on two different cell phones, get directions from JJ, and weave in and out of traffic without hitting a couple of delivery drivers that drifted into our lane.

We met JJ’s sister, brother-in-law, and their son at a traditional Korean restaurant for dinner. They treated us to a wonderful dinner, and it was a great first meal in Korea. It was good to be able to catch up with family members that we have not seen in two years, and we both are ready to get back to the mainland to spend more time with them. Their son is now eight, and it was amazing to see how much he has grown in the two years that we have been gone.

Since I didn’t bring my card-reader, I will have to wait and upload photos, but I look forward to sharing photos of the hotel that JJ found for us. I really wish cheaper “love motels” would take off in America. For less than 60 dollars, JJ and I have a room with a huge jacuzzi tub, 50 inch flat-screen TV, two P.C.’s with huge flat screens, and touch screen computer that controls everything in the room.

Today’s plan is to visit and have lunch with another sister who lives near Gimpo, and then leave for Jeju this afternoon around four.

Photos and more tales of Korea later

Prepping for Korea

6 months ago

by JR in Travel

Our bags are in the process of getting packed. We opted to only bring carry-on luggage to allow us to quickly and comfortable get from Inchon to Gimpo once we arrive in Seoul. I have been doing most of the pre-trip activities since JJ is working on a monster problem for her final in Numerical Linear Algebra. The problem is four pages long and since I am not a Math person, I can’t really even describe it. She has to write some type of code that computes eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a given symmetric matrix. All I can do is help by cooking dinner and making drinks.

We fly out on Wednesday morning from New Orleans, and the plan is for JJ’s brother-in-law to pick us up at Inchon. We will have dinner with brother and his family, and then JJ and I will crash in Gimpo for the night. The next day we have a late afternoon flight to Jeju. I am getting more and more excited about the trip. My father-in-law has been planning outings for us and has already scoped out a couple of locations that he thinks I should photograph. We also have to make our way Seogwipo to visit with JJ’s great-uncle. We have never met before, and it should be an interesting trip out to the countryside of Jeju. He owns an orange farm, and I hope to be able to get out and take some photos.

After a four to five days in Jeju, we will head to Seoul for the remainder of our trip. We will spend our time in Seoul visiting with friends and family, shopping, eating good Korean food, and generally just not thinking about the upcoming semester.

Korea Korean Vacation packing list

T-13 Days

6 months ago

by JR in Korea and Culture, Travel

JJ and I have a little less than two weeks before we depart for Korea. We are scheduled to spend exactly two weeks in Korea, and the majority of our time will be spent with JJ’s parents in Jeju. JJ is planning the whole trip, and after I planned our last few getaways, it is going to be nice to relax and just go where I am told to go. Besides spending time with family, getting to see some old friends, and doing a little shopping, I don’t have much that I really must do. If it is possible, I would like to get out to the beach in Jeju and take some photos. I have given thought to buying a tripod once I get to Korea, but I may just use my Gorilla pod. Hopefully, I will be able to get some good shots while we are out and about.

Korea travel

A Little R & R

8 months ago

by JR in Travel

There is nothing like a week on the beach to forget about school work and real world responsibilities. My mother rented a house on Pensacola beach, and if we were not by the pool reading, then we were down on the beach. At one point, there were 16 of us staying in the house, and although it was cozy, we all had a great time. I got used to enjoying my morning nap and beer with lunch on the beach. I did a ton of fun reading and really hated to leave Florida.