To Asia!

My flight was supposed to leave at 2:20 pm and I had Elli drop me off at the airport around noon. It was hard to say goodbye.

 

Airport security was pretty easy to get through. They no longer require you to remove your shoes and take laptops out of your bag. They did have a dog sniffing everyone as they passed by which made me nervous even though I wasn't carrying anything illegal. The flight ended up being delayed a couple of hours, so I sat and waited.

Asiana airlines was awesome. They had pillows and blankets on each seat and passed out slippers and headphones to everyone right after the flight started. The blankets seemed thin at first but they were totally heavy enough to keep me warm and cozy. I had my backpack on the floor by my legs and there was still enough room to stretch my feet out. They served two meals during the flight. I'd say it was comparable to a high quality tv dinner. The bathrooms had toothbrushes and toothpaste.

The flight was 12 hours long. I departed Seattle around 5pm and arrived in South Korea around 8pm. I was exhausted and got confused going through customs. I was guided into a line by someone who worked there, but they failed to inform me that I needed to go to the side to fill out a tiny index card. Other than that it was incredibly easy. Andrew found me shortly after that and we went to get food at a Burger King in the airport. It tastes exactly like you would have expected.

We took the subway to the hostel. The subway system here is awesome. It goes everywhere, it's incredibly cheap, and way cleaner than any public transportation in the US. The hostel was right next to a few brothels, so we had to dodge them on the way in. My room is on the roof of the building right next to an awesome space where all the other travelers hang out. I talked with another traveler staying in my room and passed out. I woke up at 7am the next day and felt awesome. Jet lag wasn't really an issue at all.