To fully describe the ordeal of getting out of Norfolk, I would need more time and energy than either Ellen or I currently have in reserve. That being said, we were able to completely empty the Newport Ave house in three days with the help of the moving company. I really don't have any idea how much it cost to do a move like that, but I have to say that I would loath to try and do it any other way from now on! Money well spent by ABS in my opinion. We just have to see how much stuff actually makes it to Geoje Island, then I'll pass final judgment on that experience.
On to the travel. Trinie was kind enough to take us to the Norfolk airport at 0730 on Thursday morning. I'm sure that she was happy to get rid of two coughing and sniveling squatters from her house. In addition to getting her sick we just about buried her with stuff. I think we dumped off something like 8 boxes full of food, cleaning supplies, light bulbs , and junk for her and Ryan to keep. So she kissed us goodbye, we checked into Northwest Airlines and began the flying part of the trip. Amazingly, all four bags that we checked each weighed just under the 50 lb limit. What was additionally amazing, was that NW airlines started charging $15 per bag yesterday for all new tickets purchased! Our luck continues......
First leg was Norfolk to Detroit at about 2 hrs. Not bad, but completely full.
Our layover ( I actually wrote "hangover" for a sec, as that's about what I feel like at 0700 Sat) was for several hours in Detriot. I was able to exchange some old New Zealand and Barbadian currency that I had laying around, but it didn't yield me much except 8 USD in lunch money. We flew in a Boeing 757-400 ( I think that's right...) that held about 420 people in two levels. Let me just say that a 12 hr. flight in Coach is NOT fun even if the two of us were feeling totally fine. It's just too damn hard to move around and sleeping is almost impossible. What I did have and enjoy, much to Steve's satisfaction I'm sure, was Ellen's Kindle. I was able to download a few books before we took off and after about an hour I was hooked. Dad, thanks. It was a cool gift.
We watched 4 really bad movies that probably went right to video stateside, ate 3 space man meals, and tried not to get the rest of plane totally infected. Landing in Japan at the Tokyo Narita Airport at about 3:30 PM local time, we were able to walk around for about 2 hours and get some water. Not much to report, other than the fact that we were able to get a good look at fellow Americans who were on the plane. From my guess, the couple behind us were headed to Shanghai to adopt a baby, there were a group of missionaries (the Pat Robertson biography in the shoulder bag?), a couple of college students, some business types in dark suits, and a handful of servicemen.
The flight to Busan (I have seen it spelled Pusan about half the time) was really quick, most because Ellen and I fell asleep immediately. By this point the two of us were really tired and ready to stop. Landing in Korea, clearing customs, and flying through immigration were all a snap. No bags were lost and we were met by the infamous Mr. Ko upon emerging into the airport proper. Although his English was good, I was not able to fully ascertain his relationship with ABS. I continue to believe that he is a local "facilitator" as my boss John Preston mentioned earlier. Anyway, he had this diesel mini-van and proceeded to drive us to Geoje. I was a little disappointed that the 2.5 hr drive was in the dark, as only so much of the city and countryside could been seen from the car in that condition. Let me just say that Korea is full of hills and mountains. The highways, which were better than anything we saw in Poland, cut directly through the mountains with numerous tunnels. I actually lost count of the number of major (over 20m in diameter) tunnels that we drove through. This may sound strange, but fully enclosed golf driving ranges are very popular here. They are completely massive netted enclosures where something like 2 or 3 levels of golfers can whack balls, day or night. These things are everywhere. Mr. Ko said he plays golf, but failed to mention if he is an avid user of the "range".
We arrived in Geoje at about 11 at night to see the illuminated and bustling city. Lots of big apartment buildings and small shops. I haven't gotten a good view of either major shipyard, but I think that's not far off (Monday morning, anyone!). Our apartment is on the 10th floor of the Kisan Harbor view building with a cool view of a small inlet with beach. The beach looks sandy from here, but judging from the rocks nearby I would imagine that the "sand" is actually smooth stones. The apartment is fairly new, with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and is about 1000 square feet. The living room has a 32" flat screen TV with DVD player (most likely not NTSC format...) and as I was told it is fully furnished. The kitchen is actually bigger and better equipped than our Newport Ave. House! The sink is way bigger and there is about 10x as much counter space. We've got all your typical western appliances (including an oven, which I didn't think we would have). Pictures will follow...be patient.
By about 1:00 AM we were so exhausted we fell asleep on our rock hard Korean Mattress. I'm very happy that we asked to include our own queen size beds into the freight. Today we will be meeting with some of the other ABS people and hopefully getting our car from Mr. Ko in the afternoon. Let the adventure begin!
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