We Made It!

We FINALLY made to Seoul. Our plane landed at about 2:50 pm on Monday afternoon. There is a 13 hour time difference so we pretty much lost a day from traveling. The flight went very well and the stewardess loved us & clearly thought that Todd and I were married as she referred to us as "Mr. & Mrs. Lightfoot" a couple times. I did a lot of sleeping and watched all the Scandal episodes that I could. Now I'm hooked!

When we first arrived we took a train from the airport into Seoul Station. We then had a taxi take us to our hotel.  It is quite surprising how many natives speak English, so it was a bit easier to get around than I thought.  We got ourselves settled in and cleaned up. If you've ever spent an entire day and night traveling, you know you want nothing more than a hot shower and to burn the clothes you've been wearing for the past 24 hours.

We decided this would be a good evening to do a touristy visit to the Seoul Tower.  You take a cable car up to the top of a space needle that overlooks the entire city.  This city is HUGE! 

Here is a panoramic view from the top of the Seoul Tower.

There were different levels of look-out points that had breathtaking views from all directions.  We also found a level covered with padlocks.  They very much encouraged the them of "love" at this spot. 

The wall of padlocks of love.

Another view from Seoul Tower.

The Seoul Tower at night!

They also don't much care that it's 10:00 on a Monday night either. The streets were bustling with shoppers and street vendors. I can't even explain the overwhelming feeling of shopper's remorse that I would have here.  Every other store is either of shoes or cosmetics.  They also love creepy cartoon characters.  There are tons of food vendors that seem to make their living off of this.  We didn't trust them much, so we decided to go very western and eat dinner at a "Beer Factory".  We went the safe route with pork cutlets and spicy chicken.  We will be more adventurous tomorrow!

Night life in the city.

So after being here for 10 hours we have learned 3 very important things about my culture. They have no concept of personal space, they love to shop, and clapping...oh, and they are very proud of their Samsung products.  Until tomorrow...we are exhausted! 

They don't care about your personal space!

The Day Has Finally Arrived!

The day has finally arrived! After hitting up a disappointing loss at the Cubs game (surprise, surprise!) and enjoying some live music at a SummerFest last evening, we got a mere 4 hours of sleep before waking up to conquer our day of traveling.   If you know me at all, you know I am not a morning person.  So, 3:30am was ROUGH...not to mention the cab drivers are CRAZY in Chicago and I tend to get quite carsick.  This trip is turning out to be awesome so far!  Todd and I will take a quick hop to Dallas and then we will be off on our 14 hour journey to Seoul.  I'm looking forward to eating dinner about 5 times and getting hooked on some trashy TV sitcoms.  As for now, we are enjoying the view from the airport and chugging coffee.  Heavy on the cream, light on the coffee.

The Countdown Begins

It is just 3 days before my departure back to the Motherland.  I am feeling anxious and eager.  Although I've done quite a bit of international traveling, this will be quite different than anything I have ever done.  Leaving the country at the ripe age of 3 months doesn't give you much knowledge of your heritage.  Those cute little Asians are going to be blown away when I don't have a clue what they're talking about (probably about me!). Thanks to my big brother, I am able to take the journey of a lifetime.  We will be visiting Seoul for a couple days and then heading on to see my college roommate, Katie, in Busan.  I don't have a single thing packed, haven't learned any Korean, or prepped myself for this 14+ hour flight.  So if you're feeling bored, follow me and hopefully my life story can be your entertainment.