Traveling Part One: Planes

Woke up to one of fifty different alarms I'd set then I rolled out of bed and freaked out- all of the nerves, excitement and everything else hit me all at once! After a call with Leah I started getting my stuff together (literally and emotionally) and repacked a bit. I made some calls to family and made friends with an elderly French couple (Bernard and Beatrice- so cute!) while waiting for the shuttle to the airport.

LAX was surprisingly empty when I showed up and I immediately ran into three girls from Ohio who were going to Chiang Mai with my program too! They are super sweet and I felt a little better knowing I was going with such fun people. Getting through TSA and finding the right gate was a breeze and we spent a good three hours just hanging out and enjoying our last little bit of America.

Furthermore, OMG I can't believe I was ever worried about flying Korean Air because this is seriously the most amazing plane I've ever been on! First of all, I didn't realize that the plane was TWO STORIES until I was boarding it, but how insane is that?! 

Can you see the two rows of windows?

took a picture of the staircase inside for proof!

In addition to being flippin huge, the plane was actually aesthetically pleasing too- everything was in cream and turquoise and was just really pleasant.

Plane swag: headphones, blanket, pillow, slippers, toothbrush, wet wipes, and a water bottle.

The back of the seats were crazy too! They had a clothes hanging hook, a USB phone charger port, and a remote/game controller that went with the tv thing. The music selection on the tvs was hilariously diverse, playing everything from John Denver to Edith Piaf to Bruno Mars's entire discography. Also, There was a little mall thing at the back, which was kinda weird, but still kinda nice (?)

Selling J'adore by Dior and some Taylor Swift perfume

Of course, I was still on an airplane, which meant I had a lady behind me who kicked my seat for 13 hours, but it's better than screaming kids. I actually had a row of 4-year-old triplets sitting diagonally in front of me, and they were the best behaved kids ever! They didn't make a peep the entire time! 

The food on the airplane definitely tasted like airplane food, but, oddly enough, the only drinks the hostesses had on board were water, tea, orange juice, wine, and beer. And they were very liberal with passing out the wine and beer the first 9ish hours of the flight- they kept walking up and down the aisles asking "Drink more?" and "More wine please?" I guess they just wanted to ease the pain of a 13 hour flight? At about four hours before landing they stopped serving all alcohol, but most everyone who had been drinking was passed out at that point.



Can I also just say that people on planes are hilarious? This 900 year old Korean man got up in the middle of the flight and went through a full Cindi Lauper-style workout routine mid-flight, clad in tight Adidas pants and socks-with-sandals. And the woman across the aisle from me hoarded her orange juice cups and kept on building little towers out of them.


We eventually arrived safely at Incheon International Airport in South Korea and had about one hour to go through customs then run to our gate- we made our plane! (Some kids on my trip didn't yikes!) Then I slept the entire way to Chiang Mai. When we finally got there, there were about 20 people from the USAC program waiting there to welcome us (we'd eventually met up and grown to a size of 12 who took the group flight). We took open-air taxis to the hostel then doled out room assignments, etc. 

I'm headed to bed- we have orientation at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning! 

Tired but incredibly happy,
Haley