The end of January saw me traveling to Canada to attend the Teaching Overseas Recruitment Fair (TORF) in order to secure a new teaching location for the upcoming academic year.
I left my apartment at 8AM for a 1 hour taxi journey to the high speed train to Seoul. After a comfortable 2.5hr journey I arrived at Seoul Central Train Station. I timed it just right and was able to comfortably walk to the rapid link to the airport. It was so well timed that I walked up to the ticket counter, purchased my ticket, walked to the elevator and on to the train with enough time to comfortably arrange my self and belongings before the train left on the 45 minute journey to Incheon International Airport.
I arrived at the airport a full hour before flight checkin opened - the land side of Incheon is not the most interesting place to spend time, but an hour early was better than arriving a bit later and being rushed and stressed about catching the flight. I checked in - ONLY to find that the airline now allows just one 23kg piece of luggage in economy from Asia to North America. Luckily I only had my backpack and my standard two pieces of cabin luggage - my handbag and my camera bag. This new restriction put a serious crimp in my return journey plans! The check in agent also insisted on weighing my cabin luggage to ensure neither piece was over 10kg.
My flight to Vancouver was the usual sardine tin in economy. When I arrived at Vancouver International I used the automated border kiosk for the first time - a fairly painless experience. i picked up my backpack to be dropped at the domestic flights baggage conveyor belt - only to find out that my flight to Ottawa was delayed. Not Great!
I decided that I would enjoy a manicure in one of the airport spas - pricey, but a pleasant way to stay conscious while I waited for my new gate assignment.
The gate assignment was currently being used for an international flight so it was behind a layer of security that I could not get past just yet. When the international flight left I headed down to the gate - i could let part of my consciousness drift to an almost sleep like state while i listened for the boarding call.
The boarding call did not come at the expected time - after much consternation - we were able to board more than 2 hours later! (This was concerning as I was certain that we would have exceeded the flight crews allowable hours - but luckily it was a new crew boarding in Vancouver AND the airport we were designated to land at usually did not allow flights between midnight and six AM. We were now going to land at 1:50AM)
I spent 4 days in Ottawa doing many errands that needed to be completed. Then I was off to Prescott to see my nieces - I managed to surprise them with my visit, unfortunately we didn't get to do many 'fun things' as the youngest manifested stomach flu the first night; the middle one the next night - amazingly I didn't contract the virus!!
I left for Kingston and TORF on on Friday morning (1 week after leaving Korea) with limited signs of jet lag :-) .
TORF is always a busy and hectic time but all went well. This year seemed to be the year of the Middle East for me (the last time I attended TORF I was sought after by schools in Korea and China - I went to Turkmenistan from this fair.). I signed on with a school in Dubai - the next stage of the adventure will start in August / September.
I spent a few days visiting my friends T & T in Kingston and relaxing. Tuesday it was back on a train to Prescott and Wednesday's oldest niece's birthday dinner. After dinner I drove Granma's car back to Ottawa - normally a 1 hour drive.
The drive took a bit longer as Granma is a bit of a nervous passenger, it had never driven her car before, and the weather through EVERY type of winter weather it had at us - cold and clear (black ice any one?), blowing snow, freezing rain, falling slush.... you name it I drove through it for the first time in year that night! We took an hour and 40 minutes to get back to Ottawa but no one was stressed out and the car was in one piece.
I had a day in Ottawa to finish errands AND make everything fit in to my backpack - recall the new one piece of luggage rule mentioned above.
My flight from Ottawa to Toronto was late leaving and after push back we had to be de-iced. Arrived in Toronto with just enough time to catch my scheduled flight to Tokyo - but this flight was late.
I boarded the plane and found that I had the window seat in a row of 3 with no one else sitting there and the armrests lifted up - I could lay down during the 13.5 hours and sleep. SCORE!! NOT SO FAST MISSY, said the universe because I endured 13 hours of a screaming baby 3 rows back - my noise cancelling earphones couldn't drown the child out.
I had to recheck in at Narita International Airport for my flight to Seoul - other than having difficulties finding the check in counter all went smoothly. I had an exit row window seat for the 3 hour flight and was able to sleep a little.
Arriving at Incheon International went smoothly until baggage and customs. My bag was the last off the conveyor and I picked the wrong customs line, ending up behind some individuals who needed to be extensively questioned.
I misse the Rapid link from Incheon to Seoul Station and as a result I missed the last train home.
I ended up spending a small fortune on a 4.5 hour stay at the Millennium Hilton Hotel - the closest hotel to the station. I was on the first train the next morning to Ulsan. I arrived at my apartment EXACTLY 36 hours after I left my accommodations in Ottawa.
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