The return trip is now complete and it really turned out to be a pain in the ass. Literally. I don’t know why but my tailbone was screaming all the way across the Pacific. It made sitting painful and sleeping impossible. I spent quite a bit of time standing in the back of the plane, but you can only do that so much. Anyway, I survived it and it’s over until the next time in May.
The best thing about about modern air travel is the seat back entertainment systems featuring on demand video. The screens on the Boeing 777 were as large as my laptop. One of the available features are cameras with a forward view and a ground view. It was pretty cool observing the takeoff and landing with a pilot’s eye viewpoint.
Watching several movies is also a good way to fill the 14+ hours of flight time (and taking your mind off the aforementioned ass pain a little bit). I watched Moneyball which was actually surprisingly good. I also watched an indie flick called Another Earth. It’s a sci-fi story of a parallel Earth that suddenly appears in the night sky. It was an interesting concept although I kept thinking of practical considerations like impacts on gravity and rotational effects and the like. The story was more about looking inside ourselves and such. Anway, it was entertaining.
I usually try and catch some Korean cinema when I fly KAL and this trip was no exception. The two I viewed this time were Blind and Mama. Both tended to veer into melodramatic territory a little too often, but then again these ARE Korean films after all. Blind is centered on a police investigation into a hit and run/disappearance. The key witness is a blind woman who had once been a student at the police academy. And how often do you get to see a movie featuring a Korean serial killer/sexual sadist? Although hardly any of that is shown (at least on the airline version). Mama is the story of three mothers and their children with a fair amount familial tension and tragedy mixed in. I’m a sap for this kind of story and found the movie pretty emotionally satisfying.
After landing at Incheon I got to experience the new biometric identification immigration procedures. Basically, a fingerprint scan (both index fingers) and a digital photograph. I can’t really complain about this since the USA has been requiring similar intrusions on foreign visitors for quite some time. It did make the line move much slower than usual however. The immigration officer seemed surprised I was staying for 90 days but didn’t otherwise object to my entry into this fair land. So enter I did.
The bus ride to Gireum station took almost two hours, which my still screaming ass didn’t appreciate. But we eventually arrived and I lugged my two heavy bags (51 and 47 pounds at weigh in) up to Jee Yeun’s new apartment (same building, same apartment floor plan, different floor).
And that my friends is the story of my second return since my first departure from the Land of the Morning Calm.
Tonight I’ll enjoy darts at Dolce Vita. Looking forward to seeing all the familiar faces and places.
