We Made it to Korea!

So I'm here, at a Best Western Hotel in downtown Seoul.  It was a very long and tiring journey involving numerous planes and lots of new friends.
I started at 2:30 am Tuesday morning in Charleston, SC., where I had been visiting the grandbabies.  I got to the airport at 4, and had to wait half an hour for US Airways to open the ticket counter so I could check my enormous bag.  I met a man who was starting his journey home to Zimbabwe, and we talked for awhile about developing countries and the Westernization of the world.  It never ceases to amaze me how much western and American culture creeps into isolated, poor places around the world.  The cultures are changing so much due to the influence of TV, movies, and music - what will be left of them in another 50 years?  Will everybody be the same everywhere?
I eventually checked my bag through to JFK, and after waiting awhile longer we walked downstairs, out onto the tarmac, and climbed aboard a little bitty plane bound for Charlotte.  Of course, no window seat for me.  I tried to sleep, but it was such a short flight - 35 minutes or so.  Landed in the big city, and boy - that's a big airport.  I had to walk almost 20 minutes to the gate for my flight to NYC.  Made it just as they were boarding, and off we went.  I slept the whole flight.
JFK was easy to get around, so after collecting my enormous bag I took the Airtrain to Terminal 1, checked in at the Korean Airlines desk, checked the big bag, and went to the gate.  There were lots of the teachers already waiting.  People from Maryland, Vermont, Pennsylvania, New York.  So we introduced ourselves, and talked during the 2 hour wait for our flight to board.
The flight itself was uneventful - but 14 hours in the air was awfully long.  I was on an emergency exit row, so I had leg room, but no window again.  I managed to sleep quite a bit, but it wasn't very restful.  Watched the Keira Knightley version of Pride and Prejudice, one of my fav movies.  I know, it doesn't follow the book, but its so good.  Interestingly, the airplane version cut the final scene of the American version - I'm not sure why.
So after deplaneing, going through customs, getting bags, we find our hosts and the bus, and ride the 45 minutes into Seoul from Incheon.  The teachers wandered around yesterday evening, and our little group found some soju and pnjun, and returned to the hotel around 10.  I didn't sleep well, and found myself up in the middle of the night watching Federer flame out in the second round of Wimbledon.
We are staying at a nice Best Western hotel, with wired Internet in the rooms and wireless in the lobby.  It's almost time to go downa dn meet up for the walk around town.
More later,
rem