First off,
I MADE IT!!!
Secondly a wild and crazy ride needs to be posted.
So it all started Monday 07 Jan at 0300 when Karly and I left for the Manhattan Airport. This part was uneventful at least until we got there. Karly and I were both pumped full of coffee from staying up waaay too late and we arrived at the airport which was, much to our surprise, still closed. So we thought we'd go to the nearest town, Ogden, and upon arrival we discovered that it was entirely closed as well. So we headed back to the airport to see if it opened at 0430 and it hadn't yet so we decided to head to Manhattan and find a gas station. Finally we had our relief. When we returned to the airport it was just opening at 0500 for my 0555 flight. Check-in was uneventful.
0525 a TSA agent shouts across the security line "we got 1 hour" aka the flight had been delayed by an hour. 0625 no news so I go to check my connection and I was scheduled to take the 820 instead of the 715 to Atlanta. 0715 no news. 0730 oh crap how am I going to make a noon flight in Atlanta if I'm not even in Kansas City yet. 0800 I check the flight status and it's still delayed so we start rebooking. I'm now going to fly to MCI then to LAX and then ICN. Great that sounds good (even though the ticket said I'd arrive on the 8th when indeed I didn't get here until the 9th). 0915 the planes inbound to take us to MCI. 0930 the plane had to turn around and go back to Salina. 0940 "We've been authorized to provide ground transportation" yay so I am going to make it to MCI before my 1455 flight to LAX. I got cleared to drive myself (with Karly) and I got a voucher (which will make Karly's flight over cheaper). So off go Karly and I to MCI in the truck. We arrive about noon and I check in my bags for the flight. We then see some of our compatriots from Manhattan whom inform us that about 20min after we left, a plane showed up and they flew. Oh well, we got to spend more time together (including lunch) and got a voucher out of the deal. By the way I found out that I would have a layover in Pheonix. So after some tears and lots of hugs I departed for my time in Korea. We arrived in Pheonix 3 hours later and were told that an unexpected plane change had occured and we were to report to gate 9 which was a 1/2 mile walk in the terminal. After arrival at gate 9 we were told that our flight was being changed from 308 to 36 and that we were to report back to gate 14. We arrive at gate 14 and they have not heard about this change and that we were to go back to gate 9. We pitched a mutiny and they let us on flight 36 to LAX. I arrived at LAX and my newfound friend from Manhattan and I headed to the USO for the 6 hour layover. I really liked the LAX USO it was a great place.
After waking up at 1000 we headed to the international terminal and through security (this took over an hour). We made it to Incheon about 10 minutes early, headed through immigration and all was well. We got to the baggage carousel and unsurprisingly based on the last 36+hours neither of my check bags and one of Charles's bags don't show up.
But in the end we have made it to Yongsan for inprocessing and all is well. They found my bags and they should be here tonight (what time I do not know).
Now that I am away from my beautiful and wonderful constant distraction, I should be able to post a little more often.