Yesterday a friend
since high school flew from Edinburgh, Scotland to London, England, to Incheon
(a suburb of Seoul) and then to Busan for his winter vacation.
His itinerary said his plane arrived in Busan at 6. Now in Busan
there are two airports, one is for domestic and one is for international
flights. I walked into the domestic airport first and inquired if a plane is
coming from Seoul where would it land. through broken English he
explained that Incheon flights will land in the international airport, while
flights from Gimpo, the domestic airport in Seoul will come here. I walk over
to the international airport and continue reading my book.
Sidebar:
This is one of the
slowest books I've read in my life. And I’ve read Dickens. Maybe I'm just not
sold on the characters but the book is called Junk and
they have just started doing Heroin half way through. Honestly Burgess, get it
together, if Gemma could she'd have popped that needle in her the second she
got off the coach she's such a mental case. Believe me, I've met a number of
people living vicariously through her. She's just a little faster.
As time drew on
and people began coming out of baggage claim I was expecting my friend to be
one of the first because he absolutely hates waiting and will hustle his way
through most processes. I waited and waited until the Incheon flight
disappeared of the screen. He was nowhere to be found. Did I read his itinerary
right? I paced through the whole arrival section. Nowhere. Looking at the
board there was another flight from Incheon for 8:20, an hour away. I knew I
couldn't go back home so I ate some shitty chicken looking at the doors from
baggage claim the entire time. Still nothing. I was sure he was supposed to be
here for 6. I went to find the internet cafe and checked my emails. 3 new messages,
all from him.
I've been at
the airport for almost an hour, where the fuck are you?
That was sent 2
hours ago. Yikes. I emailed him my phone number and told him to call me.
Obviously his phone from Scotland doesn't have reception so he was calling me
from a information booth. I set up a meeting point and he agreed. I waited
there for 15 minutes with my cell phone in my hand waiting for the next call.
He definitely wasn't in this building. Then at the other end I see his long
stride and bright blue gym bag.
"I was in the
domestic airport"
"What?"
"It’s a long
story."
"Wanna
beer?"
"I'd love
one."
It certainly was:
the gist of it was his connecting flight from Incheon to Busan apparently
didn't exist so they sent him to the Gimpo airport on a shuttle bus where he
arrived twenty minutes before the flight. Gimpo is the domestic airport in
Seoul, and he landed in the Domestic Airport in Busan. Thankfully, the airports
are right next to each other. Now, all that matters is he made it here in one
piece here and I get a roommate for the next week and a half. We both had
stressful days and concluded it with some Korean BBQ and Bavarian beers in the
fine district of KSU. This series of events are very bizarre and somewhat
unbelievable, so unbelievable you would think it would never happen!
All and all
airports suck.
As I introduced
him to people from my orientation they all asked, "How was your
flight?" because it was so frustrating we alternated telling the story.
Its a good thing emails exist or else this could have been the worst experience
of his life, next time someone visits I'll be sure to brief them "that
anything can happen, so call when it does." Jet lag and all, it is good to
have an old friend down here for the holidays.
Happy Holidays
Everyone!
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