Hurry Up And Wait ...

Isn’t that the way that most vacations begin? You make your reservations and then you spend m-o-n-t-h-s waiting for the day to arrive. Most times that interminable period between booking and departure are filled with lots of planning. Sometimes things go as planned and sometimes they don’t. If you know me, you know there’s at least one story in there somewhere ….

Lizzy and I made the decision to return to Seoul before we ever left when we visited during Spring Break 2015. Of course, that means nothing. I have always planned to revisit every country that I’ve ever visited starting with Greece during a summer study abroad in 2000. With the exception of cruise ports where I often don’t even disembark, I have yet to do so. However, Lizzy and I actually booked our airline tickets (gotta love frequent flyer miles!) back in November of last year making South Korea the first and only country that has a second stamp in my passport.

During that time between booking our tickets and actually arriving, a very funny thing happened – our trip grew. It started with our dental hygienist. Kim shares our passion for KDrama. This expanded to include taking language lessons with us at the Baton Rouge School of Korean Language. We have regular study sessions on Friday night at CC’s, a local coffee shoppe. This started with just the two of us and grew as well but that is another story.

Anyway, as we met for studying our vocabulary, I told her that I had booked my tickets. She said she wished that she could go also. She too loves to travel. Sometimes I think that the travel bug has bitten her worse than me. I said that she should come along. She said that she couldn’t. I told her how to play the frequent flyer miles game. Most credit cards will give you 50,000 miles for applying for their card and spending anywhere from $1K-$3K in the first 3-12 months. Depending upon the airline, the country, and the time you wish to travel, this is often enough for a free international ticket. It was now me, Lizzy, and Kim coming to Seoul.

Of course, the subject came up in class and several other students were interesting in coming as well. “Field Trip!” we yelled as our travel group grew by one more with others promising to join us on the next one. Yes, already planned for summer of 2018.

When we went to the Big Bang concert in Newark, NJ last October, we met lots of people while standing in line. Many we have kept in touch with via e-mail. We have told them all about the trip. One got the opportunity to take a short term position in Seoul with her company and is already waiting for us. Another said she wanted to go as well. Our mother/daughter vacation was now a party of six converging in Dallas and going on to Incheon.

To be continued ....