Day 0 - Trip Planning Skills

06:00 is 6:00 AM. I bet you knew that. Unfortunately, I neglected that fact, and that's why I would be landing 12 hours before Stephen. See, he booked his flight to land at 5:50 PM which is pretty smart. I wanted to make it easy on my relatives picking us up, so I thought it'd be smart to book the flight departing from LAX at 00:10 and arriving in Seoul at 06:00 which was pretty stupid to say the least. I think I had enough time to change my flight, but then my relatives stateside wanted me to take 2 luggage bags full of crap to deliver to my relatives in Korea so I figured I'd run those errands before Stephen arrived so that we're not wasting our precious time in Korea. I'm sure he wouldn't have minded, but I would've.

If my flight booking fiasco provided any indication of my trip planning skills, then one could surmise that I probably have a difficult time packing. This is somewhat true. I just like to take enough to be ready for anything considering we planned almost nothing to do in particular. When the itinerary for a trip is to eat, drink, meet girls, and go sightseeing as time permits, packing can be quite tough. Oh, did I mention I already had 2 luggage bags of crap to deliver? Yeah, imagine packing with all that baggage weighing down on your mind. In total, I would be taking 3 luggage bags and a backpack. /wrist

Speaking of trip planning skills, I should also mention that over 50% of the time, I get to the airport 100% later than I should be to be comfortable. I actually know what time I should leave my place to get the airport with time to spare, but I have a tendency to lag and find myself having to race to the airport and pray. For a 00:10 flight, I figured I should leave my place by 8:00 PM. I left at 9:00 PM. I wasn't stressed though because for a 00:10 flight, I should get to airport no later than 10:00 PM and it's Wednesday night so I should be okay. Oh wait, I'm neglecting the fact that I live in LA and traffic tends to suck ass when you don't want it to. Thanks for sucking ass LA traffic. I was stuck in traffic for an hour and half because 3 lanes were closed near Santa Monica which is already a congested area and got to the airport around 11:00 PM (or 23:00 if you please). My mom even called to say that I was screwed. Thanks Mom.

Of course, it all worked out in the end. There was no line at check-in because everyone else is smarter than me and got there early, so I checked in my 2 bags-o-crap and walked through the security checkpoint relieved that I miraculously made it. I even had time to shop at the duty free shop where I hoped to stock up on cigarrettes and alcohol for myself and my relatives.

Where am I headed? Seoul. 1 carton / 1 liter limit. Crap. Of course I could have bought all this beforehand and packed it instead, but you know the story.

We boarded at 23:40 and left on time at 00:10. I was assigned a middle seat because my uber trip planning skills failed me once again as I neglected to assign myself a more comfortable seat in time. Doh! I know it sounds like a lot of complaining, but I had so much to look forward to so it was all worth it. Given all these lemons, I'm just going to have to make some lemon soju.