We had quite the time moving back to the States from Korea. We had
way too much stuff, and didn't want to part with any of it. Eventually we got it paired down to four suitcases and four carry-ons (the maximum limit of two of each for each of us).
The next question was how we were going to get all eight bags and the two of us three and a half hours from our place in Sokcho, on the East coast, to the airport in Incheon, on the West Coast. In the past, we got a ride to a nearby town, Gangneung, to take a bus directly to the airport. Very convenient!
This time was different. Our flight was scheduled to leave around 10 am. The earliest bus left the Gangneung station at 6 am. Since the bus ride would take at least 4 hours, we didn't think we'd be able to get to the airport and through check-in and security on time for our flight. We figured that we would need to get to Seoul the night before, and then travel on to the airport the next morning. That leg of the trip was only an hour so we'd have plenty of time.
So how were we going to get us and all of our stuff on the three legs of the trip: From our house to the local bus station, from the bus station in Seoul to a nearby motel, from the motel back to the bus station, and then from the bus to the check-in desk at the airport. Remember, we had the four suitcases and four carry-ons.
We arranged with our boss's wife, Mrs. Jung to take us to the local bus station the afternoon before our flight. She came and we loaded everything up. Or at least we thought we had. Once we got to the bus station and had bought our tickets, we realized that we had left one bag at our apartment, Derek's lap-top bag. Something we really didn't want to leave!
So we immediately called Mr. Kim, our boss, and asked him or his wife to get it for us. He told us that since our bus would be leaving in about 10 minutes, we should change our ticket to a later time because his wife was running errands and probably wouldn't be able to get the bag to us in time.
I asked Derek what I should say to the ticket seller. He basically told me to show her the tickets we had, then say the new time in Korean and then say change in English. They should understand that. I did that easily and as I came out I saw that Mrs. Jung was there with the bag and that we would still be able to make our original bus time. So I ran back inside and repeated the same ticket exchange--except in the reverse--with the same ticket seller. She sort of laughed at me, but was willing to do the exchange... again!
Fortunately we were able to make it on the bus just in time, even with all our stuff and had an uneventful trip from Sokcho to Seoul. But then once we got off the bus in Seoul, we realized that we had to figure out some way to get to a motel for the night, and we didn't see any just outside the station. We didn't want to drag all eight bags all around with us so we thought we'd find a taxi, load all our stuff, and then just tell him to go to the nearest motel.
Sounds easy right? It should have been. There were plenty of taxis waiting for customers, but none of them would take us! And we couldn't figure out why. After what seemed like hours of trying to get a taxi in the dark, a kind Korean woman came to help us. We told her all we wanted to do was get a taxi to take us to a motel nearby because we would be needing to get back to the bus station the next morning.
She spoke excellent English and understood us perfectly. She went to talk to a few drivers and then came back to report that all of those drivers did not want to do a local run. They only wanted to take passengers long distance. It didn't make any sense to me, but then again, a lot of things in Korea didn't make sense to me. She told us she would continue to find a taxi for us, and very soon, she did! Sometimes things are so much easier when you don't do them yourself!
We loaded up our bags in the trunk and the back seat. I sat in the back, and Derek sat in the front. The driver had to drive very carefully because the trunk was unable to close because our bags were so big! The funniest part (funniest after the fact) was that he literally drove just around the corner. We could have walked!!! But at least this way we didn't have to drag our bags around!
As soon as the taxi stopped and Derek and the driver started unloading our bags, I jumped out to see if the night manager of the motel would be able to help us get our bags inside. I don't remember what I said, or even if it was in Korean or English, but he did come out to help us. He helped us all the way up to our room!
The next difficulty we had was that the size and amount of luggage was almost too big to fit in the room! All Korean lodgings have a separated entryway. This is the place where you take off your shoes before entering the living areas. In this particular motel room, there was the main door to our room, and then another door to the sleeping area. The door to the bathroom was off of the entryway. Since only one or two of our smaller bags would fit in the sleeping area with us, we had to put all the rest of our bags in the the entry way.
And they just barely fit. We were able to maneuver to and from the bathroom, but if we wanted to get in or out of the room, we had to shuffle our bags around to make room for the main door to open! Thank goodness we were only there for the one night.
Since our flight left in the morning, and we still needed to take the hour bus trip from Seoul to the airport, we decided to take another taxi to the bus station the next day to make things just that much easier. The manager helped us get a taxi, and then we had no trouble getting from the bus station to the airport and from that point, our trip home went without a hitch!
