Seoul food; Michael visits Korea.

Well, I won't lie; it's been an adventure. I guess things started at about 3am on Monday morning. In fact, things started about 9 months before that. I won't go into detail (only because I wasn't there), but the upshot of it all is that my niece, Annabelle, was born bright and early, healthy and happy, on Monday morning.

Of course, even without this interruption, my packing schedule was far from organised. I hadn't packed. A few minutes of stuffing all my clothes into a bag later, I was packed. I detoured past the hospital on the way to the airport, met Annabelle, and caught my flight to Sydney.

I had to stay overnight in Sydney. I suppose I had a few options. When I realised that staying with Chris was probably my best free option, I booked a hotel. The Holiday Inn Sydney Airport was my new home...for the next 12 hours. Not being one to pass up a bargain, I chose the hotel package that included a $50 food and drink voucher as well as breakfast. It was tough, but one butter chicken, a side of vegetables and a few Crownies later, I had managed to spend my food voucher.

I woke up at 5am the next morning. I threw as much as I could back into my bag, forgetting only some underwear and an electric razor, and then headed down to the restaurant for 10 minutes of buffet glory. Michael 1, Buffet 0.

One shuttle ride and a very long check-in queue later, I found myself on the plane for Seoul. I was lucky enough to be seated next to a New Zealand bartender named Michael. Rather than introducing himself formally, he jumped right to one of life's big questions: have you ever had a girl, girl guy threesome? I wallowed in failure and excuses for a few minutes, but at least I knew at that point the flight wouldn't be boring. 15 minutes into the flight the hostess came by to ask if we could please quieten down, as we were disturbing some of the (softer) passengers. No problem; we ordered some authentic Korean beer; Budweiser.

10 hours in the plane seemed to fly by. Puns are hilarious. Pretty soon I landed at Incheon International Airport. Of course, at that stage I didn't realise I was still about a 7 hour bus ride into Seoul. Actually, it was only really one hour, but it felt longer. At least it gave me some time to call the Holiday Inn and check-out. Maybe I should have done that about 15 hours earlier?

I called Jenny when I got to Seoul and she came and met me at the bus stop. Jenny has beer and a great apartment; what a good start to the trip! I caught up on the old times (actually, we just talked football) with Jen and then we headed out for some Korean dinner. Delicious. Beer was also served in abnormally (but welcome) large bottles. Jen said that I might have to drink some of her beer; I figured it was the least I could do, since she was letting me stay with her and all. The food really was good, and I ate tastily.

Sightseeing tomorrow, and then I fly to NYC. I still haven't studied.