Travel preparations done properly?

Just discovered that except for a weekend getaway to Mexico to taste some wine, I had not been out of San Diego since I returned from the last trip.
On my last 6 months traveling stint, I missed two Asian countries, South Korea and the Philippines. I talked to Martin a few months ago and we agreed to meet somewhere to do some diving for a few days. Since he had some friends in Beijing he wanted to visit first, he would make a combo trip to China and the Philippines afterward. Since I also know the same people in Beijing, I thought I could meet him there, but then his plans changed and he had to swap the Philippines and China visit. I had already spent 4 weeks in Beijing last year and had been quite interested in joining some friends for a trip to Japan, visit South Korea or simply just go and relax in Beijing again for a few days.

I knew Hyunju had a sister, Yumi in Seoul, whom I didn’t get to meet last year since they went to New Zealand while I was touring Australia. Maybe Yumi could answer some of me questions regarding South Korea and Seoul, so I asked Hyunju for her sister’s email address and I sent an email. A few days went by and I didn’t hear anything, so I sent another one and still no answer. I concluded that now there was not enough time to plan any adventures, a few days in Beijing followed by a trip to the Philippines to do some diving, that was going to be the plan. The ticket from Beijing to Manila was purchased when Martin had gotten his, now all I needed was the visa to China and a ticket there too.

Last time I went to China, I paid a little extra to get the visa processed fast, rush order. I planned to do the same this time, and went to LA Monday the week where I planned to leave on Thursday. I had been filling out the paper work from home already, so when I came there, I had forgotten to print some supplementary page, so had to go in line again. After being at the counter again the lady asked me for a printed itinerary, but since I did not have a ticket yet, I didn’t really have an itinerary. I was waived away and had to figure out what to do. Apparently there was a travel agency at the end of the hallway, very convenient, too convenient I would say. I was sitting there and thought that I might as well just buy a ticket, I needed one anyway. I logged in on my computer and connected to the internet through my phone saving a few dollars that I would have had to pay to use the travel agency’s computer/internet. But I still had to print them … Again the travel agency to the rescue. They had this emergency printing service that only cost $3 per piece of paper. No problem, just swipe my credit card. No No sir, only cash. Yeah, so the $$ go directly in their own pockets without paying tax, stuff like that pisses me off.

I went to the little cafeteria and bought a smoothie and asked for a few dollars cash-back. No No sir, no cash-back. Arghh, what to do? I looked around and a young woman entered the cafeteria as well, looking rather confused. I asked her if she had cash and was going to buy anything? Probably not, she said and I kept arguing with the lady behind the counter that it was stupid not to give me just $6. The young woman heard my distress, came over and asked me if I needed $6? Yes I said, but I am having a little trouble convincing the old woman she can work with me on this one. She took her wallet and gave me $6, told me to do the same favor to someone else some day. Wow, that was a nice experience; I promise I will pass on the good deed.

Now back to the counter to the Chinese lady sitting and waiting for my application. I had a ticket, an itinerary, application, supplementary documentation and a big smile on the face. Everything seemed alright this time, she even smiled back and said, you can pick up your passport on Thursday… No no, miss, I need a rush process. Cannot do sir. But I got I last year, no problems just a few more $$$. Sir, the rules have changed, we cannot do rush on foreign passports anymore. Let’s just say I was going to have a few logistical problems. Thursday was the day my flight was departing – from San Diego, so not even possible to do any tricks on the way to the airport. I just bought a ticket 10 minutes ago, now it was worthless! Fcuk! Back down in the car I logged in to Expedia trying to find some information about cancelling tickets. There was a button next to my reservation, that said, ‘cancel’. I tried pressing it to find out how much I would have to pay to cancel or to move the flight to another day. There was just a confirmation if I really wanted to cancel the flight so fearlessly I pressed the button. Done. Ticket cancelled, no fees associated with that… Oh, wow, that was another great surprise of today. Everything was now in order again, except I did not have my passport yet and still no ticket. I decided to drive home to check alternative flights to Beijing.

Back home in front of the computer I had received an email from Yumi, she thought coming to Korea this time of the year would be a great idea. I had been asking Hyunju if she was going to Korea this year, but she had said she was too busy. Well, time to take matter into own hands, so Yumi and I got a ticket for Hyunju too and Yumi sent it to her, without any comments. With only 4 days warning she was now going to Korea. She thought it was her mother and sister’s doing since it was a big Korean Holiday that week, at least the suspicion was off me.

The next few days I had to convince Hyunju that she had to respect her sister’s invitation, pretending that I was going to Beijing myself the day before. At some point she was trying to reschedule the flights, which would have made me look pretty stupid.

The day came when it was time to leave, Thomas gave me a ride to the airport. There was a quite long line in front of the United Airlines check-in counter, and hiding there in the back of the line I saw a Hyunju had just checked-in and was going to the security. Good, no suspicion and apparently she was actually traveling today. I just had to hope she had not upgraded the ticket to Economy Extra or Business, but still it would not matter too much.
I entered the airplane with a baseball cap on as well as the hood of my fleece. I found my seat next to a non-suspicious Hyunju who was sitting and reading. I turned on the camera to recording mode and gave her a gently but pretty annoying  blow with my elbow…
It took a few looks at me, then out of the airplane and then at me again before some of the pieces of the puzzle came together for her.

Now I was finally on my way to South Korea, no hotel, no plans whatsoever, but at least on my way.