My Korean Life #38: USA Holiday 2015

Originally, I had not planned to return to the USA over the holidays but, since I know once I gain full employment here in Korea vacation will be scarce, I decided to head back to the USA to see my family and friends.

I am thankful I still have quite a few frequent flyer miles from my business travel days so the actual monetary cost of the ticket was minimal. My dates were also somewhat flexible so that also helped out with the impact to my miles/dollars split. I was able to return to the USA for a full two weeks. My previous visit was just a week and I was jet lagged and busy with family functions the whole trip. This trip was very different - relaxing, not too many scheduled events, and less family functions.

When flying from Korea, My preferred route on United is the following (ICN - NRT - wherever after). This is because United still uses really old 747s with roof mounted screens in economy for routes like ICN - SFO. I much prefer the 777 out of Narita to wherever my next connection or destination is. Unfortunately to get to my hometown there is no direct flight from Seoul. My chosen itinerary had me traveling for over 24 hours.

If I were to summarize my trip in a few words it consisted of family and food. I enjoyed many foods that are either difficult to find in Korea or very expensive in Korea. I also spent some much needed quality time with my family. It had been over a year since I had visited my parents' house and seen my hometown.

I also got to see some friends that I grew up with. All are seemingly well on their way in their young adult lives. One of my friends now owns her own event/wedding business, one is a lawyer, another a nurse, another works in finance.

I have posted many of the pictures I took on another social media site but will repost them here for you!

Have yet to see Yuengling in Korea

Sandwich and chips at home

Sandwich and chips at home

Gluten-free pancakes, eggs, and bacon!

Homemade lasagna 

Cherry limeade fix

Bonus: My gift wrapping skills

In hindsight I should have taken more things back to the USA to store than I did. Don't worry parents, it wasn't going to take up that much of your precious storage space ;) I have a lot of old language school material and such that I could probably do without. Anyway, until next time! Stay warm!

~

Home for the Holidays: A Quick Update

I made my way back to the USA for my winter break. I got to catch up with a lot of family, many of which I had not seen for months perhaps even years for some. Anyway, with holiday travel comes...hotels! I stayed in what was basically a brand new Residence Inn. I am losing my gold status with Marriott this year (it will be dearly missed) but will still have a few more hotel room tours going up during the first half of 2015. Below is the video shot in my room at the Residence Inn:

I also got to enjoy my first flight on Asiana airlines. Asiana is the other major carrier out of South Korea and I must say I enjoyed it just as much as Korean Air. Plus, Asiana is a Star Alliance member which is better for me in relation to frequent flyer miles. I think I gave the flight attendants a challenge since I kept switching between English and Korean. They also, therefore, would sometimes say things to me in Korean and then later use English. I understand and can speak both (I'm still learning Korean but know enough for a flight at least) so it wasn't really an issue.

During one of the meal services they ran of the chicken and only had the Korean style octopus entree left. Initially I had asked in English for the chicken, then when the flight attendant came back she explained, in Korean, that the chicken had run but she was going to confirm. I told her, in English, that the octopus dish was just fine. I rather enjoyed having a bilingual experience in the plane ^.^

This is a brief update due to my upcoming midterm exams and just holiday season business but I do want to have a more substantial post up by the end of the month.

In the spring I'll be traveling on two more airlines I've never experienced so I hope to write about those in addition to the hotels :)

Until next time~