Cambodia, here we come...maybe?

Courtesy of Nicholas Carrano, Sokchan and I arrived at JFK nice and early this past January 4th (our first married Monday!)...

We awaited anxiously infront of a "Korean Air" sign...first two in line, ready for our 12:40pm flight to Korea.. The desk opens an hour later (now 9am) and we are told our flight has been delayed over 3 hours. Apparently, it snows in Korea (a shock to me...), but nothing can bring down these newleyweds! We check our bags and venture over to gate #3....these extra hours allow us time to admire all our wedding photos and DVD's, we munch over that scrumptious JFK food and enjoy our first set of travels as a married couple!

"Korean Air now boarding fligh 082 to Seoul, Korea" is announced over the loud speaker.... we wait off to the side as boarding starts...first class, morning calm, and finally economy! We board our plane, get settled into our assigned seats, set up our pillows and give eachother a gentle little kiss....on our way to Korea...never once thinking how we might be getting to Cambodia since our connecting flight will have come and gone by the time we arrive... Oh well, as long as we have eachother and our good conversation, we will be all set!

Yes, good conversation...about that... I set up my personal television and begin my search through the movie/ t.v. sitcomes available... I look over to Sean, and he is fast asleep...

Our flight still taxiing for what feels like forever and a sleeping husband.... hmmm
I start my movie "Love Happens" and am watching intently as my husband sleeps. About an hour into the movie, I realize we are still grounded... That's right, we haven't even left yet...

I try to nudge Sokchan, but there was no waking him! 6:30pm and we finally take off...apparently, we were 7th in line.

Aside from the delayed travels, I must say that Korean Air was great to fly... of course after I realized the arm rest went up, I made myself a little bed on Sokchan's lap and was fast asleep...and only woke up for lunch and dinner... I could have actually slept through that too, except Sokchan needed his tray table extended outward and my head took up too much space :)

So, we arrive in Korea and are directed to a line mixed with nationalities and attitudes.

The sweet American woman behind us did not close her mouth once and I truly believe that in her mind she was the only one being put out...and they must have done this on purpose. Afterall, her business meetings were much more important than anything anyone else could possibly be doing.

As Sokchan and I approach the desk, they ask our destination, and they kindly ask us to sit.... We find outselves with 3 other travelers who were possible 3 of the most interesting people I have met thus far.

One gentleman was a pilot who works for Orbis... He was on his way to Singapore to pick up a newly built plane with a brand new surgical suite. He was then going to be flying it to the Phillipines. The company he works for is made up of flight crew, doctors, and nurses... They fly for 1-2 years and provide medical care to poverished areas. Through conversation, we learned not only the best travel places, the need to carry a copy of our passport, but also volunteer opportunity and work opportunity for me to provide nursing care to those in need.

He gave me his card and some additional information....and I have a new friend!
Our other sitting partner was a travel bee, ironically from Newport! He also traveled a lot on business... He was just fresh from a divorce and heading back to Shanghai.... he left us with words of wisdom "whatever you do, don't ignore your partner"... I guess the years of his lonely travels caught up to his marriage.
The third stranded traveler was trying to reach Brisbane, Australia... in time for her luggage and boyfriend! She and Sokchan exchanged some IPhone recommendations and that was that.

After about 3/4 of the waiting passengers had left, my husband and I remain.... sitting, chatting, laughing, and waiting.

A sweet Korean lady asks for our passports and tries to arrange a flight out to Cambodia for January 6th. It's now about midnight on January 5th....all those who once shared a hope of flying out to their destintion some time soon, have come and gone... Sokchan and I sit alone with all of our new Korean Air friends. The nice lady rejoins us by explaining the one flight that goes to Siem Reap is overbooked and we have no hope of getting on that fight. "Ok, not a big deal" Sokchan states so nicely, "We can fly into Phenom Penh"... sounds like a great idea, right?
Would be, except that flight is also overbooked...

Our nice Korean friends explains we will be spending the night in Korea... take a flight to Malaysia...spend a night there.. and then fly to Cambodia... Landing January 7th at noon...

Well, besides the loss of 2 full sightseeing days, this trip has still been enjoyable. Not to mention, now we get to sleep in a bed and shower! We just need our luggage... I don't want to bore you too much with the details... so, I will just say...we didn't actually leave the airport until 1:30am!

As we were leaving, we ran into a nice couple from Boston who was also on their way to Cambodia! They would be flying into Phenom Penh... although, they were being rerouted to Hong Kong due to overbooked flights. We exchanged travel itineraries...and I was comforted by the fact they were winging it just as much as us... that's right, no hotel reservations or travel confirmations.... Our new friends would be traveling to Laos as we would be going to Vietnam!

While not to drag on too much with our first 2 days of travels, I must just say since I have been in Korea, I ate nothing too much out of the ordinary (can't say the same for my husband) but I did try Aloe juice which was fantastic... it actually tasted similar to watermelon juice.

Well, enjoy our uploaded photos.. I apologize for my many spelling errors and hope you stop by again to read more of our travels...

Freezing from Korea!
The Choun's!