I'm back!

I am back in Orlando, and thoroughly jetlagged. How I'm going to recover in time to write a syllabus and plan a course in the next two and a half weeks is beyond me. Oi. Anyway, for those of you interested in Kyrgyzstan and the time I spent there, please check the Cat Lady in Kyrgyzstan site every day, as I have tons of blog-posts from my travel journal that will be going online. The first post, Back in Bishkek, is already online, and more will be coming. I won't be linking them all here, so for those of you interested in my K-stan adventures, be sure to bookmark that site and check it regularly. I'll try to start blogging back here fairly regularly as soon as the jetlag wears off and I catch up on everything, haha.

The Journey Home

I am still jet-lagged, tired, and ridiculously sore from carting the critters and all my crap across a couple of continents, but I figured I should post to update those of you who aren't my facebook friends.

Two of my former co-workers, HM and JY, went with me to the airport. It makes carting all your critters and crap around much easier when you have two dudes who are more than willing to do it for you. If only they'd been around for my layover, when I had to maneuver it all through Customs and Immigration under my own steam. Ahh well. Anyhow, the check-in procedure went really smoothly. There were no problems with the reservations for the critters (despite the booking nightmare), although I was very disturbed to learn that the free checked luggage limit is now one bag instead of two. As such, I had to pay not only for Charlie and Mochi to travel ($200 each), but I had to pay $75 for my second suitcase. Oh well.

JY, holding Charlie in her bag, and me - Incheon International Airport
Mochi getting checked in.
Me and Mochi at check-in

Mochi was really, really terrified when we got to the airport - he was shaking like a leaf and looked completely miserable. Charlie, in contrast, was just pissed off. Mochi calmed down when HM bought him some beef and squid jerky, but I was really concerned about how he would react once he was loaded onto the plane. Charlie got to travel in the cabin with me, but Mochi was below with the baggage. I worried about him the entire flight. He came through unscathed though, and was totally thrilled to see me on the other side.

Charlie bit me going through security in Seoul. If you're carrying a pet in the cabin with you, you have to take it out of its travel bag, and carry it through the metal detector while its bag runs through the x-ray machine. Charlie was both pissed off and scared, and they took FOREVER to scan her bag. Finally, when they pushed it out, and it came thump-thump-thumping down the rollers, she panicked and went into full-feral-fight-and-flight mode. I held on for dear life, even when she sunk her teeth into my thumb. Then, after shoving her back into her bag, I calmly stuffed my thumb into my pocket and pretended it wasn't bleeding. Wasn't so sure they'd allow a bitey beast onto the plane. Other than that, Charlie was good. She didn't pee in her bag until just one hour out from our final destination. (I was really worried that there might be a cat-pee incident midway across the Pacific, but no.)

I totally lucked out on the airplane. Not only did I get a window seat, but the seat next to me was empty. I was able to curl up and go to sleep for a few hours, and I could stretch out when I was awake. I haven't had that much room on an international flight since 2000. It was fantastic.

We're home now, and I'm trying to kick my ass into overcoming jet-lag, although flying from Korea to the US is always rough.

Charlie and Mochi on their new bed :-)

Traveling From Korea With Pets: Booking Update

If you've read my depiction of my horrific experience booking Charlie and Mochi on my flight home, you're aware that the last Delta representative I spoke with told me that there was no way that Delta could provide me with written/emailed confirmation that my animals were booked for the flight. I just had to take his word for it. This morning, I logged into my account on delta.com... and whaddyaknow:

Thank goodness they're both listed for both legs of the trip... but seriously "There is no way for us to give you written confirmation"? It's on delta.com! Sheesh. 

Traveling From Korea With Pets: My Logistical Booking Nightmare

As you know, Charlie, Mochi, and I will be leaving Korea for the US on March 10th. This isn't my first time flying internationally with an animal - this isn't even my first time flying from Korea with an animal. However, while previous trips were arranged with minimum difficulty, this was a horrific logistical nightmare that had me reduced to tears several times, and that makes me  unwilling to fly Delta ever again. (However as both Aeroflot and Korean Air are partners with Delta, it seems pretty unlikely that I'll be able to boycott them, considering that Korea and the former Soviet Union are my most common destinations!)

The madness started about a month ago. This was before Mochi came into my life. I called Delta (foolishly thinking it would be easier to avoid the language barrier and to speak to the carrier that would be covering the second leg of my trip), and reserved a flight for me and Charlie. The woman I spoke with was very friendly and promised me that everything was taken care of, and that Charlie and I were booked to travel on 3/10, and that Charlie was approved to travel in the cabin with me. (I gave this woman all the information on Charlie's species, breed, carrier size, and weight.)

On 1/19, when I decided that Mochi was coming home with us, I called Delta. Again, I spoke with a Delta representative who was very friendly, and who promised me that everything was taken care of, and that Charlie, Mochi, and I were booked to travel on 3/10. In addition to Charlie in the cabin, Mochi would be in the cargo hold. (I gave this woman all the information on Mochi's species, breed, carrier size, and weight.) She then told me that she was unable to tell me how much it would cost to travel with Mochi, and that I should call Korean Air to confirm this.

I called Korean Air. The KA rep was very polite, but I was told that KA had no record of a request to travel with Charlie, and that they were missing about half of the information needed to book Mochi.

I called Delta. Yet another polite representative, but one who kept having to put me on hold while she verified various things. She was probably new. Her conclusion was that everything had been submitted to Korean Air, and that perhaps the KA representative had made a mistake because "this is very confusing."

I called Korean Air. Another KA rep told me exactly what the previous one had told me. I asked what specific information was needed from Delta. Some of the information I was able to provide to KA (Mochi's species, breed, carrier size, weight), but the main things that KA required were A) the fact that I was traveling with Charlie (because it was ticketed through Delta, I was told that Delta had to be the one to add the cat... even though I had been told the cat was booked when I bought my ticket at the beginning of January!) and B) confirmation from Delta that the animals were booked for the second leg of my trip. I was told that they couldn't finalize the confirmation until they received that information, and that the animals couldn't get on the first plane unless KA had confirmation that they were booked for the second one.

At this point, I was starting to get upset, although I was mostly angry-upset, not crying-upset. Also, this had taken about two and a half hours by this point. I had naively thought that I could add Mochi to my ticket before dinner, so I was doing it all on an empty stomach.

I called Delta. This time, I got a Really Bitchy Woman. For starters, she kept cutting me off while I was trying to explain the situation. Finally, she snaps, "Look, we've submitted two dogs in checked baggage twice. Korean Air has this information." OMFG. Two dogs? Both in cargo? WTF? When I (without profanity, amazingly) responded, "No! One cat in the cabin, one dog in cargo!" She said, 'Please hold,' and left me on hold for about 15 minutes.

When she returned, she was just as bitchy, although she then stated that they had the record for the dog and the cat, and that Korean Air did, too. At this point, I brought up topic 2 - Korean Air needed confirmation that the animals were booked on the second (Delta operated) leg of the flight. The Delta agent got even bitchier. She literally said, "That is none of their business! That flight is operated by Delta, and Korean Air does not need to have any information regarding it." I patiently explained several times that Korean Air would not let my animals on the plane unless they had approval from their SkyTeam Partner, Delta, that the animals were confirmed for the second leg of the trip. Each time I said this, the woman grew bitchier.

Finally she said, "I think you need to call the Consulate to determine what the problem is. Let me give you their number." At this point, I lost it. Any American who has traveled extensively knows that the Consulate can do very little of anything to help you when you're overseas. If you need documents, or you need to register a birth, death, or marriage - they're great. If you need anything else - that's not their problem. This woman was seriously telling me to call the Consulate????

I said (or tried to say, I started crying hysterically in the middle of what would have otherwise been a fairly scathing utterance), "I will go to a Korean Air office here in Seoul tomorrow morning. If they do not have the necessary information to allow me and my animals to fly, I will have no choice but to cancel this ticket and fly with a different carrier."

I don't know if it was my hysterical sobbing or the threat to fly another carrier, but at this point, the woman turned from Really Bitchy Woman into Super Sugary Sweet Nice & Helpful Woman. (Note to Delta: your representatives should be friendly and helpful even when your customers aren't crying hysterically and threatening to take their business elsewhere.) The suddenly nice representative uttered a bunch of pointless soothing things then said, 'Let me call Korean Air right now and find out what's going on.' Wow, what a brilliant idea. That would have been a far better thing to say compared to 'it's none of Korean Air's business' and 'you should call the Consulate.' Sheesh.

Again, I was on hold for about 15 minutes. When the rep came back online she told me that she had just spoken with a Korean Air rep, and that everything was confirmed, the animals were booked on both Delta and Korean Air. I asked if there was any way we could have a three-way conversation so I could hear confirmation from KA, but was told no, I'd just have to take her word for it.

Arrrrrrgh.

And the sad thing is, this doesn't conclude the story.

The days after this incident were the Seolnal Lunar New Year holiday. I figured I would delay contacting Korean Air again until after the holidays were over. And besides, I was stressed out to the point that I was literally sick. It was horrible.

Luckily, Sofia (the woman who arranged for me to get Mochi in the first place) introduced me to Maya Shin from www.petairline.co.kr - Maya (who can be reached at maya@petairline.co.kr if you need her) was absolutely wonderful. Unfortunately, Maya had to deal with the exact same nonsense I had to deal with. Korean Air told her they didn't have all of the info they needed from Delta (including species, breed, carrier size, etc), and that they needed confirmation for the second leg of the trip. Thank the gods for Maya, because I really couldn't have dealt with it.

In the middle of the week and a half that Maya spent working on this, my mother called Delta - they told her that everything was confirmed on their end and on the Korean Air end, nothing to worry about. The next day, Korean Air told Maya they still hadn't received all of the information from Delta. Yeah.

Finally, as of today, both Korean Air and Delta have told both Maya and me that everything is confirmed. Whew. Unfortunately, they are unable (?!) to email confirmation of the animals' booking, so I don't have it in writing. I'm going to be stressing about this until we're all on board the plane.

If you are planning to travel from Korea with your pets, here's my advice:

1. Do NOT book with Delta.

2. Try very hard to only fly one carrier. It seems that 'partner airlines' don't exactly communicate very well. If I'd known what a nightmare this was going to be, I would have booked the first leg through Korean Air, then rented a car and driven home from there. It would have been simpler and far less stressful.

3. If you need ANY assistance, contact Maya from petairline.co.kr, because she is WONDERFUL.

http://www.petairline.co.kr/

pets, pets, vets... and school!!

My life continues revolving mostly around my pets. I'm not going to write about the airline pet-transport nightmare until it all get resolved - but suffice it to say that I have been feeling frustrated to no end, and have broken down into tears over it several times. Also, Delta is incompetent. The wonderful Maya from http://www.petairline.co.kr has been helping me, and I truly hope that we will get everything straightened out by early next week.

Mochi is still a little under the weather. Despite the fact that I have a vet just around the corner from my house, I loaded the little fella into a taxi and rode over to Itaewon to take advantage of the English speaking vets at the  Chung Wha Animal Hospital. They, too, were wonderful. It was very reassuring to be able to explain his symptoms in detail, and to receive explanations from the vet in detail. (The vet by my house is friendly and conveniently located, but he speaks less English than I speak Korean.) Courtesy of the Chung Wha Animal Hospital, Mochi now has a dog-sized transport crate, antibiotics, and deer antler extract to boost his immune system. (Anyone who thought my honey-citron was strange... take that!) Also, Chung Wha is open Monday through Saturday, and they're open until 8pm, meaning I was able to go after work. Woohoo!

The following photos were all taken with my cell-phone, so they're not the best, but they'll do :-)

Mochi and his new travel crate. I've got the door off so he can get used to it.
Of course, Charlie's the only one who goes into the crate.
Mochi and Charlie
Trying to get a picture of myself and the two critters.
Mochi posing.
Charlie looking superior
And... I have superawesomefantastic news!! When I applied to grad schools (time to get my Master's in TESOL), I applied to schools that had good programs, were in places I'd be willing to live, and for which I could fulfill all application requirements from overseas. I would have been willing to go to any of them, although if forced to choose, I would've preferred the two located in the southeastern US, as they're located close to home. Still, I figured I would go to whichever school offered me the most funding. This morning I awoke to the news that the school located closest to home has not only accepted me, but is offering me full tuition, health insurance, an assistantship, and a kickass stipend!!! This is such a relief, and such a weight lifted off my chest. (Now the dog needs to fully recover and Delta needs to get their act together - then life will be perfect.) Six more weeks until my 5 month vacation begins, then grad school in the fall :-)

Around the world in 80 days? Try 35.

Thirty-five days. Five weeks. Korea -> Ukraine -> USA -> Korea. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am back in South Korea. I landed at 4am Korea time on Sunday, September 4th. After the unbelievably long delay in Charlotte, my flights both to LA and from there on to Korea left on time... and my checked bag (which as of 15 minutes before boarding my last flight hadn't shown up) actually made it to Seoul. Whew! And I really will blog about my time in the US as soon as I get the chance.

I took a wonderful five hour nap after getting back to my apartment. When I awoke, I went out and bought cat stuff (litter box, litter, food, toys) to prep my apartment for Charlie's arrival, then set off for Daegu to reclaim my cat. Seth - the fellow living in my old apartment, who took care of Charlie while I was gone - had told me that he would be gone all day on Sunday, but he promised to leave the door unlocked for me. Unfortunately, I'd emailed him from Charlotte saying I probably wouldn't be coming until Monday. Additionally, I don't yet have a phone. As such, when I made the decision to pop down to Daegu (an $80 round trip on the KTX), I had no way of getting in touch with him first to see if he had left the door unlocked or not. Now, having lived in that apartment for a year, I knew exactly how to break in... which is, of course, exactly what I did when encountered with a locked door.

Perhaps if I'd done like a normal human and come in through the front door, Charlie would've been easier to catch. As it was, it took about thirty minutes (plus her favorite cat food, some toys, and some catnip) to lure her into my grasp - whereupon I promptly shoved her into the carrier. She was not happy - and expressed her displeasure by peeing. In the cloth carrier. So yes, I took a stinky cat in a stinky bag back to Seoul on the KTX. My sincere apologies to anyone sitting in my vicinity.

Charlie is a little freaked out by being in a new place, although she's been purring and demanding attention, so I suspect she'll recover from the shock fairly quickly. Now if only I can recover from jet lag... My first day of work is tomorrow, and I don't want them to think I'm a half-awake moron. (I woke up at 3am today - which tends to happen when you fly from the US to Korea - and drugged myself back to sleep with some NyQuil. I woke up at 7am, which is around the time I'll need to be getting up on a daily basis anyway, so here's hoping I've defeated the jet lag somewhat!)

Travel Woes

I just finished up my two week stint in the US (I'll be blogging about that when I get the chance). I was supposed to be on my way to Seoul right now, but instead I'm stuck in Charlotte, NC, where my two hour layover has extended to ten hours due to mechanical problems with the engine of the airplane. I suppose I should be grateful that they noticed something was wrong *before* we took off, but one can't help being really annoyed by the delay.

I was supposed to transfer here in Charlotte, then again in San Francisco, then on from San Fran to Seoul. Initially, once I realized that there was a good chance I'd miss my connection, I'd hoped that I'd be put up in San Fran, meaning I could visit with my good friends M & A. Alas, instead they've re-routed me through Los Angeles, meaning LAX: world's worst airport. And instead of getting into Seoul at 6pm on Saturday, I now get in at 5am on Sunday. None of this bodes well for my first day of work on Tuesday, especially as I have to pop down to Daegu right away to reclaim my cat. (Can't really put that off until the weekend, as the person who has been pet-sitting will be traveling over the four day Chuseok weekend.... but speaking of, I am already desperately looking forward to Chuseok - I plan on doing nothing but sleeping!)

Welcome to Ukraine!

The plane touched down in Kiev, the captain came over the loudspeaker to welcome us all to Ukraine, and I promptly threw up.

Back up just a little bit. The flight from Seoul to Moscow was long, and as I was in an aisle seat, sleep wasn't an option. (I can only sleep in airplanes if I have a window to lean against.) However, as it was a Korean Air flight, I had my own personal TV with numerous movies from which to choose in order to entertain myself. Unfortunately, my third film choice (Hanna), while entertaining, was filmed in such a flashy, trippy manner that it no doubt gives epileptics fits. It gave me a headache. And of course my supply of Excedrin was in my checked bag.

My three hour layover in Moscow was in Sheremetevo airport's Terminal F - the original and un-remodeled terminal where they stick all the flights to various parts of the former Soviet Union, where there's no AC, and people are allowed to smoke wherever the hell they please. The few stores in Terminal F were closed, except for one Duty Free shop, well stocked in Dior perfume.

I was ridiculously thirsty, but I had only Korean won, dollars, and euros - and of course there wasn't a currency exchange in Terminal F. There weren't any stores, but there were, however, kiosks (yes, inside the terminal) selling drinks, snacks, and cigarettes (alas, no aspirin). I approached one, staffed by two babushki, and asked (in Russian, of course - amazing how it all comes back to me so quickly!) if I could pay in dollars. They exchanged a look and asked me what I wanted. I said a water and a Coke. They said 'How about $7?' God knows how they came up with $7, but I was so thirsty I would've paid much more. Of course, I only had a $10. They were in a panic over how to give me change. I told them it was fine, don't worry about it... but they responded "Oh, no. We agreed on $7! We must give you change." They were pretty relieved when I told them they could give me my change in rubles, though.

Sadly, water and Coke were no match for headache + smoke + perfume. I was in full migraine mode by the time I boarded my flight for Kiev. For those people debating whether or not Michelle Bachmann's migraines should have any bearing on her presidential aspirations... let's just say that I found myself hoping for a plane crash just to put an end to my torture. I have a tendency towards motion sickness in general, and in addition, migraines usually make me vomit. I lasted all the way to touchdown, and well... thank the gods of Aeroflot for barf bags.

Welcome to Ukraine!

The Japan Adventures, Part 1: The part during which we are still in Korea

My cousin and I left work at 10pm last Friday, took a taxi from there to the train station, and purchased tickets to Busan (부산). As we waited for the train to arrive, there were several announcements concerning train #167 – our train – but as my Korean skills are embarrassingly shite, I couldn’t make out much more than the number. The train arrived at the appropriate time, and we boarded…

…my ticket was for car 13, seat 10D, and someone was sitting in my seat. I pulled out my ticket and showed it to him. Instead of looking apologetic and moving (as usually happens in such situations), he whipped out his ticket: car 13, seat 10D. I asked if he was going to Busan. The guy was wearing headphones, and I thought perhaps his destination was Daegu (대구) and perhaps he hadn’t realized that he’d arrived. But no. He was going to Busan, too. Weird. The ticketing system is electronic, so who knows how that happened.

Luckily the train wasn’t crowded, and there was plenty of room for me and my cousin to sit elsewhere.

Now, normally the KTX train from Daegu to Busan stops at the transfer to Ulsan (울산). KTX trains are also almost always on time. Our train was scheduled to arrive in Busan at 11:40. At exactly 11:40, our train rolled to a stop in… Gupo (구포). My exact words were “Where the fuck is Gupo?” Wherever we were, a good 90% of the passengers disembarked. Between the indecipherable announcements back in Daegu about train #167, the dude with the ticket for my seat, and the mass exodus of our fellow passengers, I began to panic that we’d gotten on the wrong train.

Luckily, my worries were for naught. The Gupo train station turns out to be connected to the Gupo subway station, and it’s a mere five minute train ride or so from the train’s final stop – Busan Station, our destination. [In retrospect, Gupo is closer to the airport than Busan Station, but… live and learn, I suppose.]

The Busan train station is located directly across the street from the seedy Chinatown/Russiatown district, located along Texas Street. How’s that for an international hodgepodge? My cousin and I got rooms in the "Kolon Motel" just outside of the ‘international’ district, and decided to do a bit of exploring. Unfortunately, as we had to be up at 6am, we didn’t do much other than wander through the district for about 45 minutes, counting prostitutes (sadly nearly all Russian), and confusing passersby by speaking in sentences which mixed Russian, English, and Korean. Or at least I did, anyway: “Кошка, кссс, кссс, кссс, привет! Hello, 고양이. 괜찮아요, Do you want to be my friend?” Okay, so I may have stalked some stray cats there, too… I am an international cat lady, after all!

Kolon Motel: A great name for your motel if it's on the ass-end of a seedy district.


WTF?? The Russian reads 'cheap cellular service' - cell phones, sim cards, and juicers?

The next morning we took a taxi to the airport.

Ages ago when I got my visa for Korea, the visa arrived stamped into my passport with a mistake: it says my gender is male. Er… it’s international cat lady, folks. I had no trouble entering Korea back in July or getting my Alien Resident Card shortly thereafter. In fact, I’d completely forgotten about this.

When my cousin (he’s a dude, btw) and I were checking in for our flight, there was some kind of problem with my passport. Apparently the stamp used to stamp-in my arrival time/date in Seoul was an a-typical stamp. The woman at the check-in desk kept handing the passport to my cousin saying, “Excuse me, sir, when did you come to Korea?” “Excuse me, sir, where is your arrival stamp?” “Excuse me, sir, did you come to Korea with a different passport?” After each question, I took the passport, showed the woman the arrival stamp, and answered her questions. Nonetheless, she continued to address them to my cousin.

It was only after comparing my Alien Registration Card with my passport and then conferring with her supervisor that she decided it was OK to let me check in. Sheesh. Only after that did I recall the misprint about my gender on the visa, which at least partially explained the confusion. Maybe.

The incorrect visa. (My passport and ARC both state that I am female, so god knows how this ended up on there!)

And lastly, the entry stamp which so confused the check-in lady at the Air Busan counter

But… finally! We were checked in and on our way to Japan!