The Beginning - The Journey to Seoul

Every journey begins with the start right at the doorstep – it almost sounds like one of those pseudo-philosophical posters you can hang on the wall. Mine began on a gray, but at least dry morning on the way to the airport. Too early, for sure, but better two hours early than two minutes late.

Since this was my first flight alone and I don't fly very often in general, there was a slight feeling of unease at the beginning. But essentially, it's just like taking a train – just with a few extra steps. And, as expected, everything went totally smoothly. So smoothly that I ended up sitting at the gate for almost two hours before boarding even started.

And then off we went. Although departing in gray weather, hardly had the plane left the cloud cover behind than there were a few rays of sunshine. (How surprising: above the clouds, the sun indeed shines.)

The flight itself was uneventful: a few hours and one meal to Doha. A few hours of layover. And then even more hours and two additional meals on the plane to Seoul.

Upon arrival, everything worked without a hitch until I stood outside the airport and had to realize: being alone in a country you don't know, whose language you don't speak, and whose script you can't read, presents its challenges.

When, on top of that, the extra ordered SIM card for the internet doesn't work right away, the way to the hotel feels almost like an adventure.

Just knowing which stop to get off at is challenging when you have no idea whether there are announcements or signals on the bus. Plus, navigating without a map and without internet adds to the difficulty.

Can I do without that after about 20 hours of travel time? Absolutely!

But when I heard that the bus stops were announced in 4 languages – one of which thankfully was in English because my Japanese unfortunately is not good enough to understand that – and that the mobile internet eventually worked during the bus ride, the tension slowly eased.

After I finally checked into the hotel, the first three hours in Seoul were done. Thus, the start of the vacation was officially successful – and it began, very uneventfully, with an early bedtime.