Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Bubby Goes to the Beach
Yesterday, Grandma and Grandpa took Bubby and I to Grand Bend. Bubby had lots of fun playing on the sand and in the water (didn't even cry when I dunked him for the first time). We're going to go again next week when Auntie Kristen is here.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Air Canada
I chose Air Canada because it's the cheapest way to get from Seoul to Toronto. In the future, I may just have to suck it up and splurge on a non-stop flight with another airline because I'm not sure I can tolerate another trip like this (I say this, yet I still have the return flight to contend with...)
We arrived at Incheon Airport 3 1/2 hours early because Clark needed to get to work. I had already done the on-line check in and confirmed my seat, so getting the boarding passes was simple enough. Passing through security was likewise without difficulty, and no one batted an eye at my giant carry-on's filled with water, formula, food, etc. Incheon truly is a lovely airport, and after a very brief run through a couple of Duty-Free shops, Logan and I settled down in a kid's play/nursing area to wait for our boarding call (2 carry-on's and a baby was just too heavy for any extended shopping to occur).
We boarded with the First-Class passengers,but were then forced to sit on the runway for about 90 minutes. Blaming the wind, the pilot announced the ground crew needed to unload some extra cargo because we were too heavy for take-off. This would've been ok with me except for the Nazi cabin crew who demanded I stay seated and hold onto Logan even though we were parked; we hadn't even taxied down the runway. They refused to let me sit him on the floor in front of me (we were in the bulkhead seats) or even let him stand. Eating was just about the only way to keep him calm ~ so he munched and munched and munched some more...
Once we were in the air and the seatbelt sign was finally turned off they presented me with two options: hold him or hold him. At no time was I allowed to have any part of him touching the ground (I tried it once and got reemed out huge). He slept on and off for a total of about 3 hours, but the poor little guy was so uncomfortable (never mind the pain and sweat his mommy was in) that he was constantly crying out and writhing around. Once, when he was fast asleep, I asked for a bassinet but was refused on the grounds that he was too old and had the ability to sit up; my assurances that I would pick up him immediately if he woke fell on deaf ears. Each time the meal cart came by they'd tease me and ask if I'd like something ~ "Uh, sure, are you gonna hold my baby or let me put him on the floor while I eat? Yeah, didn't think so." I was, however, able to drink water.
He didn't show any interest in the tv screen or any of the toys I'd brought along, but the elderly Korean couple behind us provided some comic relief from time to time, as did the magazines and emergency safety card instruction booklet. The man sitting next to us was of absolutely no help, preferring to stare straight ahead engrossed in movies, hogging the armrest, and spilling his scalding hot ramen noodle water onto my leg. Once, Logan did manage to rip his glasses from his face, which was worth a good giggle from mommy.
I found the change table in the bathroom pretty convenient, but a little to my surprise no one ever offered to let us go ahead of them, so we often waited in line 10-15 minutes. When I had to go, the flight attendants held on to him for me; but poor Bubby REALLY didn't like that idea.
The second leg, from Vancouver to Toronto, was smoother than the first. In Vancouver we easily passed through customs thanks to the notarized consent letter Clark and I had prepared for solo travel with Logan, and the baggage claim was a breeze because my suitcase was tagged priority. This flight was only about half full, so they moved us to an almost empty row, where Logan got his own seat next to one of the sweetest women in the world who helped me entertain him the rest of the way.
The lesson in all of this? If you can afford it,do not fly Air Canada buy your baby their own seat!
We arrived at Incheon Airport 3 1/2 hours early because Clark needed to get to work. I had already done the on-line check in and confirmed my seat, so getting the boarding passes was simple enough. Passing through security was likewise without difficulty, and no one batted an eye at my giant carry-on's filled with water, formula, food, etc. Incheon truly is a lovely airport, and after a very brief run through a couple of Duty-Free shops, Logan and I settled down in a kid's play/nursing area to wait for our boarding call (2 carry-on's and a baby was just too heavy for any extended shopping to occur).
We boarded with the First-Class passengers,but were then forced to sit on the runway for about 90 minutes. Blaming the wind, the pilot announced the ground crew needed to unload some extra cargo because we were too heavy for take-off. This would've been ok with me except for the Nazi cabin crew who demanded I stay seated and hold onto Logan even though we were parked; we hadn't even taxied down the runway. They refused to let me sit him on the floor in front of me (we were in the bulkhead seats) or even let him stand. Eating was just about the only way to keep him calm ~ so he munched and munched and munched some more...
Once we were in the air and the seatbelt sign was finally turned off they presented me with two options: hold him or hold him. At no time was I allowed to have any part of him touching the ground (I tried it once and got reemed out huge). He slept on and off for a total of about 3 hours, but the poor little guy was so uncomfortable (never mind the pain and sweat his mommy was in) that he was constantly crying out and writhing around. Once, when he was fast asleep, I asked for a bassinet but was refused on the grounds that he was too old and had the ability to sit up; my assurances that I would pick up him immediately if he woke fell on deaf ears. Each time the meal cart came by they'd tease me and ask if I'd like something ~ "Uh, sure, are you gonna hold my baby or let me put him on the floor while I eat? Yeah, didn't think so." I was, however, able to drink water.
He didn't show any interest in the tv screen or any of the toys I'd brought along, but the elderly Korean couple behind us provided some comic relief from time to time, as did the magazines and emergency safety card instruction booklet. The man sitting next to us was of absolutely no help, preferring to stare straight ahead engrossed in movies, hogging the armrest, and spilling his scalding hot ramen noodle water onto my leg. Once, Logan did manage to rip his glasses from his face, which was worth a good giggle from mommy.
I found the change table in the bathroom pretty convenient, but a little to my surprise no one ever offered to let us go ahead of them, so we often waited in line 10-15 minutes. When I had to go, the flight attendants held on to him for me; but poor Bubby REALLY didn't like that idea.
The second leg, from Vancouver to Toronto, was smoother than the first. In Vancouver we easily passed through customs thanks to the notarized consent letter Clark and I had prepared for solo travel with Logan, and the baggage claim was a breeze because my suitcase was tagged priority. This flight was only about half full, so they moved us to an almost empty row, where Logan got his own seat next to one of the sweetest women in the world who helped me entertain him the rest of the way.
The lesson in all of this? If you can afford it,
Monday, May 23, 2011
Apocalypse Now
In case you didn't know, Saturday was predicted to be the end of the world. So we decided to spend our last moments on earth hanging out with other expat parents at the Garden of Morning Calm in Gapyeong. Fittingly, the weather was pretty much gloom and doom, but I think everyone still had fun. Here we are: Doosan & Lorna with their baby Summer; Kim with toddler Kai; Me & Clark with Logan; and Summer & James with their Logan. So, two Summers and two Logans - just a tad confusing.^^ And the weirdest thing is the Logan's are only a few weeks apart and have exactly the same name - first and last. How's that for a coincidence?
It was wonderful having the daddy's along on 'baby duty'! Isn't this a pretty picture?
Seeing as how the prediction was wrong and we were still alive come Sunday, we ventured out again (twice in one weekend is truly rare!), this time to the 4th Annual Suwon Multicultural Unity Festival along with our friends Jill and Sang Ro. All proceeds from the event go to providing scholarships for children of multicultural families and supporting foreign residents. There was lots to see and do including: martial art and music performances, fashion and talent shows, a children's craft corner, and a raffle with decent prizes like bicycles & LCD TVs. There was a lot of food, too. We sampled goodies from Korea, Japan, China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Mongolia, and Russia. Check out this monster-sized bowl of bibimbap prepared for 2011 festival goers.
While it may appear that we're enjoying the bibimbap, this is not entirely the case. Jill wasn't really able to eat much more than a few pieces of cucumber she managed to pick out (she's vegan and we discovered there was egg mixed in), and I accidentally dumped Clark's entire bowl onto the ground (his fault for resting it on top of Logan's stroller), so I gave him mine. But whatever. I was already full from all the other food we'd sampled, particularly the grilled Mongolian lamb shanks....mmm-mmm good!
I'm not entirely sure why, but I found the Mongolian culture to be the most fascinating. I suppose because of the represented cultures, it's the one I'm least familiar with. Take these dudes, for instance.
Fascinating. N'est-ce pas?
Good times at the garden. Good times at the festival. But too bad I'm sunburned to death. End of the world didn't get me, but the sun sure did!
It was wonderful having the daddy's along on 'baby duty'! Isn't this a pretty picture?
Seeing as how the prediction was wrong and we were still alive come Sunday, we ventured out again (twice in one weekend is truly rare!), this time to the 4th Annual Suwon Multicultural Unity Festival along with our friends Jill and Sang Ro. All proceeds from the event go to providing scholarships for children of multicultural families and supporting foreign residents. There was lots to see and do including: martial art and music performances, fashion and talent shows, a children's craft corner, and a raffle with decent prizes like bicycles & LCD TVs. There was a lot of food, too. We sampled goodies from Korea, Japan, China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Mongolia, and Russia. Check out this monster-sized bowl of bibimbap prepared for 2011 festival goers.
While it may appear that we're enjoying the bibimbap, this is not entirely the case. Jill wasn't really able to eat much more than a few pieces of cucumber she managed to pick out (she's vegan and we discovered there was egg mixed in), and I accidentally dumped Clark's entire bowl onto the ground (his fault for resting it on top of Logan's stroller), so I gave him mine. But whatever. I was already full from all the other food we'd sampled, particularly the grilled Mongolian lamb shanks....mmm-mmm good!
I'm not entirely sure why, but I found the Mongolian culture to be the most fascinating. I suppose because of the represented cultures, it's the one I'm least familiar with. Take these dudes, for instance.
Fascinating. N'est-ce pas?
Good times at the garden. Good times at the festival. But too bad I'm sunburned to death. End of the world didn't get me, but the sun sure did!
Monday, February 14, 2011
OLLE!
This weekend I went on a ladies weekend with three of the members of our "Olle" club (see my Christmas Party post for more background on the club). We drove to Gapyeong County 가평군 to do some touristy stuff and stayed over night at a small resort condo in nearby Cheongpyung 청평.
On Saturday we visited Petite France 쁘띠프랑스, Korea's "French culture village", which is modelled after a rural French Alps village and has been the setting for several Korean television shows.
The theme of the village is Antoine de Saint-Exupery's "The Little Prince". There are murals and character sculptures scattered throughout, as well as an indoor exhibit featuring various published versions of the book, original drawings and letters by the author, photos, and other memorabilia.
There's a variety of mildly entertaining things to see and do: we missed the marionette show, but were entertained by the coq gaulois (national symbol of France) exhibit, and played dress-up in the authentic 200 year-old French house that was, in fact, transported to Korea from France.
Before leaving, we stuffed ourselves with delicious crepes following an overpriced and truly horrible meal in the restaurant (eat before you go!).
In the evening, we hung out at the resort, feasting on Jeju style pork barbecue and playing 'Go Stop'.
Sunday (Heather's 31st birthday) started with a breakfast buffet and a trip (my 4th) to Nami Island 남이섬. It was, unfortunately, quite frigid, but we had fun nonetheless. Here we are; Soon-Ok, Heather, Me, & Marcie. It's fun walking around out in public together and watching/listening to people trying to figure out our dynamic.
My favourite part of the day was seeing the clay sculpture exhibit called "Mother's Happiness", though it caused me to miss Logan and want to head home sooner rather than later.
To see all of the pictures I took this weekend, click my Picasa Web Album on the main page.
On Saturday we visited Petite France 쁘띠프랑스, Korea's "French culture village", which is modelled after a rural French Alps village and has been the setting for several Korean television shows.
The theme of the village is Antoine de Saint-Exupery's "The Little Prince". There are murals and character sculptures scattered throughout, as well as an indoor exhibit featuring various published versions of the book, original drawings and letters by the author, photos, and other memorabilia.
There's a variety of mildly entertaining things to see and do: we missed the marionette show, but were entertained by the coq gaulois (national symbol of France) exhibit, and played dress-up in the authentic 200 year-old French house that was, in fact, transported to Korea from France.
Before leaving, we stuffed ourselves with delicious crepes following an overpriced and truly horrible meal in the restaurant (eat before you go!).
In the evening, we hung out at the resort, feasting on Jeju style pork barbecue and playing 'Go Stop'.
Sunday (Heather's 31st birthday) started with a breakfast buffet and a trip (my 4th) to Nami Island 남이섬. It was, unfortunately, quite frigid, but we had fun nonetheless. Here we are; Soon-Ok, Heather, Me, & Marcie. It's fun walking around out in public together and watching/listening to people trying to figure out our dynamic.
My favourite part of the day was seeing the clay sculpture exhibit called "Mother's Happiness", though it caused me to miss Logan and want to head home sooner rather than later.
To see all of the pictures I took this weekend, click my Picasa Web Album on the main page.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Herb Island
Today we went to Herb Island in search of the Spirit of Christmas. It's a whimsical tourist attraction with a botanical garden, herb museum, restaurant, cafe, bakery, variety of gift shops, aroma therapy center and spa. It's 100km north of our place and took just over 2hours to get to. We planned it so we arrived in mid-afternoon and stayed until just after dark to catch the Christmas lights festival.
And visited the herb museum.
Then went outside just after sunset to enjoy the lights.
We had been told that Santa was going to be there (we even called ahead to confirm). Alas, the Korean idea of pictures with Santa differs ever so slightly...
After a good laugh over what will forever be Logan's first picture with Santa(s), we meandered around the 'island' (I assure you, it is not an island).
It was quite chilly, so we ducked into the Herb Restaurant for some herb bibimbap (chock full of fresh herbs, edible flowers, and other greens) and donggas "Japanese pork cutlet". Much to our delight, they provided us with a Jellymom for Logan to sit in while we ate.
We did a little (window) shopping after lunch.
Then went outside just after sunset to enjoy the lights.
We had a good time and are feeling a tad more "Christmassy" now :P
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