Postponing Vietnam

I'm on an airport limousine bus on the way to Incheon Airport and I'm committing the current headache to paper. It has been six months since my January Visa Run to Japan, the last time I left Korea.

Today was the day I was supposed to fly out for my very last-minute, impromptu vacation to Vietnam, a place taht I've been curious about and have studied since my senior year of high school. When I arrived at the travel agency in central Seoul to collect my passport, processed Visa, and airplane ticket, I was informed that there was some bad news. The new employee who had handled my business last week had made a mistake: My flight for tonight was full and so I would have to wait until tomorrow morning at 10:00am to fly out. Another mistake the worker had made was not to record my phone number so that no one at the agency could contact and inform me of this drastic change of plans.

I've never been a morning person, so there is a big difference to me between an 8:50pm flight and a 10:00am flight. Also, I would be coming to the airport from all the way down in Anyang, so the possibility of missing my flight again like I did in January was real. Also, I had just lugged three heavy bags of luggage for over an hour on the subway (two of mine, and one for Chun-sup, who, together with his mother, had helped me arrange a lot of the details for Vietnam) and I did not care to do it again the next morning. I asked to be put up in Incheon for the night and they immediately arranged it. My 40,000 won discount on the 685,000 won ticket/Visa business handled by the agency offered to due to their mistake rapidly became a 40,000 won payment for a hotel room in Incheon.

Even apart from all of the aforementioned inconveniences, this sudden change of plans without any warning had inadvertantly disrupted my day in other ways: Aiming to make it to Seoul by 4:00pm to collect my Visa and make my flight, I woke up earlier than I otherwise would have, skipped breakfast and lunch in favor of a better meal in Seoul if I had time, and there was still worse.

The night before, I had learned from Hye-seon that she was back from University down South for the summer and staying in Anyang to work at her uncle's hof. I hadn't seen her in a month and a half since early April. It seemed unrealistic (not yet knowing about the flight delay) that I could see her before I left the country but early this afternoon I called her up and asked if she wanted to have a quick lunch before I went to Seoul. Hye-seon's voice was extremely groggy, although it was around 2:30pm. After a few seconds of incoherent conversation with this attractive, sleep-deprived, non-native English-speaker, she hung up abruptly. I slumped down onto my bed; I guessed I wouldn't be talking to her again until I returned from Vietnam, let alone having lunch with her; and I felt bad for having been short with mom, who had called at about noon while I was still asleep and suffering acutely from the food poisoning that began on maybe Saturday.

Everything was ready to go so I was almost out of the door when Hye-seon texted me, saying "sorry mistake." I wondered if maybe she didn't want me to hear her groggy voice or possibly she just didn't feel like launching into a full-blown English conversation right upon waking up.

I texted back something along the lines of, "Want to grab some lunch in Anyang before I go to Incheon if you aren't too tired?"

"When you go to inchen?"

"4:30pm I go to Seoul so we'll have to eat within the hour if we do it."

"Ok see you bake!" (clearly, within the hour was not feasible in her state! I texted my goodbyes and she responded:

"bye I hope you have good trip!"

By this time, I had gotten into a taxi and was being dropped off at Pyeoncheon-Yok. No longer conflicted about whether I would be going West to Anyang-Yok or North-East to Seoul, I boarded a train.

If the travel company hadn't screwed up, I could have waited as long as Hye-seon needed in order to meet her for lunch. Now I'm in a nice-enough hotel room on Incheon Island for 40,000 won a night hoping that I wake up before 7:45am so that I can catch the shuttle back over to the airport.

I want some supper and a few hours at a PC Bang before I pass out, but already my consensus is that today was a waste. My life would be so much simpler if my boss Mr. Park had never even given me vacation time. On the plus side, I now have a Vietnam Visa sticker pasted into the pages of my passport, my first Visa for a Communist country. The adventure continues, starting tomorrow!
-6-24-2008.



p.s. - I shaved my goattee.