Today began another adventure right from the start. We took a taxi, by ourselves, from Lotte Hotel to Gimpo Airport. Gimpo handles most of the domestic Korean flights as we headed to Jeju Island. Now usually, taking a taxi ride by yourself is no big deal. Doing it in another country with another language that you can not decipher means you must have great trust and you must be able to figure out how to negotiate. We did it! Of course, then we managed to check into the airport, drink a Dunkin Donuts coffee, go through security and find our gate. Everything is a story-- so when you go to a gate and it posts the flight number, you sit and wait. Then the flight number disappears. What is one to do when communication is a real challenge? Point. Often. Everywhere. Fortunately, one of the airline employees actually was able to point us to the right gate. Phew. Not sure what we would have done if we missed the flight. Oh but wait, we are not on the plane yet. The gate had a plane at it already (not ours), so we just stood there hoping for the best. Then they called for boarding and we looked at each other a bit quizzically. Off we went, down the stairs, and out the door onto the tarmac. Yes. We took a bus to the plane out on the tarmac. All is well, and the flight was great. We are really glad we made it here.
Peter, our new guide, met us after luggage gathering. He took us straight to a Korean History Museum where we were able to look at a topographical map of Jeju, the volcanic island. Much information about volcanic rocks and the modernization of this incredible island. It was the perfect start to give us context for the visit.
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