Capture the Moment

Well, we finally arrived in Seoul, South Korea at 0500 Monday morning. We flew right past Sunday ;D But, we'll get it back on the return trip.

The flights were pretty uneventful...well, sort of. Our very first flight out of Little Rock was late getting into Little Rock. That made us about 15 mins late for our Houston departure, so Continental booked us on the next fight out to LA. The good thing about that was we had time to eat in Houston. As we got to the gate, we realized the had upgraded our tickets to First Class. THAT was great. First Class from Houston to Los Angeles.

We arrived in LA about 1 hour before our departure to Seoul...just enough time to relax a little. I'll tell you this, the flight from LA to Seoul is LLLLLOOOOOONNNNNGGGGGG. 12.5 hours. Luckily they had a good variety of inflight entertainment. I think Melissa and I both watch a couple of movies. Of course it was in Economy class so we didn't have the big chairs that fold flat into a bed. It was difficult to sleep for very long periods, but we managed to get a couple of hours here and there on the trip.

We arrived here in Seoul at 0500. Holt had a taxi waiting for us and he showed us where Holt was then took us to our hotel. Now, since were were VERY early, we couldn't check in...so we had to purchase another day in order to check in that early....but, it was SO worth it, as we were both beat.

We walked over to the Holt offices and around downtown Seoul for a little bit. But, not being familier (at all) with the city, we decided it was best to just go back to the hotel and nap a little. Which we did.

About 1100 or so, we ventured out looking for something we could recognize to eat. Melissa had heard that there was an OutBack close by, so we looked for it. That was a different experience in itself. It's difficult to eat out here and NOT tip. Gratuity, we're told, is not customary here. So, after a filling lunch (grilled chicken, grilled shrimp, kimchi rice and corn soup) we wandered aroud the city again, sort of heading back towards our hotel.

We went on one of the side streets to see what was there as many people were walking from/to there. It was just as busy as the main street our hotel is on.

Melissa went into a few little shops and picked up a couple of things while I just observed the people. What is it with nearly everyone wearing heels and short skirts/dresses. I'm not complaining, just asking :)

For the record, Seoul does seem to be a pretty interesting city. Everyone is just seems to be "not rushed" for anything. You'd think, with 22 million people, it would be very fast paced and hectic. I think the traffic in LA was worse that it is here. Of course LOTS of people walk or ride their bicycles. However, there seems to be little "green" places everywhere so people can stop, sit down on a bench, and just relax.

We headed back to the room to relax a little until we go to Holt at 1500 to meet our precious baby girl, Briana, for the first time.

I'll get some more pictures from that visit, but here's some shots just from walking around, as well as a shot from our room.

Until next time....





View from our room: