We are off! But in THE MIDDLE SEAT

Getting stuck in the middle seat is not for wimps. Fighting for the armrest, leg room around my backpack and even shoulder room for a short person like me is not fun at any time---especially when it is on a 14 hour trans-Pacific flight. Sadly, I ended up in the dreaded middle seat on my flight to Korea. This was not an enjoyable flight--even if I was excited to have daughter Becca sitting next to me. She was as miserable as I was---primarily because the cabin temperature on this flight was the worst I have experienced. It must have been in the mid 80° range the entire flight.



I cannot stand sitting for a long time--so after our first meal (choice of bibimbap or pasta and beef) I migrated to the back of the plane where there was some room to stand by the rear bathrooms. I did my PT stretching exercises to help my gimpy hip. I walked around a bit and then settled into doing some TaiChi to keep my body limber and my mind peaceful. A Korean woman was standing next to me and we starting chatting --and although her English was marginal, she was interested in my "exercises". She started following along with me and we actually were having fun! We laughed a bit....and huffed and puffed through deep lunges, stretches and other typical mind-body stuff common in TaiChi practice.

Well--I don't think we were being loud--nor obnoxious. It probably just looked weird to someone not familiar with this type of movement. But...whoa, I couldn't believe it when a flight attendant came over and told us we had to stop because we were bothering some people!!! Holy smoke.....all we were doing was stretching with my very "quiet" voice explaining what the different movements were designed to do. She told me to SIT DOWN. Wow...that is pretty extreme for Koreans. The other women scuttled to her seat--head down. I looked at the flight attendant and just stood my ground. I couldn't face sitting in my seat and just wanted to stand in the back. So I stopped doing crazy exercises and just stood there trying to look like I was not going to create any more problems. Thankfully, she left me alone for the rest of the flight--except for a few glares as she passed by. Anyway....that was the first time anyone said anything to me about gentle stretches and quiet breathing being bothersome.

About four hours into the flight I slipped back into my seat and took a sleeping pill and managed to sleep for a few hours. Again, being extremely hot and smushed into the middle was not pleasant. At that point Becca was in grump mode.

But......we survived and after almost 14 hours being stuffed into a hot, cramped seat, went through customs and FINALLY were officially in South Korea. As some of you know, getting our C4 Visa to "work" in Korea was a huge nightmare this year. I think the Korean Consulate in Chicago doesn't like me or Becca. Becca's visa did not arrive until three days before we left. She started the visa process months ago....and we never believed it could be this difficult.

So.....we are exhausted, but looking forward to three days of being tourists in Seoul.

Tomorrow DMZ.....more to come!