Final Days to Take-Off

I finally received official notice of my flight itinerary on Tuesday of this week. My flight is out of LAX on a 747 at 12:50am Sunday, August 22nd, arriving in Incheon International Airport, Korea on Monday, August 23 at 5:30am.  12 hours and 45 mins then more traveling after to get to Deagu (Not sure how I'm getting there yet).

I'm telling you I am doing very well with all of this not knowing what's going on business. For all of you who know me I am "Ms. HaveToHaveEverythingPlannedOut" so waiting until it was four days before my actual flight to get official notice has been a true challenge for me. I think that this journey so far has been a great learning process. I have to trust that things will all work out instead of freaking out not knowing every tiny detail.  While I waited and waited and waited for my flight information, all I could do was to prepare for it instead of stress over it.

For the last few days I have been gathering all the necessary supplies for the trip. I thought I had "everything," but the more you talk to your friends and family about leaving the more they suggest things for you to buy and do. I am grateful for all of the suggestions because they are things I truly didn't think about.

Suggestions: International Calling Card (went to buy one today at this market that was recommended to me by the checkout lady at target...couldn't even figure out how they work...gave up on that one and bought some candy with my sister from the shop next door); MagicJack (recommended by a friend living abroad via facebook to use as a land line, bought it at Target...tried to install it...spent about an hour with tech support...doesn't work on my computer for some reason...will return and try again...I hope it works because it is an awesome concept...and cheap!); Water Purification Tabs (great suggestion, but went to the sporting good store today and they don't have them, but they do sell a cool portable water filter drink thing...only $15 but decided against it...may go back tomorrow when I have to return MagicJack); Travel Pillow (While at target I found a cool travel set...blow-up pillow, mini blanket, eye mask...sweet deal on $10); Snacks (Heard the food on the airline (Korean Air) not so American friendly...so got some high calorie munchies to add to my carry-on); Electronic Translator (went to Fry's to buy one...they had about 20 different ones...asked for help...but realized there was only one that translated to Korean...easy choice...started to use it...I guess it will do); Plug Converters (So I didn't even think about this either...got one at Fry's...I guess it should work....it is universal...I will need to use lap top, hair straightener, and blow dryer);  and Korean Wan (It was recommended to have some Wan when I get there...asked my dad where to get it and he said check with my bank...well too late for that one...they have to order it and of course won't be here in time...went online to figure out how I could do it at the airport...found a forum that stated not to do it at LAX, but to wait until I arrive in Korea because they gip you on the exchange rate....even though they may gip me I found out they are open until midnight, which is great considering my flight is at 12:50am...the rate is 1152 per $1at LAX compared to 1172 through the bank...I'll try to figure it out).

After buying more stuff, I still needed to figure out how was going to get everything to Korea! Well after finally finding out the airline and researching their site I figured out the luggage situation. I called the next day to verify, and they confirmed the details.

I can travel with my snowboard bag and snow stuff as long as it is under 50lbs for FREE! I can travel with my large luggage (gift from my bestie and her 'rents) as long as it is under 50lbs for FREE!

Anything between 50-70lbs is $50 extra per piece....ok not so bad. Also I can have one carry-on luggage and my "EXTRA LARGE PURSE" as long as they were under 25lbs each. Got that situated!

So now that the luggage was figured out I needed to weigh my bags so I could have an idea of what I would travel with and what I would ship. I didn't have a scale, so tried to use my Wii Fit to weight my Snowboard bag. Drama! Batteries in remote were dead...batteries in balance board were dead...got yelled at from my Wii for not working out in over 279 days...then it didn't work out!

So I went back out to Kmart to buy the scale (which led to buying the snacks for the flight). Came home, weighed the bag....only 40lbs with all my snow gear! What a relief...I thought it was like 70lbs. So tomorrow I need to pack my other pieces of luggage and see how much I will need to ship. I also had to do laundry tonight so I could pack tomorrow!

Another thing that I had to figure out was shipping....International Shipping is a whole other ball field. Shipping via Freight was recommended to me by my recruiter...must be over 150lbs and is way expensive...plus I don't think I have that much extra to ship. Asked a friend who lived in Hawaii and he said ship by "boat," may take a few weeks like freight, but cheaper....this doesn't exist according to USPS or UPS.  Was having dinner with family friends and learned about "FedEx Great Rates," so of course I checked it out and it is super amazing. Way cheaper to ship abroad, like dramatically (regular shipping for a 20lb box $388....Great Rates ONLY $88). Well the moral of that story is that was just a quote, I need to have specifics to get a better quote and then I have to ship out on Friday (which apparently is the day that helps give me a "Great Rate.") Yeah for GREAT RATES!!!!

So tomorrow is Thursday.....I need to start learning Korean! I'm going to go to the gym...take a shower...go to Starbucks (o btw I bought the instant Iced coffee from Starbucks to take with me! So good!) and teach myself some Korean! I found out that the city that I'll be living in, Deagu, Korean people are not comfortable speaking English on the streets (unlike Seoul and Busan), so I better learn survival Korean and quick! I do have a book and now my translator and will use an online program to help as well (Rosetta Stone is not compatible with Macs---GO FIGURE!) I should also run back to Target, exchange the MagicJack, then possibly buy the water filter thing at the sports store. Oh yes, I just remembered that tomorrow is also the day to pack if I am going to ship my "extra" box out for my GREAT RATE through FedEx.

If anyone said that moving abroad was an easy process I would like to meet them!

More: Set-up Skype the other night...very cool...paid my bills...sold my car (I could probably write a separate post on selling the car in itself, but won't)....trying to set the parents up on Skype, but computer outdated I think...have been eating really bad (I figure it's my last chance for this kind of food)....honestly I am so ready to just go....only three more days till my life changes!

I think I'm ready............see ya in Korea!