South Korea Day 9: Our Last Day

Andrew called our room around 630am and we told him we would come by to pick him up shortly. The "babysitters" said he did really well. He fell asleep shortly after we had dropped him off and slept through the night.

We all got dressed and went down for breakfast. After we went back upstairs to finish packing. We finished and had some time to spare before having to leave for the airport. So, James said he wanted to take a walk and get some more fresh Korean air.

So, we headed to Yeouido Park and walked around for a little bit. We came upon the Cultural Plaza and James remembered that there was a place to rent bikes. He asked Andrew if he wanted to ride a bike to which Andrew quickly agreed. We went to see if they had ones with training wheels and sure enough, they did. Andrew picked out a green one and James and I got a tandem bike.

Andrew did pretty good. He crashed a few times to my unliking. We stopped a few times to let him play on the same playground that he played on before and to take some photos of the autumn leaves. We made a lap around the entire park soon enough and returned the bikes.

We walked backed to the hotel and Papa bought some pizza for lunch (at none other than Andrew's request!) After, we walked downstairs and said our goodbyes. It was a little sad and I was more emotional than I thought I was going to be. But it helps to know that Papa will be back in three months. And hopefully, it was pass quickly.

After we checked in and made it through security, we walked to our gate. Papa had told me about the Korean Cultural Center that allows you to put on traditional Korean clothing. And since we didn't get to do it at the palace and since we had ample time before our flight, we went to check it out.

The nice ladies starting to help Andrew and Ngoai into their outfits. Andrew said he didn't want the hat and quickly took it off. He said he was getting really hot. I told him just take a few pictures and he could be done. Luckily, he obliged.

After, we went to a little play area for kids which was really nice to have in an airport. Andrew played for a while and then I wanted to take him to get some food for the airplane ride.

Soon, we boarded the plane. Luckily for us, the flight wasn't full and we were able to spread out. Andrew and I stayed on one row while James and Ngoai sat in the row across. It was awesome!! Espcially for Andrew as he slept for four hours!

Thai Airlines had Rescue Bots as a choice for the in-flight monitor and Andrew was so excited. It didn't matter that it was only one episode and one he had on his iPad. He was just happy! He also watched Madagascar 3 as well.

Over ten hours later, we arrived in LAX. We sat on the runway and taxied for a long time--almost an hour. By the time we deboarded the plane it was 1155am. Our connecting flight to Houston was scheduled to depart at 130pm. We all had our doubts about making it.

We had to go through immigration, get our bags, and go through customs. Then, we had to walk I don't know how far to get to our terminal. I wasn't exactly thrilled by our first experience at making a connecting flight at LAX the first time around and this time didn't improve my opinion. I could not believe they did not have a shuttle or train. It was a pretty long walk!

Anyways, we make it through security around 1245pm. I think we are all secretly thinking we could make the flight after all, but didn't dare to say it aloud. As we were making our way to the gate, we could see the planes outside. Sure enough, we see our gate and there is no plane parked there!! Our plane wasn't even here yet!!! And there was no mention of it on the digital boards. Another mark against LAX!

So, we had a moment to rest. We had to wait about fifteen minutes before we boarded and we were on our way. I had Andrew play some games on his iPad before watching videos. He was watching Transformers again and then about ten minutes into it, I notice he had fallen asleep. He slept for about two hours and didn't wake up to the final descent.

We finally landed and it was nice to be back in Houston!! I had a great time in Korea and probably would have liked to stay a little bit longer, but there really is no place like home!

We had asked Andrew a couple of days ago what he missed about Houston. He said HEB and Chick Fil A (not really sure why he said HEB). But we decided to pick up some CFA for our first meal back in the States. And Aunt Monica came over to watch the Baylor game with us. As much fun as we had, it is nice to be back home!