We made it!

After much planning, packing, bidding farewell, and even switching buses at the last minute, we finally embarked on our journey of a lifetime. To our surprise, we were met at the airport by our travel agent (Ellen Butler) who helped us check in and escorted us all the way to our gate. How special! Don't you wish you had that kind of service?

Speaking of service, flying on Korean Air was a joy even though it was a 10 hour, 30 minute flight to Seoul, Korea. We flew over Alaska and got a glimpse of Mt. McKinley and expanses of glaciers. They fed us two delicious meals (I mean, they were actually delicious… a first in the history of airplane food) and they brought drinks by about every hour. The seat belt sign was off for most of the flight except the takeoff and landing and we got a chance to mingle throughout different seats and stretch our legs a bit. Near the end of the flight, the crew brought us hot towels to freshen up. The best part of the flight was the fact that we were able to witness to several of the other passengers and took opportunities to strike up conversations and give away literature we had brought for this very purpose.

Upon arriving in Seoul, we had to go through security again to get to our gate for our flight to Kota Kinabalu. As we walked through the airport, we were just about the only non-asian people around. As a group of students walked past a small boy and his mother, the boy stared at us and then suddenly threw his head back and howled with laughter. Either the 10 hour flight really did something to us or rather white people are a strange sight. Maybe some of both…

Our flight from Seoul to Kota Kinabalu was about 5 1/2 hours and was quite the flight as well. One of the students threw up with the turbulence and another one of the students woke up in distress thinking that we were about to hit a building… but alas! It was a dream! When we finally reached our final destination, we were exhausted but so excited all at once! The airport was clean and quite nicer than we had expected. But then came the bathrooms, our first culture shock. Squat toilets, empty toilet paper dispensers, empty, rusty soap containers, and an inch of water across the floor all greeted us at once. The hot, humid air blew across our faces as we loaded the vans to our hotel. We sped past coconut palms, banana trees, and papaya plants on the wrong (ooops, I mean the left) side of the road. The houses lining each side of the road looked more like run-down shacks but ironically, most of the cars we were passing looked brand new. We rehearsed a few phrases in Bahasa and practiced saying "Terima Kasih" (thank you) to our drivers. Then off to bed we went. What a trip!