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Oct. 25th, 2011 05:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khiemtranSo, I'm on a train, somewhere between Gimpo and Incheon, Seoul's two airports. Across from me sit two ladies in Korean Air uniforms, adjusting their makeup and chatting in Korean. Next to me sit an Irishwoman and a Canadian, discussing the Korean Air employees' appearance. My ears are tingling just a bit, because the odds are the Koreans are also listening in English (they are just a few metres away, after all, even if they are speaking another language). But, fortunately, the comments all stay positive.
What really has me worried though, is the other passengers' baggage.
Flashback to Jeju, and I'm waiting to check in at the airport. There's a big queue of passengers at the Korean Air counters, but there's one sign saying International Transfers with just a short queue in front of it. Since I'm heading home to Sydney (via Gimpo then Incheon), I head over to that one.
Now, the trick is even though I have the one ticket home, I have a "void" segment between Gimpo and Incheon, where I am making the transfer under my own steam. So, do I need to collect my baggage at Gimpo or not? The friendly Korean Air check in lady assures me that I don't. (Three times, in fact, since I ask three times just to be sure.) There are a few more dramas over trying to get an aisle seat, but just as I've resigned myself to a middle seat all the way to Sydney, she comes through for me with an aisle seat "near the toilet" (which will later turn out to be also on the baby row, but that's another story).
So, I get some lunch (kim chi fried rice), catch the short flight to Gimpo, and then stride past the baggage claim like a veteran traveller with only just the slightest hint of hesitation. From Gimpo, I catch the airport express to Incheon International, carefully avoiding the earlier local train that would have terminated midway (I think it was at Geonam, but my memory's fading now).
Then, just as the train stops at Geonam (or wherever), on get the Canadian and the Irishwoman and - didn't I see them on flight from Jeju? And, they've got their luggage with them.
Right, well, either my luggage is making its own way to Incheon now or it's sitting forlornly on a baggage carousel in Gimpo going round and round in circles. At this stage, though, there's nothing I can do about except to press on and have faith in the airline to take care of it.
And, sure enough, after I get to Sydney, brain addled from a night spent trying to distract an overtired toddler, and after a suitable delay to build suspense, there is my suitcase after all.
What really has me worried though, is the other passengers' baggage.
Flashback to Jeju, and I'm waiting to check in at the airport. There's a big queue of passengers at the Korean Air counters, but there's one sign saying International Transfers with just a short queue in front of it. Since I'm heading home to Sydney (via Gimpo then Incheon), I head over to that one.
Now, the trick is even though I have the one ticket home, I have a "void" segment between Gimpo and Incheon, where I am making the transfer under my own steam. So, do I need to collect my baggage at Gimpo or not? The friendly Korean Air check in lady assures me that I don't. (Three times, in fact, since I ask three times just to be sure.) There are a few more dramas over trying to get an aisle seat, but just as I've resigned myself to a middle seat all the way to Sydney, she comes through for me with an aisle seat "near the toilet" (which will later turn out to be also on the baby row, but that's another story).
So, I get some lunch (kim chi fried rice), catch the short flight to Gimpo, and then stride past the baggage claim like a veteran traveller with only just the slightest hint of hesitation. From Gimpo, I catch the airport express to Incheon International, carefully avoiding the earlier local train that would have terminated midway (I think it was at Geonam, but my memory's fading now).
Then, just as the train stops at Geonam (or wherever), on get the Canadian and the Irishwoman and - didn't I see them on flight from Jeju? And, they've got their luggage with them.
Right, well, either my luggage is making its own way to Incheon now or it's sitting forlornly on a baggage carousel in Gimpo going round and round in circles. At this stage, though, there's nothing I can do about except to press on and have faith in the airline to take care of it.
And, sure enough, after I get to Sydney, brain addled from a night spent trying to distract an overtired toddler, and after a suitable delay to build suspense, there is my suitcase after all.
