Mitchell Traveling Circus!: Trip to Buson

We planned a trip to Buson, South Korea for Labor Day weekend along with several other friends from the squadron. Rick has been working very long hours in anticipation of his trip to Alaska, and we were looking forward to a fun, relaxing trip!

In order to get to Buson, you take a cab to the subway station, a subway to the KTX speed train station, and the speed train to Buson. I was very much looking forward to checking out the public transportation in South Korea. I figured it would be a smooth day of travel as my wonderful husband and the other friend traveling with us, Nate, had already been to Buson.

We had a rough start.

As the pictures show, the signs are in Korean. Generally, you can talk to the ticket booth person and figure out where you need to go. The fellas decided to divide and conquer while I sat with the luggage. This gave the Koreans that hadn't ever seen an Amazon to get their camera phones out, and take advantage of the Kodak moment. So weird.

Once we got onto our Subway, I noticed how nice and clean everything was. I was pleasantly surprised at how nice everything was. Nate announced how many stops we had before our destination. We were on our WAY!

An hour later we were waiting for out SPEED train. Nobody was really discussing who was at fault for departing the Subway on the wrong stop.

We matched up the numbers on the ticket to the platform. When the SPEED train pulls up, you don't have much time to get in. We show our tickets to the train guy as additional assurance that we were in the right place.

Nope.

We thought we should be on platform 4, like the ticket said. Evidently that is the car number. We were standing outside car 13. Awesome. We were hustled on the train for the sake of time, and began making our way to car 4. It is nearly impossible to appreciate the humor as we stumble through each car. Being a SPEED train, it's impossible not to stomp as we try to keep our balance. I'm the caboose on our mini train of destruction, and the door that opens between cars is constantly catching my backpack in it's jaws of steel. Our fellow train riders are awoken to this sight, and my cheeks are burning with embarrassment. We have become 'those people' .

We finally get to our seats, and try to quietly settle in. I dig my water bottle out of my purse, and turn to my wonderful husband to ask how long this train ride is. He is snoring softly.

Once at our beautiful hotel, we check out the beautiful ocean view from or room. We are RIGHT on the beach. Wahoooo. We change clothes and head to dinner.

The next day we hung out on the beach. The weather was perfect. We could not have picked a better weekend to be at the beach. It was so relaxing to lay on the beach all day. Additional friends trickled in throughout the day. We had a Frisbee and football to throw around. It was a wonderful day.

That night we hit the Rock N Roll bar until wee hours of the night, and then my wonderful husband and I ate a pepperoni pizza before going back to our room.

The next day we went to the Buson Aquarium after lunch. They had so many cool exhibits! We saw Jellyfish, giant crabs, seahorses, starfish, exotic fish, and SHARKS. They announced they were going to feed the sharks. I was very much looking forward to seeing sharks fight each other for bloody pieces of meat. I elbowed my way to the large glass window, and disappointment washed over me as they sharks were fed small whole fish. Aside from that, it was a fun trip to the aquarium.

That night we went to the all you can eat seafood buffet at the hotel. Not our best move. As I cracked open the crab legs and tore out the meat, I almost lost my appetite thinking of his cousins in the Aquarium. Almost. We ate the hotel out of crab legs, and it was not all I could eat. Dinner was amazing! We walked on the beach and enjoyed the beautiful night.

The next day we were up early to catch our train back to Songtan. Aside from my pants not fitting, it was a smooth trip home.

Excellent trip to the beach!