ALT in Shimosuwa, Japan: Journey to Seoul, Korea

Today, my mom and I traveled from my town, Shimosuwa, to Seoul, Korea. It wasn't too bad of a trip really- a train to Tokyo, two more trains to the airport, a short 2-hour flight, and then another hour to our hotel- but we are exhausted nonetheless. I just have enough energy to write a quick post before throwing myself in bed!

Our flight was Japan Airlines so I wondered how much English there would be. Thankfully, they spoke English, Japanese, and Korean. There were only a handful of other foreigners (Caucasians) on our flight. The stewardesses were really friendly and spoke great English. They even served us a light meal of a traditional Japanese bento, which was really tasty. It was cloudy so I didn't get to see much out the plane window. Night caught up to us as we neared Seoul and it was dark by the time we landed.

When we finally got to our hotel, we were so happy!! The man at the front desk spoke good English and it was a fast process to get our room key. We have a room on the 14th floor (there are 15) which means we have an AWESOME view!! We can even see the N Seoul Tower which is a famous tourist spot in Seoul. I'll take pictures of the view tomorrow in the daylight. The hotel room is very nice, with plenty of room (I'm used to small Japanese hotel rooms) and a very large TV. :P

We ran to 7-11 to get some snacks since we hadn't eaten since our flight. It wasn't as nice as 7-11s in Japan, that's for sure, but it will do as a place to get snacks & breakfast! I picked up a traditional Korean snack food called "tteokbokki" which is a fried rice snack that is sweet and spicy all at once. It really hit the spot!

Tomorrow we will have our first day in Seoul and do some fun sightseeing. Our plan is to visit the Gyeonbok Palace to see the changing of the guard, and then do some souvenir shopping in Insadong, a touristy shopping area. Should be a good day!