Goodbye Korea, Hello Thailand

Well, it is officially Talkster summer vacation. It is currently 6:56 a.m. and Ben and I are sitting in the terminal at Incheon Airport outside of Seoul. We're taking a week long holiday on the beaches of Phuket, Thailand. Aside from having to leave Suwon at 5:15 this morning everything has went perfectly so far. Airport shuttle was super quick and absolutely zero lines for security and customs. I'd estimate we spent about 10 minutes between the time we entered the terminal and when we reached our gate. Every time I fly internationally I'm impressed with other countrys' ability to effectively manage an airport. Whenever you fly domestically at home you have delays, long lines, cancellations, and it is generally about on par with a dental cleaning. Just flying from Chicago to Saginaw caused me more headaches than I care to mention. Somehow the rest of the world's airlines have solved this Rubic's Cube of effectively managing people; perhaps this is why U.S. air carriers are all bankrupt? Hopefully the other two legs of our journey today go as smoothly (layovers in Hong Kong and Kaula Lampur, Malaysia) and we'll be in Thailand this evening sipping beers on a beach.

Expect tons of pictures and blogs during/after Thailand. I would say if I could choose one place in the world to visit, Thailand would be it. I've been fascinated by this country for quite some time and I can't begin to tell you how giddy I am to be finally going.

EDIT #1: Currently in Hong Kong sitting at the gate awaiting our flight to Malaysia. Trying to get to the gate was quite humorous. Every time we joined a line to go through security they would close that line and direct us to another check-point. We walked back and forth, back and forth between the same two check-points for 15 minutes before they finally led a group of us back through the terminal. Then the (presumably) Chinese woman in front of me in line tried to go through security with a cordless drill case full of plants. She looked shocked when they asked her to step aside so they could investigate. Also of note, both Incheon and Hong Kong International are far nicer airports than I've ever encountered in the U.S. Really impressive architecture, nice layout, extremely clean, and, most important, well organized. Every step of the way there was an English speaker to make sure we were headed in the right direction.

Take it easy, but take it.