Preparing to move was stressful and tiring, but then again, what move isn't? We had a lot to do and put in many late nights trying to get it all done. Moving is a great time to evaluate the things that you own and toss or donate what you no longer want or need. After completing that task, we had to separate our remaining belongings into three groups: things we would take with us in suitcases on the plane, a small shipment of things that would arrive quickly by air, and the rest that would take months shipped by sea.
The day that the movers came was insane. There were about five Korean men who came in to pack our things. They were amazing. They were quick, efficient, and took care wrapping everything. They came with piles of packing paper, boxes of tape, and huge sheets of cardboard that they bent, cut, and folded into custom boxes. Half of our packaged things had the contents written in English, while the other half had them written in Korean. It's going to be a fun surprise opening the Korean-marked boxes :)
Just when the movers were finishing up the packing, the new apartment tenants showed up. They thought that we had already moved out so they came with some of their things and had the rest being delivered that afternoon! We talked to our rental manager, they talked to theirs, and there was simply miscommunication on every end. So the new tenants started moving their things in while our movers started moving our stuff out and that's when our hired cleaning crew showed up! A crew of women started scurrying around cleaning whatever space they could find that wasn't taken up by boxes. Just when we thought things couldn't get more crowded, the new tenants' rental managers all showed up! At least they were helpful and started to assist the cleaners and movers. There were almost 20 people in the apartment all at once - it was CRAZY! We learned later that after our movers left, the cleaning crew managed to finish just as the new tenants' large shipment of belongings arrived. They moved in that same night!
Goodbye to our great apartment in the Lotte Castle apartment complex! We really enjoyed living there.
We had a total of 4 large suitcases, 2 carry-ons, and 1 dog crate to leave Korea with. Luckily some of our friends lent us their large vehicle and another friend drove us in it to the airport. Gotta say, one of the best things about our year in Korea was the friends we made :)
Dulce is a great traveler in cars and on boats so we know she has no problems in airplanes. Her travel crate is spacious and comfortable. She wasn't anxious at all in the airport.
Our flight took off at 7:30pm. We flew over brightly-lit Seoul on our way out.
Our destination? HAWAII! We had a direct flight to our new home. We will be stationed on the island of Oahu in Hawaii for the next three years. That's a pretty good assignment to get :)
The flight was about 7 hours long. We were excited to try out our Christmas presents to ourselves, new Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones. They are incredible - just switch them on and all noise disappears. They really made the flight much more enjoyable.
We were fed two meals on the flight: a light dinner not long after take-off and breakfast a couple hours before landing.
We flew East, into the beautiful sunrise of a new day.
Our first glimpse of Hawaii!
Aloha! We arrived in Honolulu at 7:30am on the same day that we left Korea. We literally had two Saturdays this week! Not a bad way to start off our island living adventure :)
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“There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it.”
~Charles Dudley Warner
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