Attempting to board the plane in Manchester, my boarding pass set off a strange tone from the machine and the chubby guy told me I needed to step aside and have my travel documents reviewed. Apparently he was afraid of being fined for letting me on the plane without an onward ticket, like I was going to sneak into Korea on a tourist visa and never leave.
I sorted it out, showing him my Russian and Chinese visas and official Russian tourism invitation. He had to call up and ask someone a bunch of questions that clearly betrayed his inexperience while I looked out the window to make sure the plane didn't leave without me. I got on, only holding the plane up a few minutes, though I feel like the crew and passengers resented me for it. A stewardess banged my knee with a beverage cart and maybe I just wasn't awake enough, but I don't think she bothered to apologize.
I barely had to wait for either of my layovers in Detroit and Tokyo. On the two international legs I sat next to two university professors. Maybe it's a sign, along with working 20 hours a week and having three or four months off per year.
I didn't know how I'd feel about coming back to Korea as a tourist after living and working here for two years, but it felt perfectly normal when I zoomed through customs and got into a cab that drove way too recklessly without providing seatbelts and brought me to a "hostel" illegally located in some guys apartment. I did know that starting a trip in Korea would be easy for me to slide into a traveling mindset, but first things first: I need to find a surgeon to fix me up because it's too damn expensive in America.
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