Teaching Souls in Seoul (Cheonan, Jeju, Cheongil, Gapcheon, & Masan): My Odyssey to South Africa (11.-13. August)

Let's begin.

I booked my plane tickets between Korea and South Africa back in April this year (2018). Not to insult your intelligence, but I was really looking forward to this trip. Thanks to the many South Africans I've met while in Korea, they've convinced me I must go and behold their country. Working in Korea has provided me with the funds to make this trip possible (not to mention things are cheaper there when you factor in exchange rates). I figured August was the right month for me; it would be summer in Korea (33-38 degrees) and winter in South Africa (14-24 degrees). There are some toiletries and clothes I needed to get--and South Africa has my size and styles that flatter my figure. Also, I need to leave Korea every chance I get just for my own sanity.

With the above points in mind, I was excited when D-day arrived: August 11th, 2018.

As of August 2018, no direct flights between South Africa and Korea exist. I hope this changes in the future.

I flew and booked via Singapore Airlines.

I'll break my journey down by flights on my itinerary.

Busan --> Incheon

Since this was a domestic flight, I thought I had to check in at the domestic terminal. Turns out, since my overall trip is international, the international terminal is where I had to go. I guess Korean airports have an agreement, that if the final destination of a flight itinerary is somewhere international, all domestic flights should be treated as international. If I'm wrong, please correct me.

This was the first flight. No hiccups. All went according to plan.

Incheon --> Singapore

Procession of ancient Korean royalty in the middle of Incheon Airport (they do this at random times in random places throughout the airport).

This is where things got very interesting not-too quickly.

The flight was about 40 minutes delayed when we boarded. As the plane was taking off, one of the engines malfunctioned/turned off/quietly exploded/something. We had just left the ground. The pilots brought the plane back down and stepped on the brakes like our lives depended on it--which they did. With such force, I was already in the brace position, so I for one proceeded to put my hands on my head. The pilot informed us of what happened and told us to stay put and not be freaked out when we saw fire engines beside us. About 4 hours later (we boarded around 17:00), the plane returned to the gate, and we disembarked. An hour or so after figuring out what to do, we were allowed to leave.

They contacted Singapore Air headquarters about the situation. Singapore Air sent a new airplane (not spanking new, just working) for us to board and fly to Singapore for the next day at noon. This meant we had to spend the night in Seoul.

The airport/airline was going to put us up in a hotel in Seoul for the night, but that hotel didn't have enough rooms for all the passengers. They told us, that if any could go home, to please do so and we would be reimbursed. I contacted a friend in Seoul and briefly filled her in on my emergency. She said to come on over, so I did. Next morning (August 12th), I made it to my flight. I forgot if it was a little delayed or not. Either way, we made it safe and sound to Singapore.

Singapore -- (Johannesburg) --> Cape Town

I originally had a 3-hr. layover in Singapore before moving on to Johannesburg. As I'm sure you've figured out, I missed that flight. When I arrived in Singapore, however, they had set up a few things for me.

One, they put me on the next available flight, at 2am, August 13. This meant I had about 7 hours to spare.

Two, they put me up in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in the airport. I had a voucher for the dinner buffet at the hotel. That hotel room was NICE! I'm just so sad I couldn't stay for an entire night and had to leave just before 1am.

A short glimpse of my Crowne Plaza hotel room.

This flight didn't have any hiccups either.

However, this was the first flight I've ever been on, in which I did not leave the plane once people started to disembark. Why? This flight was actually to Cape Town, but it was dropping people off in Johannesburg first. I believe no one got on in Jo'burg, so 32 passengers had a previously trans-Indian flight at our disposal. We all took rows of 3-seats each to ourselves. Except for being woken up for breakfast, I was able to nap for about 1.5 hours.

At Cape Town

Once in Cape Town (a full day after I was scheduled to arrive), I got an Uber to my hostel, "Never @ Home" (best hostel I've EVER stayed at--and I mean it!). After checking in and getting settled, I went in search of the Waterfront. It turned out to be a short search of about a 10-15 min. walk from the hostel.

I met a lovely couple at the Cape Wheel. They adopted me for a few hours (so sweet of them! Thank you so much again!). They invited me to join them for a Harbour Cruise and a drink at a bar (I had Rooibos Tea--no alcohol for me, thank you).

I returned to my hostel by sunset. After calling my family and a few friends, I called it an early night. Considering I didn't sleep much for the previous 2 days and I needed to adjust to Cape Town time, the faster I did so and got some sleep, the better.

This concludes my odyssey to Cape Town and my first day there.

(Side note: The following are pictures from the Waterfront. I didn't take these pictures on that day because my phone's camera wasn't working. At all. The same thing happened the next day. So the photos below are from Wednesday and Thursday of that week.)