On Changes

One thing that we learned pretty well on our last trip is how little making plans actually matters. Last year I planned out a detailed route, including roads, ships, trains, and potential places to stay. In the end, we visited only 2 countries on that original plan (our start and end countries) and none of the above. Boats were cancelled, roads were not what they were marked to be, and of course there's the whole "bikes were stolen" thing. But what we leaned was that plans are overrated and, ultimately, unnecessary. They can often  interfere with an amazing opportunity, when they stop you from saying "yes" to something in the interest of staying on plan. 

This time around we specifically didn't plan too much. We researched what has been done and what hasn't, but always in our mind was that knowledge that plans are meant to change. 

And change they did. Don't worry, it's not because of hospital visits or disasters, it's because we are having too much damn fun. Will's friend Min Jae picked us up from the airport and instantly began showing us the best Korea has to offer (mostly good people and soju). Our planned one day with her turned into two, then bled into three. Will kept getting messages from old friends who wanted to hang out, and it became increasingly clear that we had two options: 1) stick with the original plan and kick our butts riding down to Busan, or 2) visit with people, enjoy the many wonders of Korea, and bike around a shorter track.

We chose number 2. Despite a couple of hangovers, we have yet to regret it.

We rode around Ansan, Will's old home, a few days ago, and ended up having dinner with his old boss and sleeping on the roof of his old school. It felt amazing to ride again, and we both are ready to ride again, but the all-or-nothing nature of our original plan just ended up not being worth it. 

So now we're in Seoul, at a giant indoor amusement park ( I'm writing this while we wait in line for the "French revolution" roller coaster) with some friends. Tomorrow we "plan" to catch a ferry down to Jeju, a beautiful island down south, where we will be able to ride and camp to our hearts' content. After that, maybe spend a day in Busan, then a final night with Min Jae before we fly home next Saturday. That's the idea at least. Well let you know when that changes.

The places we poop

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I like to think that I'm a pretty well-experienced traveler when it comes to toilets. Between Armenia, Eastern Europe and Western Europe, I feel I've experienced the range from good to bad.  But I just enjoyed the hell out of using the bathroom here in Japan (will and I are on our 1.5 hour layover in Fukuoka). Not only did the toilet have colorful picture buttons offering every service imaginable from Bidet to "flushing water" sounds, but once one sits ones behind on the seat, the sound of rushing water issues from speakers, carefully covering any embarrassing sounds that may occur. In my opinion, the fact that it was spotless and had additional cleaning materials provided should one decide that things were not quite clean enough was not important considering everything else offered. 

Will just returned from the men's room, and informed me that while he was not given the "rushing water" sounds, he did have a deodorizing option which was missing in the ladies room. From this we have decided that men do not need to worry about noises, but are expected to smell, whereas women's poop doesn't smell, but our sounds are offensive. 

Will has informed me that this is not the status quo in Korea. 

This has also been the fastest, easiest transfer I've ever had. Well done, Japan. 

TWB

Traveling By Bike is amazing, Katrina and I love it. You see parts of the place you are in that you otherwise wouldn't , you "earn it" and therefore "appreciate it" more, and of course it's a free work out. All amazing reasons but Traveling WITH Bikes is a pain in the ass, near that of TWK (traveling with kids *cue full body shiver). To travel with a bike you first have to pack it into an incredibly small box, then pay outrageous "bike fees", and lastly you get to worry for hours that some one is going to bend, break, smash, crush, breathe on wrong, or otherwise defile your pride and joy, your bicycle. This is why I said that we would never ship our bikes any where again and yet this is exactly what we did. Although this time around we were prepared and team Willina (that name needs work...) scored.
I was trying to find a way to not pay the 150$ each way each bike baggage fee when it hit me; porters! Porters will collect your bags and check you into your flight for a tip. This got me thinking, and with a well placed twenty dollar bill I was able to distract said porter from noticing the over sized nature of our baggage. We saved 280$ that we will naturally now piss away on soju and beer.
Let us all hope the rest of our trip goes as smoothly.

That Time Again

Due to incredibly cheap air travel Katrina and I are at it again. This time our destination is my old stomping grounds, South Korea here we come!

Three days until we depart on a two week trip in Korea. Have we  packed? No. Have we planned a route?  Kind of. Have we been practicing Korean?  I tought Kat how to order beer, does that count? Yes!

Our plan is to fly into Seoul,  spend a few days with friends then head out on the bikes for Busan. We hope to complete the 500km trip in about 7 days then ride the high speed train back to Seoul to sight see until we depart on the 31st.

Our last adventure will be a 14 hour layover in Japan!  I don't know what we will do in Fukuaoka for 14 hours but I can assure you it will involve lots of raw fish.

Getting excited and really nervous,
Will and Kat