My Best Summer Evah!
Right. So anyways, our trip began on 2 July 2006. We said good-bye to our old apartment as we will be moving into a new one on the day we come back from the Americas a month later. We did the usual 60-minute airport drive, went through the airport junk, and sat there, waiting for boarding to begin (hey, my mother got someone to talk to. We saw three of our school teachers about to get on the same flight as us). Gosh, I wished my mother would stop booking us midnight flights that were just so tiring. “But the benefits are, they’re cheaper.” Yeah, yeah, whatever (oh, and she hooked us up with Korean Air flights because they are “cheaper”. Right… so it’s all about the price, right?)!
So after the “long” flight, which was actually less than six hours, we arrived in Incheon International Airport in Seoul, Korea. All right, what I found out next shot me in the foot. I discovered our continuing Los Angeles flight was in seven hours! So we wandered around the busy terminal here and there, la la la, here and la and there, la, there, here, when finally, we were able to continue our journey! And I added a thought of the day, “never travel with your mom, at least mine.”
I sort of cheered up when I discovered Personal TV monitors (PTVs) in every seatback. The last time we flew with this airline, and our previous flight, was just a seat and… wait, nothing. TV was the only thing that could avoid a boring old 11 and a half hour flight. I began my party!
My mother fell asleep (she could have have used Seat C, which was empty, to lie down, but she didn’t). The entertainment was all mine! No adult supervision, oh yeah! I played around with the On Demand system, fast forwarding this, rewinding that, pausing stuff to go to the bathroom. Whatever, loved that trip better.
All right, when we arrived in L.A., we still had two more flights ahead of us. Salt Lake City, Utah, then Calgary, Canada. Oh well, I lived. The flights were short.
And finally, HOME SWEET CALGARY! We moved into our friend’s house, or should I say, my mother’s friend’s house. Just in time for the annual Stampede event. Maybe it was just the pancakes with rich maple syrup that drew me to like Stampedes. The cowboys danced, other weird things popped out, and the C-Train system was overflowing!
Sometime in the middle of our stay, my dad joined us, and we went for hikes, shopped, and had fun by a river. Everything was just perfect.
Our three weeks in Calgary, drew to a close, but it wasn’t over. Next stop, Orlando! Yup, that’s right, DisneyWorld! We were celebrating my birthday there. And it was the most magnifilliant thing ever. My birthday-day, however, was spent searching for tickets for DisneyWorld. We manged to finish the day with a nice buffet supper.
On the day after my birthday, DisneyWorld was all ours! Here we come! We went to Magic Kingdom the entire day and spent most of our time inside Tomorrowland. We went on Space Mountain, Stitch Escape, go-kart racing, and I believe on a train ride on a bridge, I saw an old classmate driving a racecar underneath. He left that year, so I didn’t know if it was really him. But somehow, I’m still positive.
We filled our tummies with French Fries and noodles and explored what was worth doing. I have to admit, although I hate Buzz Lightyear, I went on one of his rides three times! Again and again, ride after ride, adventure after adventure, night came. And that meant the great famous night parade.
There was a little rain, but no worries, it was so small, you had to stop to feel a bit of it. The brightly lit cars came - and went, each one filled with color and light, and tuning out glorious friendly music as they pass by. They danced, they sang, they statued themselves, there wasn’t a dull moment. And in the blink of an eye, one whole day at Magic Kingdom was over. I was sad, but I knew that it was only half over…
because the next day, we went to Disney’s MGM Studios. Oh yes, where the movies and TV series you see everyday are filmed. We saw all the tricks and stunts, the sets, the secrets. A show called Lights, Motors, Action! was the best. I mean when we saw a real live chase scene being filmed (yup, those were going to be the contents of an upcoming movie!), we discovered it wasn’t nearly a quarter of what of thought it was! The set was only about 150 feet X 20 feet (for about a three or four minute chase sequence with the explosions and stuff!), and the cars came out from behind one house, came out of windows, came out from another one, disappeared, and flew over ramps - backwards! And I’m going to tell you a secret, it doesn’t take that much work to make a car jump over a huge 10 - 20 feet ramp - backwards. They instead use another look-alike car and fix the steering wheel on the opposite side. So the driver is not driving backwards, he’s driving forwards!
We saw other crazy, unbelievable secrets being revealed, and went on huge adventures that words can’t desribe. The day came to an end, in fact, everything’s ending, except for one thing.
We then drove for a three day trip to Daytona Beach. The beaches were white, sandy, and perfect for burying people! The waters were the best. You splash and play an never want to leave!
After that, everything was done. The magic, the beaces, the waters, the family time, the great fun, it was all over. We destined to Atlanta, and then Seoul, and back to our - NEW HOME!
Now, our house is just like our old one. This summer will be a summer I will never forget.
Korean Air B747
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incheon_Airport
Picture of the plane
http://www.chem.ucalgary.ca/groups/gshimizu/images/calgary%20day.gif
http://www.visitortips.com/images/gallery/destinations/canada/calgary/fullsize/calgary7.jpg
http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/c/u/cul140/Disney%20World.jpg
http://www.parkfunworld.be/dossier/tech/Space_Mountain.jpg
http://www.mpimages.net/dlr/compressed/Disneyland/Special_Events/50th%20Anniversary/50thMotors-Disney.jpg
http://www.pa.msu.edu/people/horvatin/Images/ScenicPictures/MGM-hat_l.jpg
http://www.burtmountain.com/images/Daytona_Beach.jpg
