I'm HERE!!!!

So, I finally arrived in Romania!!

Calin, my first couchsurfing host, waited for me at the airport. That was really nice of him. It was late, I was tired, and I don't think I could have dealt with transportation on my own.

So, that was Saturday night.

We went back to his house, hung out a bit, but then went to sleep.

In the morning, I had some CIORBA!! great sour soup!!!

And in the afternoon we went to his house in the country side. There we met some of his friends and had a really nice BBQ. Hung out some more, ate some more, talked some more... it was brilliant!!

On the way there, we stoped at a shop and got some fresh baked bread. It was still warm. We ate a whole loaf of bread on the way. It was so soft, and warm, and chewy... mmmmmmmm!

In the evening, we went to the historical and old area in Bucuresti. It was AMAZING!!!!!

Beautiful architecture, beautiful history, lots of restaurants and tables outside, great music, great smells and incredibly beautiful people. I had no idea that Romanians are such beautiful people!!!

I'm definitely going to go there again during the day so I can take lots of pictures.

Today, Monday, I'm going to my next couchsurfing host. He lives in the center of the city, so it'll be easier to get around and see things. Can't wait :).

Peace is here

So, no thanks to asshole travel agency, I made it.

I'm in the airport, checked in, and ready to go.

I went to the check-in counter and asked if my name is on the flight list, and WOW!!!!!!!! it was there!!!

I started crying. I couldn't help myself.

For the last 40 hours all I could do was wait and keep calling those assholes. They weren't giving me any information and I had to pry it out of them. They weren't calling me back but kept telling me that they'll call me. They didn't email me back or keep me informed. NOTHING!

But, now it's all good.

I'm at my gate, I'm charging my Ipod, I'm dressed really nice, I had a nice shower at the Sauna in the airport, I used some nice parfume from the Duty Free shops, I changed some money...

So, now I'm ready. Just waiting.

I'm flying with Lufthansa (LH 713 and LH 1422) through Frankfurt. I'll arrive to Bucuresti at 23:55 on Saturday.

Well, even if I don't manage to get bumped up to first class, I'm still gonna enjoy all the free red wine I can :)!

Medicine

How I'm going to make myself feel better:

1. Go to the airport at 8:30pm.
2. Go have a burger and large fries at McDonalds in the airport.
3. Maybe have an ice-cream too.
4. Go to the sauna in the airport.
5. Have a REAAAAAAAAAALY long soak/wash in the sauna.
6. Find a Wi-Fi area in the airport.
7. Read something interesting.
8. Next day get dressed in something really nice.
9. Try to get into first class!
10. Drink lots of wine!!

UNREAL EXPERIENCE!!!!!!!!!!!

I wanted to do some really bad things last night and today!

And by bad things, I don't mean those nice bad things... but bad things.

I've never been SOOO angry in my whole life before.

Never so outraged!!!

I think I handled myself pretty well in the situation.

I didn't cry, there was no point.

I didn't smoke either... there was no point to that either.

I did drink some red wine though. And ate some chocolate. That made me feel better.

So, what happened you ask?

Well, as you all know, tonight (Friday), I'm supposed to fly out to Romania for 4 weeks to visit family, travel, etc.

So, last night (Thursday), at 9:30pm, I get an email from my travel agent at Zenith Travel.

Here's the email, just so you can see:

********************************

Dear Daniella,

I am awfully sorry that I found that your flight booking to Romania, leaving on Saturday has been cancelled by accident.

I rebooked you on the below flights but now it is very expensive tickets only available and we can't buy the tickets as we don't have that much money. 

MIHALCIUC/DANIELA MS

 1 LH 713W 23JUL  ICN - FRA  1345 - 1825
 2 LH1422W 23JUL  FRA - OTP 2040 - 2355 

 3 LH1657Q 17AUG OTP - MUC 0705 - 0805
 4 LH 718Q 17AUG  MUC - ICN 1210 - 0530

ICN: INCHEON, FRA: FRANKFURT, OTP: BUCHAREST

This is Lufthanza German Airlines.

I was wondering if you could pay W1,500,000 tomorrow then I will buy this tickets and will give you back W1,500,000 later when you return to Korea in August.

If this is possible please send the money tomorrow morning into my bank account, WOORI BANK, 26-080106-13-001,Zenith Travel. 

I would like to apology you for my mistake.

I will definetly give you the money back later.

Sorry for trouble and incovenineces.

Thank you.

Wystan Kang

********************************

Naturally, I freaked out. I wasn't quite sure what just happened. I had already paid in full for my ticket months ago. I had my eticket all printed out and confirmed... everything was OK.

This was my reply:

********************************

ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MY FLIGHT IS TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I ALREADY PAID FOR THIS DAMN TICKET!!!!!!!

AND YOU LET ME KNOW NOW???????

HOW THE HELL IS MY TICKET CANCELLED???????

I DON'T HAVE 1,500,000 WON JUST LYING AROUND SO I CAN GIVE IT TO YOU AGAIN!!!!

WHY THE HELL DID YOU NOT CALL ME EARLIER????

YOU ARE SORRY FOR THE TROUBLE AND INCONVENIENCE????

FIX MY TICKET!!!

I DON'T HAVE THE MONEY TO GIVE YOU RIGHT BEFORE MY VACATION!!!!!!!

YOU ARE A TRAVEL AGENCY!!! HOW CAN YOU MAKE THIS KIND OF MISTAKE??????????????????????????

FIX IT!!!!

********************************

As you can see, I managed to keep myself together pretty well. I swore only a little bit, but the yelling (CAPITALS) was for real.

And that asshole had the nerve to reply in this manner:

********************************

Hello,

I am very sorry aboth this problem happend.

Can you pay by credit card ?

Thank you.

Wystan Kang

********************************

And that was all I heard from him.

Now, remember. This was at 9:30pm, their office was close and he wasn't answering his phone.

I managed to fall asleep around 5am for a couple of hours.

Today was horrible. I had to wait until 9am for their office to open so I could call and talk to someone there.

Finally someone picked up, and naturally they said that the guy I dealt with wasn't there.

They tried to figure out what happened. I still haven't heard back from any of them. I've called them back repeatedly and they kept saying they are trying to figure it out. So, they were making me wait and wait and wait for the asshole dude to fix it.

He did call me at some point during the day and asked if I could pay anything towards the new ticket. I obviously flat out refused and told him in the best teacher is F@#$%^ PISSED voice to fix it.

Around 5:30pm, I called again (I've been calling every 30 minutes), because they haven't botherd to call me at all and keep me informed.

Asshole guy said they got me other ticket and he had to pay 200,000won extra out of his own pocket. He said it with such contempt, like it was my fault.

THE NERVE!!!!!!!!!

Now I'm at an Internet Cafe waiting for that asshole to email me the e-ticket.

I hate hate HATE this!!! They have been messing me around all freaken day!!!

And all I can do is wait.

It's unreal!!

I don't understand how something like this can happen.

No explanation, no service, no communication, no offer to make it up with some free shit. NOTHING!!!

And I've been with this company, buying plane tickets from the same guy for 2 years. FOR REAL!!!????

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Tall Sail Ship --> July 9/10

So, after this trip was rescheduled because of bad weather, it was finally time to go sailing. Well, to be on a sail ship anyways. The weather was still crap. It still rained, but there was no turning back on this adventure. It was a very wonderful experience.

 This was one of the rooms bellow deck. Pretty comfortable. And the rocking motion of the boat helped with sleeping. 

This was the kitchen. 

 Looking out through one of the windows.

 Map below deck.

 In case someone's gone overboard :).

 Nice weather eh?

 It was raining...

 And storming...

 Only safe place is under the tarp.

 We arrived at one of the little islands.

 It was all misty and cloudy.

 Dressed up in rain coats and plastic ponchos.

 So, we got to our docking destination for Saturday evening.

 People were swimming. Jumping off the boat. Brave people!

 Climbing back up.

 Local cuteness!

 He was helping tighten up one of the sails.

 Breakfast or lunch or whatever...

 Finally, a break in the weather.

 The boat was going fast, and it was all rocky.

 Yay!

 I went up to the tip. I think I'm developing a fear of heights/gaps... I was trying to be brave and do one of them dramatic poses.

 Ok, better :)

 Jenna posing.

 Chilalxing.

 3 gorgeous ladies enjoying the afternoon sun.

 The captain steering the boat.

 Harmonica time.

 Some people were even braver and they climbed up to the top observation thingy.

 Really high!!

 Then it started to rain again.

 Everyone ran back down under.

Group shot back on the main land.

Seoul Weekend (Bboy Show) --> July 2/3

So, this is the second weekend that I went to Seoul to hang out with Jenna. The plan for this weekend was to stay in the area and meet up with people that I've known for a while. But, the weather wasn't looking very nice and I didn't want to have a drinking sort of weekend, so I decided to go to Seoul.

Janna got tickets for this World B-boy Championship. I've never really seen people doing this, so I thought it would be a really interesting experience.

At the same place, they also had some graffiti artists and skater merchandise for sale.

 

Then, we went to the competition. We had 20,000won (20$) tickets, but because of a mix up, they gave us really nice 50,000won tickets. The whole experience was totally worth it!

I didn't get many pictures because it was dark and my camera wasn't really made for that environment. But Jenna made a video with some of the things she got with her camera. Here it is: