Do YOU have what it takes???

Ever thought about being a flight attendant yourself?

Hmmmmm.....

Memories of Australia (Part 1)

There are times when I just can't put into words how I feel when something I experience seems overloaded. Such was my first trip to Australia.

I know the Aussie's may find it just normal and nothing out of the ordinary (perhaps how I feel about the Rocky Mountains that surround me). But I'm really struggling to say anything witty or amuzing. So I'll just share some of my visual highlights over the next several days, and then I may have a few things of interest to share with you all.

Until then, please enjoy!

Uhh...Kansas, this ain't!!!

I could have said that a tornado picked up my house and carried me all the way to the other side of the world, but I'm not L. Frank Baum and this isn't the land of Oz.

Oh wait...yes it IS!!!

Somebody pinch me already!

So here I am in "The Harbour City" and the view from where I sit is nothing short of breathtaking. This truly is a dream come true for me. I have always wanted to touch my feet on the "Land Down Undah!" and that dream has become a reality.

Now I know that I whine and complain about my job from time to time, but it is times like this that I really can put that all behind me and say, "Man, Am I glad I made the choice to work at the airlines!"

I've only been here six hours and I can tell you straight away that I LOVE LOVE LOVE this city! It's clean, it has great architecture, and there is so much to see and do here. There is really something for everyone here. And talk about innovative.

One of the first things that I discovered here in Sydney is that they have taken almost all their "back alley ways" and converted them into walking malls and shops. This picture here is of The Strand:




I'm sure this picture doesn’t do it much justice, but that's a 3-story indoor-outdoor walking mall, with tiny boutiques all up and down the corridor and smart little cafes all along the ground floor, with seating in the center promenade.

The other thing I have noticed so far is that it is TRUE what they say about Aussies being a friendly bunch. I'm sure they can be a bit brash if the situation warranted it, but they really do greet you and it seems truly genuine.

I know that I will miss this place already when I have to leave on Wednesday, but for now, I will just say "G'Day" and bring you along for the ride!

Cheers!!!

There's a Hole in My Seoul...

After doing my job for well over 10 years, I have learned that the only person I can count on is myself when it comes to making plans. I've blogged about integrity before and I suppose I might just do it again.

Integrity seems to be becoming a rare commodity. It's not just a matter of being true to yourself, but to other people as well. It means taking ownership of your verbal commitments as well as the ones you put in writing. It means following through -- doing what you say you will do, or else being man or woman enough to bow out gracefully when you cannot.

When I got my trip trade that took me halfway around the world to Seoul this four days, I had hoped to do a lot more siteseeing while I was there. While I'm not afraid to go it alone, it's always so much more fun when you can do it with others and share in the experience.

When I embarked on my journey, I asked all my crewmates if they were interested in seeing the city with me, to which several expressed high interest. After we arrived in So. Korea, I reaffirmed our plans and everyone was excited to go.

Sadly, I spend much of the next day waiting on these folks, while they got ready, made detours and changed the itinerary for the day. By the time the day ended, almost no siteseeing was done and very little of the city was experienced.

I really only have myself to blame. Like I said earlier, I have learned that I can only rely on myself when it comes to these types of activities -- which saddens me because it didn't always used to be that way. You really could take stock in people's words and commitments to you. I suppose I have my parents to thank for instilling that kind of integrity in me and during the return flight home, I avowed that I would simply take the lead in my efforts to see parts of the world that I might otherwise never see.

I have provided a small slide show below to share some of the pictures I did get taken while I was there. I'm too jet-lagged to elaborate on much else tonight! Cheers!

..

Heart and Seoul...

Greetings from South Korea (land of Hawkeye and Honeycutt and Hot-lips Houlihan)!

I was so stunned when I saw that my trip trade request was awarded and before I knew it, I was jetting off to Southeast Asia. Twelve hours later, it's dusk in the world's SIXTH most populace city. The only city larger than this that I have ever visited is Sao Paulo, Brazil, and I loved that city. I think I'm going to love this city too.

As we travelled by bus from Incheon International Airport to our hotel in the heart of the city (it took roughly 70 minutes with very little traffic jams) the lights everywhere were amazing. I tried to take pictures of it but my didgital camera doesn't take moving pics very well. I suppose if I ever do this again, I will put it on video...I'd have better luck with it then.

Since I didn't really know much about the country, I thought I'd share with you some interesting facts that I got from an information brochure I got here:

• The country is approximately 70% mountains of granite and limestone (not dissimilar to Utah) making it one of the most mountainous regions in the world.
  
• The So. Korean flag has some unique characteristics. The yin-yang circle, divided equally into a blue portion below and a red portion above, represents the dual cosmic forces of yin (blue) and yang (red). It symbolizes universal harmony, in which the passive and the active, the feminine and the masculine, form the whole. The four trigrams of Geon, Gon, Gam, and Li, which surround the yin-yang circle, denote the process of yin and yang going through a series of changes and growth. Geon, with three solid bars in the upper left-hand corner, denotes "heaven". Gon, with three evenly divided bars in the lower right-hand corner, denotes "earth". Gam, with one evenly divided bar on each side of one solid bar in the upper right-hand corner, denotes "water". And Li, with one solid bar on each side of one evenly divided bar in the lower left-hand corner, denotes"fire".
  
• The national flower of South Korea is the Rose of Sharon -- I have four of these in my garden!
  
• Wednesday, October 3, 2007 is one of the biggest national holidays in Korea: National Foundation Day, in celebration of the founding of the Korean nation in 2333 BC. Festivities begin tonight...I will let you know if I see anything fun and exciting. There are So. Korean flags everywhere in the city in commemoration of the event.
  
• A quirky little thing I noticed as we drove into the city: If you are ever in need of a Christian Church, you only need look for a red neon cross...they adorn every church here in Korea!
  
• The archetecture here is amazing...some really unique structures here...again, I hope to capture some in my photo journal for you to enjoy.
  
• Along with the archetecture is their unique use of lighting on their buildings and bridges. So far, I'm very impressed.
  
• Along our route into the city, I took notice that almost every car was equipped with video screens mounted on the dashboard of the car, some pointed directly at the driver. I don't know if they are catching up on the news or tracking their position via GPS, but I thought that was unusual. Also, I only saw 5 makes of cars on the road: the most was Hyundai (probably 85% of the cars), followed by Mercedes, BMW, Kia and Daewoo. The bus we rode in on was a full-sized bus, like one of our Greyhounds only much mor plush and comfortable--and manufacured by Kia! And I thought they only made micro mini cars!

I will be reporting back more stuff as I get out and about in the city today. We are 15 hours ahead of Mountain Daylight Time (it's currently 7:30 a.m. on Tues. Oct. 2nd here). In the meantime, here's a pic of the view outside my hotel room window this morning before dawn.

Catch up with you soon! Cheers!