Welcome back my friends to the return of Madsen Creations the Travel Blog!
Sorry it's been awhile, but I've been saving my pennies so I could take the adventure of a lifetime to South Korea!
I know it's a little bit crazy! Even for me, but when you want something you want something and I really wanted to see South Korea for myself. So here I am typing away, in foreign country no less.
Let's start with the journey to... My mother and niece were so kind to get up at 5am to drive me to the airport, I flew out of Sacramento for where I did take pictures but said pictures are on my mom's phone and I forgot to ask for them lol. I'll try to get them to post. I flew from Sac to San Francisco in what was the smallest plane I've ever seen, the guy seated next to me, his head touched the top of the craft. Crazy!!!! It was really hard for me to not doze of as every time I enter a winged vehicle my instinct is to go to sleep. But I knew I had to hold out of the the next flight, the much longer international one.
My lay over in the bay went quickly, I got a call from my Tia, then spent the rest of my free time talking to my sister on the phone. My brother upgraded me to Premium Business Class so I had a really sweet seat. Pillow, blanket, slipper, eye mask, toothbrush, lotion, Chapstick, and socks. I think that's everything. Anyways, definitely the longest flight I've ever taken. So long in fact that I watched several movies. All of which I will quickly review for you here.
Okay, so as someone who LOVES this book I have to say this version did nothing for me. In fact it was horribly boring and I may have fallen asleep through part of it. I mean the actual book itself is split into three parts, so breaking it up into three movies works for me, but there was just no energy or life in this film. Paul Atraides was a melancholy emo kid, who really only came to life in his scenes with Duncan Idaho (Jason Mamoa was perfect in this role btw, no complaints there.) Jessica whos supposed to be this badass Bene Gesserit spent the whole time crying, about what Idk but every one of her scenes, boring. Gurney is also supposed to be some famed warrior, that actor was also dead for the most part. I did like Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto but really, how did this man's genes ever create Timothe'e Chalamet I certainly do not know. The Sardukar warriors were pretty cool though. The lighting beautiful and really the only good thing going on here. Overall I give this one a pass.
Movie 2, Encanto, I know y'all are stoked on this one but I have no idea why. First of all, with all this talk of miracles I noticed a distinct lack of praying, or any religious practices, or mentions beyond the town church. Which is weird to me as 70% of Columbians still consider themselves Catholics. I also really disliked the portrayal of Uncle Bruno as a man who lives in he walls, and shares a toothbrush with a rat. Also rubbed me the wrong way. The music is exactly what you would expect from Lin Manuel MIranda. I get this movie was supposed to be about family, and Abuela is the villian adjacent, But if she really did chase away members with useles powers who didn't benefit the family, what is the shape shifter and girl who can hear things far away still doing there. They don't do anything to benefit the family or the village. While I'm pondering this, how does growing flower benefit the family and the village, its not like they're selling them. Really the only useful powers on display here it the healer and strong sister. The weather girl is too emotional, she probably destroys the village once a week on her own.
Movie 3, Ghostbusters Afterlife, take notes you Hollywood Big Wigs, this is how you re-launch a franchise.
Granted at its core it's just a rehashed version of the original script, modernized for the current audience with splashes of fun cameos. But it's done so well you don't care, and all the boxes are marked! Why Spengler abandoned his family and friends, the special connection he has with his granddaughter. I was minorly annoyed by Paul Rudd's creepy teacher, but I'll let it slide as it makes sense from a story telling perspective. All in all great movie highly recommend.
Okay so now the fight has landed and I have to navigate my way through Customs. Honestly is was pretty quick, Korean Pali pali culture so I'm told. There are signs everywhere, mostly in Korean, English, and Chinese. First I handed all my documents which they verified, then I had to go to a separate room because I don't have vaccination pass. There I was interviewed and had to sign some documents saying I agreed to quarantine, and at my own expense (documents were in engish).
I then received a red badge to wear around my neck, I was able to grab my checked bag, and then was sat in a roped off area. My quarantine officially began. I sat for a long time before being moved to another quarantine area. Here we were separated yellow and red badges, I don't know what the yellow was for. The lady in front of me had be detained by the government for having failed her PCR test. She'd come for her son's wedding and was on her way home when the police pulled her from the plane. She was waiting for her son and daughter-in-law to pick her up so she could quarantine with them, but she did not want to. Apparently they'd had gotten into an argument recently. She went around telling this story to anyone who'd listen. When they came for her she got in a big fight with the police about the quarantine thing. I'm not sure what happened to her after that.
Our bus came and took us to the hotel where we checked in. It wasn't like normal check in, you fill out a medical questionnaire, pay the money, receive a PCR test, dinner, and a room key. Thus began my quarantine.