Today has been a very long day. Both literally and figuratively. By the clock there will be 40 hours between Midnight on Friday in Seoul and Saturday at home in California. As I write this it has been Saturday for more than 39 hours.

In my post yesterday, Mixed-Up Saturday Schedule, I detailed my schedule for the long day. With the exception of a two hour flight delay caused by crew availability, it went pretty much as planned.

I had planned on taking on walk this morning in Seoul, but the rain kept me inside the hotel.

I had planned on taking a walk along a nearby stream and taking pictures of the spring color that is starting to appear in Seoul. I did get a couple pictures while waiting for the Limousine Bus. Over the last two weeks I have watched the bushes and trees in Seoul bloom into a beautiful riot of color.

The ride to the airport on the Limousine Bus took a little more than an hour and for less than ten dollars. A bit less than an equivalent ride on BART once I got back to California and in much better comfort.

Here was a common sight as we made our way through the city toward the highway to Incheon. There were people everywhere walking with umbrellas. It was fun to watch them navigate past each other as they were going different directions, or to watch them fold up the umbrellas to get on a bus or enter a shop. Also the broad array of types and colors of umbrellas was interesting. Unfortunately, I was not able to get the pictures I wanted for a variety of reasons. Most obvious was other traffic getting in the way of shots I wanted to take, plus the dirty bus windows. I gave up after a few tries and just enjoyed the view. You can’t live behind your camera lens.

It was a dreary day outside at the airport, but nice and dry inside. I had a good lunch and patiently waited for my flight. I took a few pictures of the planes parked at the terminal across the tarmac. Can you tell that I was in South Korea? The Korean Airline planes are very distinctive. There is an interesting story behind their choice of logo that I heard from one of the flight attendants. I may share it someday if I can corroborate the story.

I took a picture of the plane that I flew home on . Even though it is not a good picture with the dirty windows and streaking rain, it captures the mood of the day.

You can imagine how turbulent the flight was on the way home, since it had been raining all day and the storm systems usually move from west to east. The seat belt sign was on for a large portion of the flight and also the flight attendants were asked to take their seats several times. However, it was a good flight as I had an empty seat next to me and was able to get some rest.

After landing, it was business as usual to get home from the airport with the exception of about a 20 minute BART delay because of track maintenance.

When I turned into my drive at home the first thing that I noticed were my rose bushes full of blooms. I planned on taking a picture, but fell asleep on the couch watching basketball games and didn’t wake up until dark. Now to make sure that I don’t stay up too late. I have got a few things done though. I have finished two loads of laundry and the third is almost ready to go in the dryer. A good jump on getting caught up.

Now to get started on those taxes. I still have nine days :-).

Steven