My Journey to South Korea

My last night in England

On my last night in England, I had a microwave curry and spent most of the evening alone. I distinctly remember thinking to myself that it was a bit of a rubbish last night to have, but that I better get used to it, because soon I would be doing life by myself every night anyway. Eventually my dad comes home and has a very fatherly rant about the weight of my case, empties it all out and goes off to find me another bag to use for my carry on luggage. That night I stay in my little sisters bed with her, I lay there feeling wired and anxious, sleep for about 2 hours and then it’s time to go. 

It’s a bright summer morning, my dad and sister do a very British goodbye of stifling back tears and wave me off at the airport, all of us reassured that ‘it’s only a year and a year goes by so fast’. No idea that the next time I would be able to come home wouldn’t be for another 3 years, and how much the world would have changed. 

My first stop; Moscow, Russia

Inside Moscow airport I saw a lot of Putin memorabilia, even little Russian dolls with Putin’s face on them. However, I didn’t look around for long, as inside my bag I had a letter from a friend, the envelope said ‘to open at the airport/ on the plane’. Well, it’s a good job I decided to open it at the airport. It was a beautiful letter my friend had written me, with words of encouragement for my journey ahead, including photographs of fun times together. I don’t know what emotion hit me in that moment, but whatever it was, I started sobbing uncontrollably in the middle of Moscow airport. People were looking at me very strangely, so I had to take myself to a bathroom stall to cry privately and collect myself. 

Next stop; South Korea

And just like that, I was in South Korea.