My Little Visit to North Korea

In early 2015, I was planning a journey for work to the Philippines.  I am ignorant when it comes to geography and history, but I did at least find out where the Philippines was on a map before I went there.  (I had not studied a map before going to India and was there a few days before I realized exactly where I was in relation to other countries.) 

Someone recommended that I fly Korean Airlines and that I order the Bimbimbap as one of my meals.  As I boarded the flight, almost twice as tall as everyone else on the plane, I looked forward to my new adventure!  I knew where I was going on the map, I knew my layover was in South Korea, and I knew what I was going to eat on the plane!  When the flight attendant first came around to ask what meal I would like, I happily said I would like the Bimbimbap.  I guess she could tell I was not Korean, because she gave me a sheet as big as a large restaurant menu that was an instruction manual to assemble my meal. 

My layover on the way to the Philippines was only about an hour and a half, so there was no way I could take my little trip to North Korea during that layover, but on the way back, it was almost 5 hours, AND it was early in the morning, when it was still dark outside.  Maybe I would be able to get away with it!  I realized my huge hot pink, hard-shelled, roller suitcase and my gigantic hot pink backpack might have weighed me down a little, so I devised a plan to leave those in the taxi while I just took my camera with me, which would allow me to make a quick getaway if needed.   

Needless to say, because I am not imprisoned and being starved to death, I didn't go to North Korea.  But not because I was scared; because my mom was HORRIFIED at the thought of me being imprisoned in North Korea when I had first mentioned it to her, and she was in the hospital at the time, so I wanted to be able to see her as soon as I got back.  Well, that and the fact that I had run out of my narcolepsy medicine and I was tired.  Instead of visiting North Korea and possibly being imprisoned and coming home bone skinny, I took a nap on a bench wearing my sleeping mask, cuddled with my luggage so no one could steal it, then came back to the United States.  (Luggage is not the best cuddle buddy, by the way.) 

The Philippines was cool…except that I didn’t get to go to North Korea during my layover.  I guess I’ll have to stick to diet and exercise.  Ugh.