The Final Day

I woke up early to finish packing and get my last things in order. I checked out at 7:00 AM and caught the first bus to the airport. On the bus I did my dailies, and the New York Times even gave a little nod in Wordle to me heading home.

I grabbed some breakfast at the airport and tried to buy a few more souvenirs to get rid of my extra cash, but nothing really spoke to me.

My first flight was back to Incheon, about four hours. The time flew by as I worked on my blog and sorted through all my photos.

Wasting Time at Incheon

It felt strange landing at Incheon for the third time in three months. Everything looked so familiar. I made my way through customs without any issues. It was 15:00 when I arrived at Terminal 1, and my final flight wouldn’t leave until 23:00, so I had plenty of time to kill.

I was craving fresh gimbap, so I found a restaurant serving it and dug in.

After that, I collected my bags from storage and looked for a place to sit down and get some work done. The best spot I found was in a food court, so I ordered more food and settled in. Right after deploying my final changes, a server came over and politely asked me to leave because I’d overstayed my time. So I packed up, grabbed my cart, and went searching again.

After about 30 minutes of scouting, I couldn’t find anywhere better, so I chose another table out of the server’s line of sight, ordered more food, and spent my last hour watching videos.

Catching My Flight

By this time, I expected my flight to show up on the departure board so I could check in, but it still wasn’t listed. I asked at the information desk, and the woman told me my plane was departing from Terminal 2 — not Terminal 1. I had to take a shuttle bus to the other terminal, which took almost 30 minutes.

When I finally reached the check-in desk, the attendants were rushing me to get my things in order. I had waited around all afternoon, and suddenly I was supposed to sprint.

Before boarding, I managed to grab some last-minute souvenirs at Duty Free just before they closed. After that, I went to my gate. Naturally, the plane was delayed because the bus carrying the captain and crew was stuck due to snow. Go figure.

Mi-Ke Fly Home

The flight back was fine. Leaving so late was perfect, because I was exhausted and slept through most of it. I kept waking up excitedly to check how much time was left, only to see the number shrink by 30 minutes each time.

To pass the time, I watched a few movies, listened to some podcasts, and enjoyed the airplane food.

A Nice Landing

Most passengers landing at Schiphol were transferring to other flights, which meant customs was empty and peaceful. I grabbed my bags from the belt, walked through the doors at 5:00 AM — and saw my parents waiting to welcome me home! It felt fitting, since they were the ones who sent me off 70 days earlier.

We had breakfast together, talked about the trip, and they brought me home. It was such a lovely way to return.

This trip has been a great experience. I’ve achieved so many things, reached so many goals, and learned a lot about myself. Some might look at it as just a long vacation, but to me it was so much more.

I’ll cherish these memories for the rest of my life — all documented here in this blog.

Thank you so much for reading, and for all the kind messages. Knowing that so many people followed along and cheered me on made this journey a whole lot less lonely!