Letters from Korea
A few of Jeff's emails from Korea
"It's 7am here and I have not slept since the last night we slept together. Yes, about 36 hours and counting since I slept. I'll tell you more later, but for now I'm stuck in Seoul (Incheon) South Korea.
Love, Jeff
PS cell phone no worky here. Luckily we have free internet for Kalitta crews at the hotel."
"I look like chit! Beard, greasy hair that has not been cleaned since that night you asked me to take a quick shower. Sucky first day, got to my hotel room in PANC and it has been slept in, but with 45 minutes I was like, "what the puck?" Then my roller bag zipper took a dumper; the one that expands the bag for bigger stuff. I just want to forget it.
I had not seen daylight until just a half hour ago as the sun rose here, as we were chasing the night with the 747 for 8.6 hours. I couldn't believe it when I realised it was noon in Dallas and we still had a couple hours left of flying. I have not slept in long time.
I go jump off cliff now to end misery. :-P The beds are small, low, and really hard here. Everything is "gadgety" and automated to save electricity, ie off when not in use.
Good night! I may never see you again at this rate. It was fun while it lasted.
Jeff :-( :-)"
"I woke up about four hours ago, took a bath, took a shower, shaved, then watched a really good movie with Kevin Spacey and that cute little sexy blonde girl from American Dream??? Anyway the movie where she poses with a rose or rose peddels on her tummy. That's her! I don't know if that was the actual movie I watched but it was real good.
You're knocking now,
Jeff"
and excerpts from our IM with Jeff yesterday afternoon.
Jeff (1:26:21 PM): btw... very hard to use computer as much of tool bar commands in Korean. but I guess based on memory of location for things like "copy" and "paste"
Jeff : whatever you want. I'm just a slave to my faded passion of flying.I'm sooooo tired. tried to sleep on plane but couldn't leave my station to do it. Wish I could talk, but email only outlet. I'll fill you in later. Supposed to have 36 or so hours here. Was supposed to continue to Hong Kong, but boy was I glad to hear we were staying here. Soooo tired. Almost told em to shove it when they said I was going right back out from PANC. Literally had 45 minutes from check-in to van time... stupid. and illegal. They said I agreed to do it and so was committed to it. I said NO, they said they'd cancel the whole flight, pull the tapes, and if I was wrong... busted probation boy! I told them it was ridiculous to take advantage of a new hire and that this was unsafe! They bite, I was pissed!!! Now I'm frazzled with sleep deprivation.
Jen : Obviously the captain's at least a little cool, since he thought that was BS
Jeff: He IS cool and the FE is too. but both are old-er and smell like chimneys.
Jeff: that bed must have pretty comfy to sleep for 17 hours. I still can't believe it! I went to sleep at 8am here local and woke up at 1am local
Jen : So are you in a hotel or did you sleep in the plane?
Jeff: No sleep in plane! I have only flown one leg from anc to incheon and have been here for 25 hours
Jen: Sweetheart, I don't care if you're in Asia, you will type correct English with me, damnit!
Jen: So you're in a hotel bed? What's it like?
Jeff: cna't help it, my fingers are shaky
Jeff : and Im so excited to talk to you. I feel so isolated here. but it's so exciting to be in KOREA.!!!
Jen: very funny
Jeff : wish i could talk on phone, cause sooo much to say
Jen: So start typing!! You still haven't told me about the hotel you're at.
Jeff: just finished reading your email about making a gmail for me and talking to mom and bob. ty
Jen: yw
Jeff: shelly wrote me too
Jen : I figured, since you obviously wrote her
Jeff : well one thing that is funny...
Jeff: The cockpit is no bigger than a 717's, so after 8 hours it's easy to forget how much plane is behind me. but after landing we were taxiing into the cargo ramp.. at night, the lights hit us from the captain's side and as I looked out my side I saw... a HUGE shadow from us
Jeff : I said "damn that is a big ass airplane"
Jeff : this airport is 4 years old built on an island, possibly man-made
Jeff : we stay on the island in the best western hotel. very fancy place for best western
Jeff: the capt and fe were bummed we weren't going onto hong kong cause here we can't go to town being stuck on the island.
Jen: A Best Western?! How ironic
Jeff: yea
Jen : There isn't a bridge or something to take a cab?
Jeff : they so smart here, everything... cars, fixtures, electronics all made in korea not like USA where nothing made in our country.
Jeff: yes connected by bridges but not as easy as staying in hong kong apparently where we stay in the middle of the action. here we are stuck. but I sure didn't care. at the time I was litterally about dead from sleep deprivation. sooo happy when told that's it, go to hotel.
Jen : Right now... can you go look around?Or take a cab off the island?
Jeff: I still don't care cause sleep was #1 thing
Jeff: yes
Jeff: but it's 4 am
Jen: Now's the perfect time!
Jen: So you left the hotel to come to the airport & use the computer?
Jeff: yep, but without money, it's hard and not a wise thing to do.
Jeff: No. sorry. the crew lounge is IN the hotel. I'm on 3rd floor. room 310. the crew lounge is on 3rdfloor too just down the hall.
Jeff: the hardest part about my first trip???
Jeff: communicating with russians and north koreans. YES we flew through both airspaces to get here.
Jeff: on the jepp charts for incheon... a note saying " do not enter restricted airspace just north of Incheon otherwise you will receive one warning flare signal, next you will be shot down." crazy huh?
Jen: Mary asked about that last night, how you can communicate, and Brent answered for me (and was so proud of himself!) that everyone speaks in English
Jeff: I don't think i'll be ready for captain soon.
Jen: You'll get used to it in no time
Jeff: that's true. but english just barely enough to do their job. not able to communicate in english.
Jen: Yeah, I know. That's what's so funny about you having problems
Jeff: and the accents... oh mh god. so rough to understand
Jeff: especially on HF high-freq radio. my first time to use HF. like talking in a tin can with squeal noise. have to use HF when too far from land to use normal VHF radio like you n I are used to
Jeff: flew for 8.6; slept for 17 yes
Jeff: capt told me no duty time limit for intl flights, but limited to 18 as per contract and that they took advantage of me in doing that.
Jeff: also limited to 12 hours flight in 24 hour period, but I exceeded that too when adding the comm. flying to actual flying
Jeff: capt is 56 fe > 60
Jen: experience
Jeff: first off, remember I was not in a social mood as so sleepy
Jeff (1:57:14 PM): capt been here long time and f/e recalled recently. been here long time too. all i know
Jen: families? How do they handle the schedule?
Jeff : they both have family, but they are older guys jen. kids grown up and gone.
Jen: But still, how do they handle it with wives? And when the kids were younger
Jeff: schedule, i don't know. they bitched a bit. but I didn't care. they were not overdoing it though. seemed to have good attitudes. proffessional too
Jen: Great!
Jeff (2:00:18 PM): f/e seems to keep in touch all the time. capt says he does not call wife from here, but calls when back in anc, their home. but he has laptop and emails her
Jen: How will the company contact you about your next flight?
Jeff: i DID ask that. capt said "no, don't you worry about that, I am the capt and will be the one to communicate with company, then relay info to the crew." I said, "Aweso\me!"
Jen: How does the fe call home?
Jeff: he said one can buy a calling card NOT in usa but here or maybe in Hong Kong for VERY cheap like $5 for 100 minutes and that's what he does.
Jen: Well go out and find one!!!
Jen: Do all regular hotels have crew lounges with free internet?
Jeff: no, it depends on the hotels
Jeff: I long to come here sometime with you and see the area and learn about the culture. seems so exotic.
Jen: !! I'd love to. Tell me more. What are the people like?
Jeff: still can't believe i'm here.
Jeff: well the capt told me as we taxied in that this place is first class. the ramp crew are professional, stand at attention, salute us, etc. and within 2 minutes of block-in to expect a swarm of people inside the plane/cockpit cleaning. sure enough it was so cute.
Jeff: with white gloves on too
Jen: wow! So now we know who cleans
Jeff: cute. but i was so busy putting stuff away so as to get to the hotel.
Jeff: we had a "leader" local guy who managed the crew and stayed with us, took us through customs, escorted us out of the terminal to the shuttle bus. he was so friendly. and I just wanted to talk with him but observed instead.
Jen: He spoke good English?
Jeff : capt knew and liked him.
Jeff: pretty good yes.
Jen: Does it just look like any nice western hotel?
Jeff: well it's very fancy, with professional, courteous workers.
Jeff: no It's super futuristic.
Jeff: key card used to open door, but then u must put it in the wall inside the room for all electricity to "flow"
Jeff: also "do not disturb" sign is not a paper/plastic sign. but an electric switch which must turn on a symbol outside the door.
Jeff : can't see it though because when I take my room key out of wall, everything turns off and when I open door "do not disturb" goes off.
Jeff : Samsung products everywhere, Kia and Hyundai everywhere too.
Jeff: but I did find a GE telephone in the bathroom, but I doubt it's made in USA
Jeff: Self sustained country possibly? smart, unlike our Bush-loving people. I heard on intl news that usa dollar so weak that Japan and Europe considering self protecting measures.
Jeff: the entire hotel is energy smart like that I described above
Jeff: Well I get the "real" news here
Jeff: CNN too but not USA CNN
Jeff: also the bath tub soooo small
Jen: Are Koreans that much smaller?
Jeff: and no over flow drain, sink same way. I then realized that the floor is tile and has a big drain
Jen: Does the tub have a shower?
Jeff: I thought tub small for Korean size people, but then as it filled up so fast I thought maybe for water savings.
Jeff: yes tub/shower but with removable shower head
Jeff: good point until I turned on the shower head, it blew so hard I could barely hold it. must waste sooo much water
Jeff: Also the airport has those escalators that start automatically when u approach them to save power and wear.
Jeff: honestly, I haven't started even thinking until a couple hours ago. I've been brain dead. right now it's so hard to imagine anything, since I'm so far away from home
Jen: I know.
Jeff: and not knowing when I'll get home.
Jen: Even worse
Jeff: but it is tho cute! I love Koreans. they so nice
Jeff: young girl, waitress, asked me if I wanted "coffee or D?" and I said "what's D?"
Jeff: She said "no, TEAAA" I felt dupid
Jen: You'll learn
Jeff: I forgot about my UAL flight. Hjorrible
Jeff: a white trash GIRL with two babies came straggling on late. apparently we were held for them.
Jeff: I'm in row 25 of 26 rows total
Jeff: she comes back and said those are our seats.
Jeff: me and a guy sitting with empty seat between us
Jeff: flight attendants question me and the guy, " are you in your assigned seats?"
Jeff: f-u is what i felt like saying.
Jeff: I didn't say a word, but got up, opened the overhead, slowly went through bag, found ticket stub, and handed it to her, saying, " I'm in the correct seat, aren't I?"
Jen: AND?
Jeff: well now the truth comes out in hearing the pax say that the gate agent told her just to go to row 25 and look around.
Jeff: so gate agent pawned it off on us and the FA's
Jeff: jerk
Jeff: FA tells me and others in area with empty middle seats to scoot over which I did; after contemplating whether I should say NO, IM NOT GIVING UP MY AISLE SEAT
Jen: THAT you should have done!!!!! You're a tall male, for cyring out loud!
Jeff: but scoot i did, then pax says I can't do this my little girl will cry if I don't sit next to her.
Jen: I can't believe she would tell you to scoot. That's RIDICULOUS!!!
Jeff: and the other baby was a "real" baby with baby seat. FA said baby seat must go in window seat only.
Jeff: Now I'm thinking cool I'll get my aisle seat back
Jeff: Second FA comes back saying that she can put two guys from row 26 (behind me) into exit row middle seats, allowing entire row 26 ABC for pax and kid/baby.
Jeff: Just then a man in 24D says he will sit in my aisle seat, his wife (in 24E middleseat)will sit in 25D, and the guy (who was in bathroom) from 24F window could sit up in exit row; thereby allowing entire 24 row DEF for pax baby/kid.
Jeff: I was pissed.
Jeff: FA's jumped all over it.
Jeff: done in seconds too
Jen: Goddamnit!
Jeff: I guess I'm too passive?
Jen: You're going to have to learn what it means to be a paying passenger. If you don't want to give up your seat, don't!
Jeff: But NOBODY was arguing at any point along the way and I didn't want to be the ONLY one, and we were 20 minutes late
Jen: The man's wife, already in a middle seat, should have been the one to sit in the middle seat, NOT you! This is pissing me off.
Jeff: Then guy comes out of bathroom and quietly loses his window seat for an exit row middle
Jeff: yea I was steamed. but then we were moving.
Jeff: I felt bad for myself and the original guy next to me
Jeff: but that's not it...
Jeff: I hogged leg room (what little there was) and the arm rest on side of bad man. His reading light kept going on/off as we taxiied out, bugging him. cause he was trying to read.
Jeff: I had to put it behind me. in order to get on with life
Jen: Yeah, I know. I was just going to say this much frustration isn't healthy
Jeff: then at cruise, I ate my McDonald's as drinks were being served
Jeff: FA came to us and leaned over bad man to me and said, "I'm sorry, I just realised that you got SCREWED out of your aisle seat, can I offer you a free drink on the house?"
Jen: Did she really say, "screwed?"
Jeff (: I said your right I did
Jeff yes
Jeff: that man was obnoxsious
Jeff: he thought he was so cultured/rich or something
Jeff: kept talking alloud to his wife about fancy, expensive items; what a schmuck. why weren't they in first then?
Jeff: trust me I learned a lesson
Jeff: before this I thought the FA's could boot you our of your seat to accomodate others special needs
Jeff: as a pilot I heard lots of stories like this from our fa's
Jeff: but next time I'll know
Jeff: I think this is how I learn. by trial and error
Jeff: a famous President once said...
Jeff: "fool me once, shame on you..fool me again.... well just don't get fooled."
Jeff: can't wait to come home
Jeff: oh btw...I flew a newer -200 model with the updated cockpit. pretty nice
Jen: But you know, if you stay out the full 17 days, you will most likely be off for Christmas!
Jeff : not necessarilly. f/e said when he did ioe, then they tried to tell him he had to stay out to begin a "real" trip. he was a recall though and told them off. or at least that is what he said.
Jen: at least you're limited by FAA & contract restrictions
Jeff: sort of. we can fly 120 or 130 hours in month/30 days
Jen: Even if most of the flying you do is international, the second you enter US airspace everything applies
Jen: You can still tell them off
Jeff: yea but I have to know my rights to tell them off
Jen: Keep asking the captain for help