The following is a true story.

Well, let’s start with the plane flight.

Getting to the plane itself was a bit of an adventure. I was busy moving out and in the midst of packing I lost my ARC (Alien registration card [you know, the card that they give you when you land here from Mars)]. So instead of going straight to Seoul I had to hustle on the packing get my crap over to the new place as quickly as possible then scoot over Chuncheon to buy a new ARC.

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of turning all my cash into Euros three days before I could afford to, so I had to borrow money from my dear friend Patrick (whose now my corporate sponsor in Korea.)

So I hustle up to Chuncheon only to discover that even after borrowing money I was still a few bucks short for the ARC and re-entry visa. At the Government buildings here they don’t take credit cards. ONLY cash. (checks have been obsolete here for a good 2,000 years [I actually don’t think you were ever able to write a check here, but I digress])