Travel to New York City & Korea
I got a call from a friend of mine asking
me to go with a dance company to Korea. The company is
"Les Ballets Grandiva". It's a comedy ballet company made up
entirely of male dancers. The guys do the male and female parts.
It's amazing to watch because it's very hard to believe sometimes
that they aren't women. The show is very funny. The founder and
director of the company, Victor Trevino, is a former student of
my mother's at Ballet Florida, so we've known each other for
many years.
The trip began in New York City so that Victor and I could
meet and get prepared for our trip overseas.
A good friend lucked into a hotel room which I could use for
all but one of my days in New York. I had to pay an exorbitant
fee to keep the room one extra day, but at least I didn't have
to pay for the ones before. I got a chance to visit with some
good friends and to renew some acquaintances with some old friends
I hadn't seen in many years, which was great.
It was springtime in New York and the weather was spectacular.
I'm told it was the first weekend of the year with really spring
weather. It was a glorious weekend with warm, sunny days and
lovely cool nights.
Central Park was covered with daffodils and trees bursting out
with their springtime buds. It was truly a perfect time to be in
the city. I was very reluctant to have to leave so soon.
The day of the departure got off to a bit of a frantic start.
One of the dancers had forgotten to pick up his point shoes, so
on my way out of town, after picking up two other dancers, we ended
up making a detour to Capezio's to pick up his shoes and then make
a mad dash to JFK airport. We had about 30 large cases of scenery
and costumes that also had to make it on the plane, half of which
went to Korea and the other half went on to Japan for the second
part of their tour. It was all quite an ordeal. But Japan Air Lines
is a lovely and very helpful airline and they assisted us to get
everything weighed and on the plane. Two of the dancers were late
arriving, but they finally made it.
The plane was very comfortable as well, which is a good thing
since we were to be on it for 14 hours. There were video screens
on the backs of every seat which offered many movie selections,
TV, audio and a large variety of games. The food they served was
very interesting, but good. It was a mix of american-type foods
as well as Japanese. I have to say that the Japanese food was much
better than the American. There was a kind of cold salad made up
of some Japanese vegetables. There was an interesting mushroom,
as well as lotus root and several other things I didn't know, but
they were all delicious.
It could not have been a more beautiful day for flying.
Our flight path took us across Lake Ontario, all of the main provinces
of Canada, and across Alaska. In addition to the video channel
which shows the maps of where we are at any time, there is also
a channel which shows a live camera of what we're flying over.
It wasn't too long before we began to see ice in the lakes and rivers,
and not much longer before there was snow and ice everywhere.
The landscape was exquisite. There was hardly a single cloud
all across Canada. The Canadian Rockies were amazing.
We also flew right across the middle of Alaska which was exquisite.
We flew directly over Fairbanks, but I could only see it on the video
monitor and not through my window because we were directly over it.
There were some larger rivers across Alaska and the patterns in my camera
exactly match the Google maps.
I was never able to sleep because I was glued to the window.
I loved looking at all of the beautiful countryside across Canada.
I don't think my seat neighbors were too happy with me because my
window shade and the guy's behind me were the only two windows on
the plane that weren't closed, but it was so amazing that I couldn't
take my eyes off of it. I noticed that the other guy was taking
some photographs as well.
Once we got over the Bering Sea the sky became cloudy and there
was nothing more to see. I finally got to doze off for a couple of
hours. By the time we reached Tokyo it was late afternoon on a very
cloudy day so I couldn't take any photos from the airplane. When
I got on the plane from Tokyo to Seoul I was very tired and slept
the entire trip. I didn't wake up until the wheels touched the
ground.
The hotel in Seoul is beautiful. It's amazingly high-tech.
I can talk via a video phone to the front desk or to anyone at
my front door. I have a full kitchen with stove, refrigerator/freezer,
dishwasher, washer/dryer. I have a digital television with a DVD
and full surround-sound.
In fact, South Korea is very high-tech.
Here's an interesting kit. In case of emergencies, there is a
rapelling device in my room. There is a whole kit in the window
which includes a tool to break the window if necessary, 1/4" aircraft
cable, a descender, and a rapelling harness. There is an eyebolt
in the window frame to attach the descender to. And some instructions
in Korean.
I don't know if this is in case of earthquake, or fire, or what.
Maybe all of the above. Very interesting. I'd love to set up the
equipment and just try it out. It would be great fun, but I don't
think the hotel would appreciate it very much.
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