Korea, Sparkling

So, we had some how figured out that our flight was
the first Atlanta-Seoul non-stop that was branded as a
Delta flight. Had we flown yesterday, it would have
been on a Korean Air jet. I guess when you link
Olympic cities (or as one of the big-wig speakers
pointed out: major economic partners) ou have to throw
a party. Free food, gift bags for every passenger,
Korean dancers, Korean drummers (remarkably similar to
the MHS Drum Line at a pep rally), Delta, Korea
Tourism and Georgia Economic Development dignitaries,
and here are Lisa and I, not even leaving the
Seoul-Incheon airport. The man who interviewed Lisa
for KTN TV was obviously disappointed that we were not
seasoned travellers to Seoul whose lives were to
improve due to this new service. The cameraman was
pleased when I later told him that we were headed to
Bangkok and the look on his face makes me think he may
have enjoyed the "nudge-nudge, wink-wink" sites in
Bangkok.

"Korea, Sparkling" is the newly branded motto of the
Korea Tourism Organisation (www.tour2korea.com). The
intent is to imply "revitalizing energy and freshness"
along with "vital refreshment". The Korean Minister
of Culture and Tourism emphasized that Korea, Koreans
and their culture offer an experience unique from
their Asian neighbors, China and Japan. I think he
started to say something about unification, but
changed direction midstream - all of hte sudden his
English went from stronly accented but grammatically
correct to heavily accented and very broken. Maybe i'm
reading too much into his comment, but I like to think
abou the possible international intrigue.

Good fortune continues here on the flight; the only
empty seat on a 15 hour flight is next to us. Lisa
moved over and now there is a spare seat between us -
how lucky can you get?