I flew to Europe 30 years ago, so I had forgotten what you have to endure on a long-distance flight. Kansas City to San Francisco is a cinch, but the 12 hours to Seoul is a struggle to remain sane. For starters, the headphone jack at my seat didn’t work so I was forced to watch 5 movies with no audio content. That wasn’t so bad for Avengers: Age of Ultron, since its mostly crash, bam and boom, but missing out on the dialog to the SpongeBob movie: Sponge Out of Water really hurt.

When a film wasn’t showing on our cabin monitor, a small image of our plane was tracked by GPS as it slowly moved across the route. For most of our flight over the Pacific the plane looked stalled. Even without audio I could tell that movie was going nowhere.

As for the plane itself it’s big and long with rows of 10 people across. It’s cramped in economy. My ticket says it’s an hour shorter flight on my return. That must mean I’m sitting in the front of the plane where I’ll arrive sooner than the tail section.

You had to feel sorry for the U.S. Women’s basketball team who were on our flight as well. They were also in economy but even further back then I was.

We eventually landed, negotiated Seoul’s huge and modern airport and found a University Games shuttle for another 4 hour drive to Gwangju. It was around 28 hours of total travel time from Lawrence.

Our hotel – Firenze Tourist Hotel is very nice with many modern conveniences, including a toilet that has more options than Starbucks has coffee shops. The heated seat is nice though.

Firenze Tourist Hotel at right.

I think things will smooth out. I just wish I could tell which one of these menu items is the vegetarian combo?

Menu from the Afro Japanese Food Cafe, Gwangju, Korea.

Today reporter Bobby Nightengale and I took a taxi to check out the gym where KU will be playing their first of four games July 4 against Turkey. Small, intimate place. No air-conditioning was on in the gym for our visit. Lets hope for some a/c on the 4th.

Dongkang College Gym, Gwangju, Korea