We finally made it home yesterday after 25 hours of travel from South Korea to Atlanta to Baltimore. We spent the evening with some family, friends and Telli which was exactly what we needed after being away for so long. We enjoyed dinner with my parents, sister and brother-in-law and then retreated back to our house for a little time with friends who stopped by to welcome us home.
And then 31 hours after our last alarm wake up call in Daejeon, we finally called it a night and crashed hard in our own bed in our own house. Amazing.
Breakfast
Thanks to my mom stocking our pantry and fridge with some of our favorite groceries, we were able to start this morning off with breakfast in our own kitchen!
She obviously didn’t forget to throw some goodies in our freezer either!
What to have for breakfast was a no brainer for me – something I have been craving since early on when I had gotten to Korea – an English muffin egg sandwich.
One fried egg, cheddar cheese, turkey bacon and blueberry jam.
Welcome home!
I savored every last bite!
For the rest of the day we plan to unpack, run errands and just get our life in Baltimore back in order. Beginning with these not-intimidating-at-all piles of laundry!
And we also have a lot of missed time to make up for with this Monster!
He’s such a little man now – we can hardly believe it!
Question:
What is the first thing you do when you get back from an extended trip somewhere or vacation?
It’s Monday and the waters drops keep falling on my head! I do not like the water drops on my head! Grandma pulls out a long purple stick when we were getting ready to go outside. I don’t want that stick next to me. I am not sure about this stick. For some reason I do not trust that stick!!! We go out through the sliding glass wall in the game room. Grandma stops and says, “Wait Telli, I have to put this umbrella up. Umbrella now there’s another new word. I tilt my head to the side and one, two, three the purple stick turns into a dome over Grandma’s head! I jump back and Grandma laughs, and she says, “Telli come next to me and you won’t get wet!” No way am I going near something that can grow that big just like that! I do my business real fast and I run for the house. I want my rub-a-dub to dry off! But first Grandma has to make the purple dome into a stick. Me, I am soaking wet and she want me to sit here in this puddle. It is not right! So as soon as we go inside I give my biggest shake and water goes everywhere. So much for Grandma being dry!! Ha-ha got ya!! Grandma says to Uncle Wulfe, “Wulfe it is raining cats and dogs out there!”
You know that I am very intelligent,,,and I know a cat when I see one. Aunt Jeremy has a cat…that is a fact. I know Uncle Wulfe and I are dogs so I know what dogs look like. I know both have four legs and sometimes long tails, not often do they have stubs like me. Anyway I did not see any Dogs or Cats falling from the sky! I just saw water. Please somebody help Grandma I think she is losing her marbles! I sat by the door and I watched but nothing but water. Maybe Grandma needs to get her extra eyes checked!
I told you I can show you how I can sometimes open the door! Watch this!
Tuesday, May 15th
This is the morning I go to my place of employment! I went in the house on wheels of Big Mike! Sheila and I had a grand time I ran from window to window looking outside at Mr. Larry cutting the green carpet that I like to eat! Mr. Larry calls it “Mowing the lawn”. Grandma comes in the driveway but she does not come to get me. What the heck! When Sheila takes me home I knew I had missed something. One sniff and it gave it all away.
Grandma didn’t want my help today she was making homemade lasagna. I guess she didn’t want me licking the noodles as they were drying on the kitchen table! I can dry things with my licker! I am a very good licker!
Uncle Brian stopped by to pick up some lasagna for his and Aunt Katie’s dinner. So I just licked him to death. I knew my licker would get used today!
Thursday, May 17th
Today was a busy day for Telli. I got to supervise Uncle Wulfe getting brushed and he looks great. Then it was my turn. And Grandma and Angie got the floor sucker and one brushed and the other ran the floor sucker over my hair. I was so frustrated because they would not let me have my licker sucked.
Next Uncle Wulfe and I ran outside to do our business and low and behold, A big truck came and when it was gone there was a big black pile.
What is in that pile I must sneak up on it to check it out? Wahoo it’s wood chips! Telli Heaven, I tell you! I take a few bites!
This pile will keep Telli happy for a long, long, long time!
On the way back inside I now take a snip of the dill that grandma planted. Every time I go by I now take a bite!
I will have to try dill pickles. Aunt Jeremy loves pickles!
Now Grandma and Angie are busy in the little kitchen. It looks like they are ripping paper from the walls. I like to eat paper! Let me in there!
I try to squeeze my stocky little self in between Angie and Grandma. And here it comes, “No Telli, we do not need your help!” And now they are pulling out the big square that you can cook on and the giant box that keeps food cold. Be careful with that one girls some of my food is in there! Now I cannot see Grandma and I am getting worried.
I can only see Angie’s head. Angie says she is still here but I do not see her. I hope they are not being eaten up by the boxes. Remember my Daddy and Mommy got eaten by the box in the kitchen and now they just have heads. Mommy and Daddy do not come in the glass wall either! Oh Oh panic time!!! I run to the other kitchen and look out the glass wall. Yes I can see Grandma and Angie but I cannot get to them. I start to cry and sing loudly. They keep telling me that they are okay. I think not! What to do? What to do? I run back and forth and whine and sing until they are finished! I do not like to be separated from my love ones! Telli is a lover boy! Yes he is!
Friday, May 18th
Grandma says, “Come on Telli Sheila is here let’s get you ready!” Oh no she is putting on my harness. Please let’s just be going for a walk! Oh no into the House on wheels and Sheila has Shotgun! This doesn’t feel right. So as we go out of the driveway I do my head check again! No boxes on wheels, no house equals no airplane! Good…now head check number two going on the fast road…Yikes!!!
Time to hide…Grandma is talking about school! Hide I do right behind Grandma’s seat and when she and Sheila get out I refuse to go with them!
It takes them at least three minutes to get me out! I walk bravely to the sliding glass wall and I go through the second one fine. I am cruising around the store and then I stop dead in my tracks…there he is that Barry guy! This is not good Grandma is talking to the money lady again and Sheila is not being a good and faithful friend…she is letting this guy take my leash!!!! Duh Sheila did you notice that me…Telli…is attached to the other end of the leash.
Now he has closed the wall around us and he is trying to make nice with me and Sheila is being a real ratfink. She will not allow me to hide behind her! I have to rethink this. I thought Sheila loves me!
Okay…okay Barry has some yummy treats and Grandma joins us. This is getting better! You know my Daddy taught me a lot of things before he went to Korea. So when Barry does hand signals for sit. I thought I already know this! Yeah I can do this! Sheila must love me because she claps and keeps saying “Good Boy Telli!” We practice sit and then we move on to look with hand signals. Barry says this is so when I am not close and someone calls me I am supposed to make eye contact with them from afar. Yeah that’s if I choose to look at them…we will see!
Next thing I know I decide to wiggle out of my collar and before I knew it I had a new harness with a front lead. Drat now I can’t wiggle out of it! So the four of us go for a stroll around the store with me heeling on their left sides and we go through the routines. I aced them and I greet other dogs and other people. That Barry guy gives the other dogs my treats he had for me! Telli doesn’t like that! This is Telli’s class and Tellis’s treat!
But I am a good guy and I decide to share with the other dogs! This has been the longest hour of my life! I am glad to jump into the car…actually I tried to get in before the door was opened! I am safe and I am a happy camper. I sit on the seat this trip home and I do not hide!
When we get home I jump out of the car and start to go running but I am tired from the stress and it is hard to perform on demand!
So Grandma takes me inside and I pass out I don’t even wake myself with my honk-chooing! I sleep for three hours! Telli is exhausted!
For our second trip to Incheon, the hotel that the team usually stays in didn’t have enough rooms to hold the entire team (I guess housing a whole baseball roster plus coaches can pose some issues for a popular hotel) for the three days we were in town so instead we stayed at Paradise Hotel.
The hotel has a smaller lobby with stairs directly in the center that lead to all floors. My favorite feature of the hotel!
Rooms
The rooms are of a decent size, however, ours had two queen size beds in it which led to some tight spacing in the free area around the floor for us. In other words, it wasn’t as easy for me to get my workouts completed in the room.
There was a nice desk area which was suitable for blogging and studying.
As usual in the majority of the rooms we stayed in throughout South Korea, there is a mini bar available, featuring drinks, select alcohol, and toiletries you may need during your stay. In addition, a hot kettle for coffee and tea making and a fridge (although very tiny) for food/drink storage.
The views around look out over the port of Incheon. Very pretty.
The bathrooms are of mediocre size.
Full tub showers.
And toilets with full electric bidets.
Restaurants
The hotel has one restaurant for breakfast, lunch and dinner dining.
Olimpos is a “fusion” restaurant with Western, Korean and Japanese options. Both lunch and dinner that I had in the restaurant were delicious but the menu didn’t have that diverse of options available.
Room service comes from the same restaurant and the menu only had two options for breakfast and about ten other options for lunch/dinner. The hours are only from 7:00 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. which didn’t make it easy for us for post game food.
Again, the breakfast we had from room service was good but you didn’t have many options to decide between.
On the other side of the lobby is a lounge area offering drinks and select pastries, breads and ice cream. This too shuts down pretty early so no relaxing late night can take place.
Amenities
In the basement (or annex as they refer to it) of the hotel, there is a fitness center, sauna, massage services and mini golf available for use by hotel guests.
The fitness center offers an array of cardio equipment along with free weights and circuit machines.
In addition to a stretching and core work area.
The sauna area for women is located directly off of the locker room with both hot and cool pools and steam rooms.
On the second floor of the hotel, there is a business center with computers and printers for use by hotel guests.
Staff
The staff at Paradise Hotel were very pleasant and helpful but were not as hands on as at some of the other hotels we stayed at throughout South Korea.
A least a little English was spoken by most of the staff but this was definitely the least “English friendly” of the hotels.
Outside Area
The hotel is situated on a top of a hill along the port in Incheon. The views are marvelous but the area around the hotel isn’t as lively as some of the other areas we stayed in.
When venturing out to find food after one of Brian’s games, we were able to find a ton of bars open late but not many food options besides a couple late night places that were loud with drinking patrons as well.
A Paris Baguette is less than a block from the hotel and served as a good lunch spot and a 7-11 was about four streets away for any quick convenience store items you may need.
Behind the hotel, you find yourself in China Town of Incheon and also can explore Jayu Park, which offers exercise areas and gorgeous scenery.
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