My final day in Korea arrived and there was still so much to do. A teacher had asked me if I was sad and I said no as there was so much to do I have my mind distracted so many places. Until the plane takes off it wont hit me.

On moving day I was to move out of my apartment and a third floor family will move into mine. Then the school will move their furniture into the third floor apartment. In the meantime I have to get my four boxes to the post office to ship, wait for the gas man to arrive, and settle up with the landlord.

I had bought four boxes from the post office and it was a struggle getting everything to fit and juggling between what would go in my suitcase and what would be shipped. Qatar allows 23kg. When I weighed my case during the week with all liquids it was 17kg so I thought I was ok. The day before I tried again and now it was 27kg so what happened??

I had to keep rearranging what is being shipped and what is coming in the case or hand luggage. I had about a dozen packets of biscuits left over (about 3kg) which I wanted to bring in hand luggage as I'll have just arrived in Budapest and wont know where any of the shops will be so will need food.

Also I was determined to bring my ramen noodle packets and noodle bowl to use in Budapest as I have to live here for a month so still need to cook meals. With the weight issues it ended up in the boxes to be shipped home.

Finally I did get the boxes done but then there was the hand luggage dilemma. Qatar only allows 7kg INCLUDING any laptops. All other airlines allow upto 10kg PLUS a laptop. Qatar claims to be "the worlds five star airline" but their hand luggage rules are the most restrictive of any airline. Whenever I try to email them about this they ignore me.

I kept going thru different scenarios of hiding bags at check in or paying excess baggage so would decide at the airport. When I finally closed my case and lifted it luckily it was now 22kg but then I heard a large crack and the side with the handle broke in half. Great! This is what I need last minute when I am supposed to be using this case to travel for 8 wks.

On moving day the landlady tried coming in at 8.45 and the moving truck and helpers from the school were already here. I moved my four boxes outside the building first and let them start their work.

They took the schools furniture out my apartment and put it all by the truck outside. Meanwhile the third floor people will use the lift truck to move their stuff down. Then the truck will move the schools stuff up to the third floor

The third floor apartment is next to the landlady. She has a beautiful panorama view. The schools new apartment is a two storey style next door. I think the family wanted to move as the kitchen was upstairs while my apartment is one level. I didnt get to go in and see the upstairs.

The apartment was however filthy. My bathroom looks like someone has had their teeth whitened. This one was bad. When they moved my wardrobe out their was an outline of mould. I've been having problems this summer since I came back from vacation due to the extreme humidity while I was gone.

Later the gas man arrived and my final bill for August as I was away on vacation for two weeks was only $2. My final electric bill was $10 which I paid the landlady.

I have to admire my landlady as she was very hands on and did a lot of manual work helping her tenant move. She was also courageous enough to climb out the thrid floor window frame to help move the stuff onto the elevator lift. How many landlords do this back home?

I now went to the post office to send my boxes. I needed a cab and he wasnt too happy he was just going to drive up the street for only $2 fare and my boxes will dirty his leather seats. At least the brutal humidity had broken this week to be doing lots of running around outdoors.

At the post office I decided to make a fifth box and ship some more stuff from hand luggage. My total ended up being $200 which is what I had budgeted for four boxes as the weight was more distributed now.

I needed to buy a new laptop security cable as mine had cracked off from the heat when I unlocked it from the laptop during packing. I went to the big local electronics store but they didnt have one so I'd have to try the airport.

The school needed me to come back to sign a form they forgot. I was able to meet and say goodbye to the Principal which I hadnt done on Friday. He was nice and told me to call him if I come back to Korea and walked me out to the main door.

For lunch I had a big pizza as there wasnt any food at home for the last few days and I wasnt eating properly. I then got my cell phone cut and paid the final $16 due. Now a cab ride to the Daegu bus station.

I still had almost two hours to my bus so decided to sit down and get a juice somewhere. A cab driver kept following me and said he could drive me to Incheon Airport (4 hours away!). I kept saying in Korean I had a ticket for 3pm (neh-she) which he kept thinking I was saying tak-si

In the coffee shop I tried using my laptop on battery power which I never do as its plugged in at home. It only showed 47% and was draining really fast which means I have to replace the battery now.

There were two airport buses at 3pm and 3.10. I'm not sure whey 3.10 is the last bus for the day and I had bought tickets for that one. The 3pm bus was empty and I tried asking the driver if I could take that one but he thought if I was asking which was my bus and he kept saying the next one.

I didnt get much sleep on the bus and I ended up giving my Daegu bus card which had 3,900w ($3) left to some guys from the bus. I thought they may offer me cash but they didnt.

At the airport I wanted to get my laggage wrapped as the casing was starting to crack. They dont do wrapping but could put the straps on it which was good as it made it more compact to carry like a box.

I had sat for half an hour going thru all scanarios with my hand luggage repacking. I had managed to get the case to 23kg exactly before we sealed it. My hand luggage had a second bag I was going to check for 10kg. My backpack with laptop was 8kg and a food bag I was going to hide 3kg.

Qatar has increased their checked luggage to 30kg from Sept 1 and I was angry I was missing out by five days. I tried calling Qatar and they said no. For the 10kg it was $17USD/kilo = $170USD total

At check in the two bags came to 33kg. She said "you are a little bit over but today is ok. Pls dont do it next time" and handed me my boarding cards without any excess bag charge for a second bag at 10kg. I was in complete shock. I had got away with if for free!!!

I think because of the new bag rule from Sept 1 they were allowing leeway. My baggage tag said 2 bags at 30kg. Now with that out the way I could look for some food but all the restaurants had shut at 8.30pm. I was looking forward to a nice noodle or rice meal as my final meal in Korea but I had to get a burger set at Lotteria. The money exchange also said they close at 9pm so I was able to get my Euros in time.

I got my final immigration exit stamp and handed in my alien registration card. I was curious about the one bag 7kg rule on boarding but everyone ignored it and had 2-3 bags. Nobody was checking as they asked for our boarding cards

The flight was nice but not 'exceptional' for a 'five star airlilne' and just like any other major airline. They had lots of new and old bollywood movies so I stettled into an old movie while trying to sleep inbetwen for the 9 hour flight ot Doha

I bid my final farewell to Korea on take off but certainly consider this a hoiday destination to come back to and with so many friends here. I have had so many amazing opportunities in the last three years. and met so many wonderful people both Korean and from around the world. I look back on my three years as a very positive experience