Visa Trouble = Non-Vacation

Greetings from Korea!

I went to type in a title, and when I typed "Visa", the auto-complete pulled up a previous title from last year: "Visa Trouble = Vacation". This time, however, there's no fun or games. I'm sitting in the Seoul airport waiting for the check-in to re-open so I can get back through security (the whole hurry up and wait deal).

A lot of our friends have to do this little excursion: 8am flight to Seoul, 6pm flight back. One of our friends has done it so many times that she's got it down to a science. The only real consolation prize is that the Seoul airport has a couple Dunkin' Donuts, which we don't have in Beijing (although Shanghai has some).

This past year we've been lucky enough to have year long visas without max-stay requirements, but now our year's up and it's time to renew. Our renewal starts from the most recent date of entry, so that's what I'm here in Seoul. It's kind of painful to be stuck at an airport in a city/country I've never been to, but M and I were remarking that the fact that we're okay with me doing this visa run rather than some crazy whirlwind trip/vacation is actually a good sign that we've settled into our life in Beijing.