South Korea Medical Tourism Diary. Part 1: The trip from Boston
November 25 and 26, 2007
Josef Woodman told me about his recent tour of hospitals in Korea, and said I should definitely go if I had the chance. Luckily that suggestion was soon followed by an email from the Council for Korea Overseas Medical Promotion, inviting me to Korea the week after Thanksgiving. Joe's group had a couple of dozen people on it. Mine will be more intimate: Stephanie Sulger from Medical Tours International, David Boucher from BCBS of South Carolina and Younggil Jang from Korean Broadcasting in San Diego.
I learned a lot from my trip this summer to Singapore (see my diary entries from there) and am hoping the Korea trip will be just as stimulating.
I left Boston on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, reputedly the busiest travel day of the year. Luckily the weather was good and the lines weren't bad for my early morning flight. It helped being a Premier Executive on United, because I had a shorter security screening line and also got access to a better "Economy Plus," exit row seat with more legroom than the typical coach passenger. The Boston to San Francisco flight was 100 percent full and I was lucky to get my carry-on bags aboard. I know better than to check a bag unless I have to so I packed very light. Service on board the narrow body 757 was fairly grim --I might describe it as punitive. Before takeoff the lead flight attendant repeatedly advised us of the FAA's requirements and told us that if a flight attendant tells you to sit down when the seat belt light is on they are just doing what the FAA wants them to do.
The flight was on time, but we were delayed getting into our SFO gate. I then had to take a bus to the international terminal at SFO and get on my next flight to Korea. This was another United flight, but a more comfy 777 this time. I was on the aisle of the middle section. Luckily the flight wasn't full so there was an open seat between me and the next passenger.
The flight attendant in our area of the plane had never flown internationally before, and apparently she'd never had any international training either. She was in the wrong location for the safety demo, then tried to charge the guy near me $5 for his Bloody Mary (after I had assured him it would be free.) She was later overruled by the purser. On the other hand, maybe United is being forward thinking in its training, with the idea of reducing international service to domestic levels over time.
This flight was about 12 hours but it, too was on time. When I got out at Incheon Airport in Korea I was quite impressed. A nice, big, modern airport with good signage. Unfortunately I deployed my usual skill in selecting the slowest moving line in immigration. When I finally got out and met the person picking me up, she was relieved that I had actually made it. She was beginning to worry.
The new airport is more than 1 hour away from Seoul, so I was in for a relatively long ride. Due to the Korean penchant for hard work and long hours, we were in the midst of rush hour at 8 pm on a Monday.
The Shilla Hotel in Seoul, where I'm staying, is very pleasant and service is excellent. I got a couple of hours' sleep --tired but not sleepy due to jet lag-- and went for a swim in the 25 M pool that opens at 6 am.Breakfast at the buffet was excellent: a combination of US, European and Asian items.
At 8 am I joined up with the group in the lobby for my first day of touring.
See Part 2: Inha University Hospital