Five weeks ago, in a rush to get to Seoul’s Incheon Airport, we left our daughter’s travel companion Winnie the Pooh behind. He remained at K-haus Gwanghwamun in Seoul until the hotel manager, Ms. Lee, and I cleared by e-mail his transport to Germany.

There were at least a dozen e-mails as I had hoped to have Winnie shipped to my friends’ address in Japan, but time was not on our side. Then we had to resettle the destination (Germany), kind of transport (small parcel by ship), and method of reimbursement (PayPal).

Winnie started his return journey from Seoul on 12 April.

During all these times of communicating, I forgot to mention to ask Ms. Lee to write “used product” on the customs declaration form. So two days ago, a big envelope containing three papers, arrived in the mail. The German customs office here in Oberursel asked me to come in and declare my parcel as it contained no bill, wasn’t marked as a gift, etc.

The customs officer asked me what I expected to get and I told her my little story. Then I was given a parcel knife to open it in front of her. After recognizing that this was indeed a very used plush animal, I was sent on my way, with Winnie in my arms.

Winnie the Pooh, the traveller

Doesn’t Winnie look tired? I thought overseas flights are long enough for us, but he really looks ragged out from this long ocean transfer and truck ride. On top of that, our daughter will employ him as a head rest again tonight.