Day One [Singapore -> Seoul]: Korea 2014 Trip

I can never imagine why travellers would want to wait until the last minute before they check in; in my opinion, check in should be allowed even up to six hours in advance so that i could truly check out the world class Changi Airport, from the inside! 

Alas, i could not really do that in my recent trip as it already took us more than half an hour to flag a cab to bring us down to Terminal 3! By the time i cleared custom, it was almost time to line up in queue to board the plane. 

Whatever the case, it was a full-serviced airline and for sure i am guaranteed to have the comfort (a blanket, pillow etc) that budget airlines would not be able to match at the face value of their ticket!

Look, i am not complaining; without budget airlines, you would rarely see me flying out of the little red dot! There are some frill benefits to taking Singapore Airlines (like the USB port where i can charge my iPhone) but with the advancement of technology (especially iPad), i believe many of us can self entertain without the TV screen in front of us. 

Having said that, my heart could not help fluttering towards the many recent blockbusters listed on KrisWorld (Singapore Airlines' in-flight entertainment system)! Transformer: Age of Extinction, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, How to Train Your Dragon 2; all of which i have yet to catch!!! 

As expected, i sacrificed sleep (cannot sleep anyway since it was day time when we departed) to watch the movies and manage to catch three of them just for this leg of the plane ride. 

The aeroplane had to divert to the runway at Terminal 2 before it could take off. Saw the road? That was the exact same road that brings us to the airport. It is quite an impressive sight to see gigantic planes moving across the bridge whenever i drive past. 

Took off at Singapore Time 3.19 pm; a delay of close to 25 minutes! 

Hm..... What is the government building again this time? Oh! I think this would be the new site for terminal 5, said to be one of the "largest terminals in the world" when completed with the capability to handle 50 million passengers a year!  

Time to take off the seat belt (captain recommended everyone to keep it on though). The announcements were made in English and Korean (duh); the most interesting one i have heard so far was a hokkien version when i took a flight to Xiamen.

Menu of the day! 

I requested for the beef bulgogi with meat that was a tad too chewy yet flavourful enough for me to clean up the entire rectangular plastic bowl. Dessert was a disappointing Magnolia Mag-A-Cone; had Magnum then when i was on a SQ plane to Beijing a few years back. 

Like this photo as it seems so vintage!

6pm with the setting sun; so long i am given an option to choose my own seats, you would likely see me opting for the seats not facing the sun! Taking photos would be a pain to the eyes!

Most passengers started dozing off, including my two sisters. I was glad to have a window seat and an empty seat next to me! 

30 minutes to reaching Seoul - temperature outside was a freezing -36 degrees celcius?!!?!? No way would you see me ever climbing Mount Everest, which is at about the same altitude. 

Insufficient time to catch a fourth movie, i started playing a game i used to enjoy; Zumba (not to be confused with the Zumba fitness dance). 

Taking the shuttle train to the main passenger terminal where we can have our passports chopped! Both sisters looked so fresh because they had sufficient sleep on the plane! 

Upon clearing the custom, it's time to seek out the Incheon Airport Railroad Express (also known as AREX). p.s. just a normal train with all-stop or express options. Express option (more than double the pricing for an all-stop) would bring you directly from Incheon Airport to Seoul Station. For more information, click here.  

Not that i want to scare you but in Seoul alone, there are nine metro lines with many intersection points! Do check your navigation before you proceed. For us to get to Hotel Manu, we had to exit from Seoul Station Exit 2, towards Metro Line 1 / 4. 

For that one metro line (1 in this case), there are already nine bloody exits! An online directional guide was a failure in navigating us to the hotel and we were lost for about ten to twenty minutes even though we exited correctly! 

Thank god i am pretty good when it comes to reading maps! Another turn and voila, there's Hotel Manu right in front of us! Given the state of my tiredness, it didn't take me long to drift into dream land right after i took my shower. 

Day Two >>

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For the summary of my inaugural South Korea trip (including Seoul and Jeju Island) and details of the respective days i was there, click HERE.