First Night in Seoul

Ok, this is a kind of nothing post. It's about my first night in Seoul, South Korea. I just thought I'd give a flavor of a typical travel day for me in a foreign land.

I had just completed my stays on the island of Jeju and then Busan, now it was on to Seoul. I debated the travel method from Busan, as it is not that far from Seoul. Bus, train, or plane? But when I saw how inexpensive the flights were and were about the same as the train, it's not unusual to get a domestic flight (one way) in many Asian countries for less than $100 USD, sometimes much less.

It was an easy decision. I would forgo the scenic train for the faster plane. So many times in the past I have been so disappointed in the "scenic" train that turned out to be anything but.

I boarded the plane in Busan and in less than one hour flight I arrived in the smaller airport of Gimpo. There are two airports in Seoul, this one and the bigger international airport of Incheon. Gimpo is much closer to the city than Seoul.

I actually later got duped by the hotel conceirge when I left the hotel in Seoul. I was leaving to fly home out of Incheon airport, which is a good hour or more outside the city. I asked the concierge how much is the metered taxi to the airport and he said about $50 USD. Well, the bus would cost about $25 but it would take longer and I would be on their schedule. So I chose to fork out the extra $25 for the taxi. But, I watched in horror as the meter exceeded $100 and kept climbing! Yeah good job Mr. Conceirge, it cost me nearly $120 without the tip!

Anyway, back to my first night in Seoul. I landed in Gimpo and took a more reasonable $25 taxi to my hotel, the Andaz by Hyatt. I am awarded 4 free suite upgrade certificates each year with Hyatt. I usually don't use them when traveling in Asia because I almost always get free upgrades to suites for free at check in. But I had some that were about to expire so I decided to use one here.

Here is a video of my suite in Seoul:

It was a nice suite for Seoul, since it's hard to get a big room in a city this size. But, of course, it didn't compare to my suite in Jeju island:

https://www.kirkstravelstories.com/post/grand-hyatt-suite-in-jeju-south-korea

I only spent a couple nights in this area of the city then moved to other hotels (2). I wanted to see as much of the city as possible and this is a very spread out place!

The first night in Seoul I was quite tired and only walked a short distance on the streets:

Very uneventful. In fact I ended up getting a meal at McDonalds and going back to my room to eat.

Flying, even a short distance really tires me out as I get older. I usually end up going to sleep by 8 pm after a travel day.

Short video of my evening walk near the hotel. Again, kind of nothing but gives you a flavor of the streets of Seoul in this area::