12 Hours in Seoul, South Korea

There was some confusion when we checked in to our flight out of Bangkok to Seoul. They had to change the seats that we picked out. A minor inconvenience. As we boarded the plane we were unsure as to where our new seats were. The flight attendant told us we had to go upstairs. Upstairs? Apparently, they had changed our seats and put us in business class! This minor inconvenience turned into a major upgrade. Thanks Korean Air! This was the first time either Jami or I have been in business class. We didn’t know what to do with ourselves. The seats fully reclined! I knew that we would be arriving in Seoul at 6 in the morning but I didn’t want to go to sleep and miss the experience of business class. This led to a very exhausting layover in Seoul, South Korea.

We had 12 hours from the time we arrived. It was 6 in the morning and we had to make sure we got on one of the free city tours (there was limited availability). Incheon International Airport is great for layovers. They offer free guided city tours starting and ending at the airport terminals. It was perfect for our day in South Korea. We made our way through customs, got our passports stamped, and headed to the tour desk to sign ourselves up for our tour. An hour long bus ride took us from the airport to the middle of Seoul to see the cultural side of the city, eat some authentic Korean cuisine, and explore the shop filled streets to get some snacks and souvenirs.

One thing we didn’t consider was how far north South Korea is from Thailand. We went from 90 degrees in Thailand to 19 in Seoul! Luckily the Bus tours were prepared and offered huge puffy jackets! Not the most fashionable but they kept us nice and warm.

After exploring Seoul for a few hours it was back to the airport. The exhaustion hit and we completely knocked out during the hour bus ride back to the terminals. We still had a few hours to spare before our flight back home so we took advantage of what Incheon International had to offer. There were so many places to rest and take naps. We opted for some benches and took a short snooze. As our departure time neared we decided that we were in need of a shower and used one of the free shower rooms that were provided. It may have been one of the nicest showers we used on our entire trip! Post shower we were refreshed and ready for our long flight home.