Asiana flight to Korea, SEoul..
Bibimbap on flight. However, if you don't take beef. Then you have to eat the normal flight meal.
They provided Hot pepper paste for both meals.
The good thing about taking Asiana, they do have some benefits.
For example, 50% of arex ticket if you present your boarding pass when buying tickets.
More credits for evergreen sim card and half price of dragonhill spa entrance fee.
One thing I like about Asiana is I do not have to take a train to somewhere to board my flight when going back home. I had to do that when I took cathay pacific back from Seoul to Singapore. Have to reach the airport earlier.
Photos from my flight window.
I never miss taking photos of sunrise and sunset.
I am not much of a sleeper on flight.
Taking Arex is relatively easy. Just follow the signs and then buy the tickets at the bright orange counter.
Sometimes, the signs are just right at your feet.
The train was relatively empty when I was taking Arex, maybe because it was in the morning.
There is a luggage shelf at every cabin for storage of luggage. Lot of spaces.
The train is very on time.
http://english.arex.or.kr/jsp/eng/main.jsp
The negative is if you not staying near the Korail station, you have to transfer to the cab or the subway. Subway do not have escalator at every point, so you have to carry the luggage up the stairs.
or drag the luggage to the taxi stand.
Kpop idols for entrance to Arex.
The train.
Took the train to Seoul Station
The top is the Arex map and the other is just the subway map in the subway.
The ride was a bit boring but the seats are spacious and is quite comfortable.
Enjoy some of the scenery along the way.
Alternative way of getting to SEoul is by bus.
The plus about taking the bus if your hotel or accommodation is not near to korail. Save the hassle of bringing the luggage up and down. Subway station do not have escalator
For bus, the luggage is stored at the luggage compartment.
However, there are limited seats and luggage spaces so do leave early if you are taking the bus to the airport.
Visit korea page on transport
Machine to buy T-money (ezlink).
There are 2 version. One is the normal card and the other is just a small card that you can hang around your hp or camera.
The machine like to switch from English to Korean at times.
I kept mine after every trip and used it for 3 times in 3 years?
We did a top-up of 30000 won for our trip.
Took the subway to Yongsan to change KOrail to Yeosu Expo
We were rushing for the train, there is a slight flight delay and we book Korail tickets Yeosu expo in advance online.There are different timing and prices. We were worried about train tickets selling out and we have to waste precious time waiting for next train. and some trains has a longer travel time but is cheaper.
The train ride took around 6 hours. REmember to buy sitting and not standing. Although is more expensive, standing for 6 hours is no joke.
There was no space in my carriage or any of the train I took to store my big luggage. Only a tiny overhead compartment. I do not want to leave my luggage at a place where I can't see it.
For my trip from Yongsan to Yeosu expo, the leg space was just nice for me to put my luggage at my seat. However, my legs has no space to stretch or move.
On the trip back from Busan to Seoul, I requested for the back seat. I used the empty space behind my seat, which was supposedly space to allow me to incline my seat, to store my luggage. For this train ride, the leg space was smaller, so luggage cant be store at the seat.
We had a unhappy moment. A young Korean couple came and chase us out of seats. They insisted that we took the wrong seats. The train was full, no one bothered to come forward and help us. we don't speak Korea. In the end, we were forced out of our seats. We had to look around for the train staff who chased the couple away. Check your car/seat number and call for help if anyone try to chase you from your seat.
We bought some food from the Yongsan station and coffee from the convenience store to consume on the train. They allow food on the train. And we had been rushing from airport to Seoul station (arex) to Yongsan (subway) so we were very hungry. We still have to take a 6 hour ride.
I find the train more conducive for sleeping then the plane.
I ordered the prawn burger from lotteria, reminds me of fish-o-filet.
If you can't sleep, you can catch a bit of sight along the way. But there is not a lot of things to sightsee.
