Final day in South Korea
After some final packing of our luggage, my friends and I headed to the nearby Lotteria, a South Korean fast-food chain for brunch. Throughout our 12 days in South Korea, this is the first time we ate from Lotteria (my friend and I tried once three years ago when we visited Seoul). After our meal, we headed back to the hotel to freshen up and check-out. Fortunately, there is an airport limousine stop next to our hotel, getting to the airport was not a problem for us. We timed our departure from the hotel according to the airport limousine service scheduled timing. The bus came shortly at the time we arrived at the bus stop. The ride from Dongdaemun area to Incheon International Airport Terminal 1 (where our flight departs from) takes around 1 hour. The airport limousine has wide and comfortable seats which allowed us to take a snooze while being whizzed to the airport.
This is the bus that will take us to the airport
Taking a wefie on the airport limousine
We relaxed as we saw Seoul flash by
We are near the airport
Arrival at Incheon International Airport Terminal 1
At Incheon Airport
The airport limousine only stops at one of the gates in Incheon International Airport Terminal 1. From there, passengers are to walk towards their check-in rows. Incheon International Airport is quite big, it took us around 5mins to locate and walk to our check-in row. Prior to checking in, I remembered there was a need for us to show the goods we purchased for a tax refund. However, this process has been automated. We discovered when we were at Incheon International Airport that there is no need to show proof of purchase. Foreigners claim tax refund can check-in our luggage first before heading to the automated kiosks to have the paperwork done up, we just have to produce the receipts for tax refund purposes. My friends and I headed to the airlines counter to process our check-in before proceeding to clear custom.
Wefie at the airport
Tax refund automated kiosks before custom clearance
Checking-in to our flight
Once we cleared the custom, we proceeded to the tax refund counter to claim our tax. Tax refunds will be paid in either USD or KRW. As it is largely automated, akin to withdrawing money from ATM, the process is significantly faster compared to what we experienced three years ago. The airside of Incheon International Airport is another shopping mecca for passengers. There are numerous luxury brands setting up boutiques here for passengers to shop. There are even Korean Culture experience centres at the airside for passengers to understand the Korean Culture while waiting for their flight. My friends and I spent the rest of our time at the airport in the airport lounge while waiting for our boarding time.
Cleared immigration
Our first stop after clearing custom is to head for tax refund
Time for us to board our flight back home
A Lookback at our South Korea Trip
Today is the day we bid farewell to South Korea after travel around for 12 days from south to north of the country. Throughout the past 11 days, we have seen both the nature and the cultural part of the country, We had also explored places which has seen far less foreign tourists and been to places that we have never visited before. A recap of our itinerary for this trip:
Day 1 – Arrival at South Korea and onward to Jeju. Due to unexpected delays, we only managed to visit Dongmun Night Market and had dinner at Black Pork Street.
Day 2 – Exploring Jeju via the Southern Road. We visited the major sights in Jeju such as Seongsan Ilchulbong, Seopjikoji, Jeju Folk Village, Jeongbang Waterfall, Oedolgae Rock, Cheonjiyeon Waterfall and Seogwipo Olle Market.
Day 3 – Hiking Hallasan. We stopped by Mysterious Road on our way to Yeongsil Trail on Hallasan, where we took a half-day hike up the mountain. After the hike, we visited Jusangjeolli Cliff, Innisfree Jeju House and end up in Jeju-si.
Day 4 – Onward to Busan. We took a morning flight from Jeju to Busan. At Busan, we visited Gamcheong Cultural Village and head to Busan Train Station to get our train tickets to Seoul.
Day 5 – A road trip to Gyeongsangnam-do. We drove west of Busan visiting places like Mireuksan, Dara Park, Mundong Waterfall, Sinseondae Platform and Windy Hill.
Day 6 – Historic Gyeongju. We drove north of Busan to Gyeongju, visiting Gyeongju Gyochon Traditional Village, Woljeonggyo Bridge, Gyerim Forest, Cheomseongdae, Donggung Palace & Wolji Pond and Bulguksa Temple.
Day 7 – Eastern Busan. We made a quick stop at Haeundae Beach before heading to Haedong Yonggungsa Temple. We also did some shopping at Busan Premium Outlet and Centum City.
Day 8 – Onward to Seoul. We took a three-hour ride on the KTX from Busan to Seoul and spend the rest of the day shopping at Gangnam Garosugil and Myeongdong.
Day 9 – Day Trip to Suwon. Before making our way to Suwon, we made a pitstop at Namdaemun Market and Namdaemun Gate. In Suwon, we visited Hwaseong Haenggung followed by an evening stroll on Hwaseong Fortress. We ended our day with a visit to a Jjimjilbang.
Day 10 – Gangchon and Nami Island. We rode on a railway bike at Gangchon before heading to Nami Island in the nearby province of Gangwon-do. While back at Seoul, we stopped by Cheonggyecheon Stream and did some night shopping at Myeongdong.
Day 11 – Historic Seoul. We visited sights in Seoul such as Seoul City Wall, Deoksugung Palace and ended our day with shopping trips to Hongdae and Myeongdong.
Afterthoughts
During our time in South Korea, I thought there are a couple of apps that I highly recommend to visitors to South Korea (I am not sponsored by them, just sharing useful apps during my travel in South Korea). The Naver Map App (more information here) is what we relied on largely in South Korea from driving to taking public transport. This app is similar to Google Map, only it works in South Korea. Google Map has limited functions in South Korea and it does not show driving routes. Naver Map App not only allowed me to plan my driving routes before coming to South Korea, but the driving routes recommended by the app is also very accurate. The app is also useful for those who do not drive in South Korea as it shows in real-time the public transport options. The second app that I relied on heavily while in South Korea is the Subway App. This app is excellent in navigating through the confusion subway map in South Korea. It is capable of showing us the subway to take and the real-time arrivals and departures of trains. This app gives us a good idea of the time required to travel on subways. The subway app not only displays the subway system in Seoul, but it also has options to display subway systems in major cities such as Busan. We managed to cover quite a bit of South Korea throughout our 12 days here. We also experienced a few firsts during this trip: driving a left-hand drive, climbing the highest mountain in South Korea, taking the KTX, taking the longest cable car system in South Korea, riding on the railway bike to name a few. Throughout this trip, we had a good mix of nature and culture aspect of South Korea and still managed to cater time for shopping.
Thank you so much, it was a very interesting series, full of practical information to travel and visit Korea. Keep on!
Thanks for the encouraging words and reading all of the 12 very lenghty posts. My goal is to share my experience with travellers and hopefully, they can use it as a reference if they want to visit these places. Stay safe 🙂
Like!! Great article post.Really thank you! Really Cool.