Kim and I landed in Seoul Korea yesterday Thursday October 17. It is like 6am Friday morning and I am posting the first page. This first page will change in the coming days, the images etc will move to sub pages and this lead page will take on a more general trip to Korea nature But for now, it is what we have.
Daughter Elizabeth and grand dog Piper drove us from our New Hampshire home to Boston Logan airport Thursday morning for a 10 AM Air Canada. The flight to Toronto was delayed but we made it to our Air Canada Toronto to Seoul connection with plenty of time, though Tom did do some fast walking. For both flights the kind attendants allowed this slow old man to board with people needing more time in Zone 2.
Kim had signed up for the seats 24 hours ago. Both times I had an ayle and she was next to me. Sitting next to me is a real sacrafice on her part but maybe it cuts down on the embarrassment of watching me over talk to the person unlucky enough to have ended up next to me.
We carried all our own luggage, so no bag carracel. Once through passport control (They took images of our index fingers?) we changed 200$ in cash into Korean. I then went into a CU (7-11 type store) and the cashier guided me to only put like 30$ on the T card. We then went in search of the fast train to Seoul. Stopped at an information booth to get directions about what subway line to take and what stop to get off at once we were in Seoul
We were advised that we each really needed our own T cards so the young attendant helped Kim use the machine to buy and load her T card. We proceeded to the train platform but found ourselves on the local platform instead of the express. It turned out fine, probably a little better, in that it was subway link instead of assigned sets etc.
Changing to subway line 4 was a challenge. After getting off the airport train, we found the signs to the 4 line but once on the actual platform there were also signd for line 1. We never figured it out completely but were advised to just get on the subway that came. We rode it 2 stops. Made it to the street exit 5 that we had been directed to but it was a LOT of walking and steps with no escalators.
We then walked in the wrong direction. I think Kim said we got to 8-Gil instead of our goal of 2-Gil. We backtracked and Kim found 2-Gil right away. We turned right on it and proceeded a couple blocks and asked again. A young man directed us back, seems we had passed the Hostel in the first feet down 2-Gil. He offered to pull my bag, said he was police, but I told him I was CIA and had to do it myself. Kim lost me on the way to the hostel entry but was nice enough to return and retrieve me from some other Hostel entrance. The man who had been guarding the door when Kim went to retrieve me was gone but another person directed us to the signs that said our 57 Hostel lobby was on the 13th floor and we road the elevator up.
Checkin was easy, They only wanted to see KIm’s passport. The room is small but we expected that.
It was about 9 PM. The first floor doors to the hostel are locked at 11pm. I went out on the streets to look around. It is a very active area that Kim knows the market name for.
