The Journey To Seoul

1. The Journey to Amsterdam.

It’s Friday, October 14th 2022. I just woke up, and I am going over the checklist one last time. Suitcase packed, carry-on packed. All set and ready. I’m just having lunch now, and I’m wondering what to bring to eat for underway. Waffles, what’s more Belgian than that, right? I just received two whole boxes full of them from a school-thing, quality Belgian made product, delivered by my dear colleagues and friends, you know who you are 🙂. I grab a fair few from each box and give the rest to my family, since they will spoil if not consumed withing a few days. My train for Amsterdam leaves at 13:30. I decided to go at 12:30, even though the car ride to Antwerp Central Station is about 20 minutes.

It wasn’t a bad idea. The traffic is a bit more congested than usual, probably because of the bad weather in Antwerp, so typical Belgium-like. The car ride took about half an hour. That left me about 30 minutes to get to the platform of the Thalys train, but I’ve never taken the Thalys from Antwerp Central Station. Platform 23, as printed on my ticket, was harder to find than I expected, but I anticipated well and got to the platform 10 minutes before the train arrived.

Ah yes, 1st class seats… It wasn’t that expensive, so why not. A bit more room for my legs. The train ride will take about an hour and I will arrive at 14:25. Nothing much is happening, and the views are boring. So, I brought my Nintendo Switch with Diablo III on it. After a while, I arrived at the Airport, at exactly 14:25.

2. Schiphol to the Hotel and Burger King.

Let me tell you something. Public transport in Amsterdam is very expensive, and very complicated. I found that it’s cheaper to just tap your credit/debit card when getting on and off the bus or tram in Amsterdam. Especially when it’s just for a one-way trip. Don’t buy a ticket at one of those terminals when you get into the main hall of Schiphol. Even better, those tickets won’t even work on every bus and tram. There are several public transport companies, and you really need to make sure you get the correct ticket. Anyway…

I first bought a ticket using the GVB app. It said €3.40 for a one-hour ticket on all buses and trams** (**of GVB, a fine print detail I missed).

I got to the bus stop, waited for my bus and when I wanted to get on, the driver said that this ticket is not accepted on R-Net bus lines. I had to get off again, go back into the main hall, and by a 1-day ticket from the terminal machine, which costed me €17! OMG! 🤬 What a freaking rip-off. I didn’t know yet that you just can pay with your NFC credit or debit card; I found that out 3 weeks later, that’s a story for another day. In the end, I paid €20.40 for just a 10-minute bus ride on the R-Net bus. Freaking unbelievable. Anyway.

I booked a hotel just for one night, since my flight was early in the morning. So I dropped off my luggage at the hotel (Maxhotel Amsterdam Schiphol, if you’re interested), and since I’ve paid for a 1-day ticket anyway, I took the R-Net bus back to the airport to explore. Schiphol has like a shopping mall complex where you can do some shopping and there are some restaurants as well…

After exploring the airport a bit, and making sure that I knew where I had to go the next day, I decided to get dinner at Burger King. That was another mistake… It took almost 45 minutes for my order. OMG. 😒 They have like big screens at the counter where you can follow your order. And my order number was first there, but after a while, it just disappeared from the screen. So I assumed that it was done. I went up to the counter and asked for my order, with my ticket receipt in hand, and the person behind the counter couldn’t find it and said that they’re still working on it.

After another 10 minutes, still no sign of my order, so I went up to the counter again and asked for my order, but the person said again that they’re still working on it. It went on like that for a half hour, when another person behind the counter called out my order number and I finally received my order. Well, I got an ice-cold burger and a warm soda drink, apparently the order had been laying there for like almost 20 minutes. Do not go to Burger Kings in Schiphol, it’s the worst service I’ve ever had. 🤬😡 After just one bite, I tossed the burger straight in the garbage and went back to the Hotel, where there was a McDonald’s, at least there I got food that was edible.

After dinner, I went back to the hotel, took a shower and got ready to go to bed with a movie that I streamed from my Plex Media server at home, using VPN, my own VPN, not those third party VPN’s. I’ll explain more on another post.

3. Getting through check-in and security at Schiphol Airport and almost getting rejected.

Saturday… wow. It’s really happening. After years of planning (literally years, because of COVID), I’m here in Amsterdam, ready to embark on the most epic adventure of my life. That’s the thought that came to my mind, waking up in a small hotel at 6 in the morning.

Well, let’s get up and get ready. A quick shower, a banana and a few waffles for breakfast and a coffee. I packed up my things and weighed the luggage one last time. I’m maxed out on the checked in luggage. My carry on is also maxed out. No more room for the waffles. I guess I’ll have to leave them behind. 😪

I finished my coffee, put on my jacket and grabbed the luggage. It’s heavy, but it’s on wheels, so it’s okay. The door of the room is on a strut, which closes automatically, so naturally, it’s a right pain in the ass. So typical. Anyway, I gave the room one final look, making sure no belongings are left behind, and closed the door.

It’s almost half past seven, my flight is at 9:30AM. I’m just realizing that the “1-day ticket” I bought at the terminal in the airport is not valid anymore. Apparently, 1-day doesn’t mean 24 hours, but rather the day of the purchase until 12 at night. Great, an expensive ticket that doesn’t even last a full day… Thankfully, the person at the reception had R-Net tickets for sale. I buy one and said my goodbyes.

It’s chilly outside, and a little bit foggy as well, but rather quiet. It’s early on a Saturday, after all. The R-net bus-stop is a few 100 meters away. So it’s easy to get to. I don’t have to wait long for a bus. All buses go to the airport, so it doesn’t matter which bus I take. I took the first bus and rode it for about 10 minutes and arrived back at the Airport.

Almost eight o’clock, I’m right on time for check in. I moved to Departures, and to the KLM check-in desk. The line is not that big, and after 5 minutes, it’s my turn. I gave him my checked luggage and passport. The man says “Right, South Korea, sir?”. To which I reply “Yes”.

“Okay, sir. Are there any batteries inside the suitcase?”, said the main behind the desk, staring at his computer screen. “No, sir. Nothing like that,” I replied. “I’m carrying all of my batteries and powerbanks in my carry on.”

“Excellent,” said the man, “Then all that I need is the Q-Code before you can board.”

Q-Code? 😨 I’m sure I read on the webpage of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea just a few days ago, that all restrictions have been lifted, including the requirement of the Q-Code, the generated QR-code for the COVID-19 pandemic, so I didn’t expect this question. Luckily, I did create one a few weeks ago. “Right, one moment please,” I said, taking out my phone from my pocket and opening the mail app and flicking through the history in search of the Q-Code mail.

After what felt like 5 minutes, I finally found it, thank God! I show him the email with the QR-code attached. Because it’s an older email, he said to me, “Is this the Q-Code for this trip?”

“Yeah, that’s correct, sir,” I said. 🥶 Please, let me through…

The man took a moment, looking quite suspicious. “Okay,” he said after a while, and continued to process my check-in. He tagged the luggage, sent it off to the conveyor belt and gave me the receipt, boarding pass and my passport. “Go right ahead to the gate, sir.” he said.

Phew…. 😅 That was close. I almost thought I would get rejected. That would be terrible. Also, he never checked the weight of my carry-on. I could’ve brought the waffles I left at the hotel. I followed the arrows to my gate and got to the security checks, where they X-rayed my carry-on bag and my jacket and shoes, and, well, me. I had to stand in a very sexy pose in some kind of machine. 😅 Anyway, no problems there. The security line was quite long, though. I think I’ve lost like 45 minutes. It’s a little after nine o’clock when I arrived at the gate, and I could board straight away.

4. The flight to Paris, Charles de Gaulle Airport.

The flight to Paris CDG was without events. It was a quiet flight of about an hour and 20 minutes, of which I mostly spent staring outside the port window. Yes, I know… It’s not good for the environment. I wanted to go to Paris by train, but it was cheaper with the extra flight. And even if it wasn’t for me, this flight would still have happened.

Arriving in Paris CDG, I transferred to the Gate of my next flight. Since there was only an hour lay-over time between the two flights, I didn’t have to wait long before I could board, though, there was quite a line at the Gate. My passport was checked before entering the plane, and I took my seat and installed everything I needed for the flight; My laptop, powerbank and Nintendo Switch.

Some more waiting, and at a quarter past 12 noon, we started taxiing towards the runway. There was apparently a little bit of a queue, but not a while longer, we took off a flew East-bound towards Asia, dodging Ukraine and Russia along the way, which made the flight a few hours longer than usual.

5. The flight to Incheon International Airport.

The flight was quiet and peaceful. Quiet enough to sleep, you would be thinking, but I couldn’t sleep at all, so instead, I watched The Hobbit, the Extended edition. All three of them, leaving me with the song of the Misty Mountains stuck in my head for the next few days. I arrived at a little over 8AM local time, that’s a little over 1AM Belgium Time, and it is about at this time that I realized that I was still awake after 20 hours.

Exiting the plane, I arrived in an area where they sort of checked your health(?) but then again, not really… It’s the Q-Code check point, which by the way, you could easily go and generate it online at the spot right there, which I did, because I wasn’t sure if my few-weeks-old Q-Code would still be valid, so just in case, I connected to the airport hotspot (and through VPN) created a new Q-Code. And the only thing they checked was I guess your word that you were healthy and not having any COVID symptoms. I honestly do not know what would happen if that was not the case. Would they send you back? Would they force you to undergo quarantine, even though that was no longer required? Who knows…

Anyway, I got through the health check point really easily, and went on to the border control checkpoint. I stood in line for about 45 minutes, and gave them my passport and got through without any problems. I then proceeded to the luggage pickup, had to go through another customs check point, which required me to fill out a form declaring that you did not bring any forbidden goods and that I am not criminal. And then, after all that, I finally arrived at Incheon Internation Airport T2, main hall.

Wow. That’s what I literally thought. It was warmer here, the outside temperature was close to 20°C (68°F), and I was wearing a Winter jacket, because of the cold back home. I’m already sweating, but anyway, I got to keep going. First order of business was to get my data plan up and running. I pre-ordered an LG-U+ sim, which included a T-Money card, something I didn’t expect to be using, but it was a nice addition to the sim. I eventually did use at the end of the trip. OMG, that’s another funny story that I will keep for another day. Well, not so funny back then…

Anyway, I got the sim from the pick-up desk in the Airport and installed it, making sure my Proximus sim was installed as a secondary sim, so that What’s App and Kakao Talk would still detect it. Next thing was to get the train ticket…

6. Give Me The Money

Unfortunately for me, the train ticket terminal for the AREX train, only accepts cash, so I needed to get some cash from the ATM at the airport. Something you should never do, because the rates are crazy, but since I had no other choice, (well, I could order it online, I suppose) I decided to get to the ATM and get some money out.

If you read my previous post about the K-ETA form, you probably know what’s going to happen next… Yep, there I was standing, in front of the ATM, and both my cards, My Mastercard and Visa card, were declined by the ATM.

This European security on these cards really sucks in this situation, you know. Luckily, I did bring €430.00 in cash for emergencies, that I could exchange at the exchange office. I suggest, if you come to South Korea, either bring cash that you can exchange at the airport, or buy Korean WON from your bank in advance. I am so lucky I had cash on hand, or I would have been stranded.

Anyway, I exchanged all the Euro’s into Korean WON at the exchange office, and finally could buy my AREX ticket to Seoul.

It could go worse though, A French group at the ATM had their credit card swallowed by the machine there… OMG 😨, I don’t know what happen to them, but I hope they were able to get their card back.

7. The AREX to Seoul

So I got my ticket, and went down to the platform, but by now, it’s almost 10AM local time, and My mind was feeling the side effects of being awake for a long time, currently 22 hours since I woke up back in Amsterdam, I’m trying to figure out which carriage and which seat and where I needed to stand on the platform. It must have shown, because a Korean lady came up to me and helped me read the ticket and showed me where I needed to wait… And you know what, It was clearly there on the ticket. I was just so tired and confused that for some reason I wasn’t able to comprehend basic numbers and words 😂

The train came, I stowed my luggage away and took my seat, still not able to sleep, even though my minds started seeing things that weren’t there 😀 Staring out of the window, and doing some reading on my phone, the ride was pleasantly quiet and without events. After a while, I arrived in Seoul Station.

8. One More Transfer

In Seoul Station, I bought myself a new T-Money card at a T-Money card vending machine, because I wanted the benefits from the Korea Tour Card, even though I only used it once on my trip, and proceeded to charge it with ₩10’000 (about €7), and this time, thank God, my credit card was accepted. So it’s really a hit-and-miss with foreign credit cards, especially European ones. But, I got the T-Money card, charged it and was now ready to go anywhere I wanted in Seoul (and beyond).

Seoul Station is the busiest station in Seoul, but I had no trouble navigating it. I transferred to line 1, like a boss and finally arrived at my Airbnb, at Singil station, and it was literally next to Singil station, so that was a stroke of luck, because hauling heavy luggage is not fun, not with a Winter jacket in 20°C weather.

9. Conclusion

So here we are. My journey from Antwerpen Centraal Station, to my Airbnb in Seoul. I’ll tell you what happened next on my next blog post, though, you can also watch my Vlog on YouTube, which also tells you this story.

One last thing, I found out later on the trip that it’s easier and better to use the T-Money Korea Tour Card mobile App from the play store to activate and charge a digital version of the T-Money card, if your phone supports it, that is. It’s less finicky, because you’re always looking for that damn card, and you can lose it, while it’s less likely to lose your phone. Ask my how I know that? More about this in another story.

Cheerio, or how they’d say it in Korea, 안녕! 🙂