10 hour layover in Seoul and landing safely into SFO - April 5-6, 2014

Trip Index

• Planning and preparing for our epic vacation to New Zealand and the Maldives
• Flying to New Zealand via Honolulu, visiting Auckland and Devonport
• Waitomo Caves and Tongariro Alpine Crossing
• Taupo, Waikite Thermal Pools, to Christchurch
• Mt. Cook National Park
• AJ Hackett Kawarau Bungy Jump, K-Jet boating, hanging out in Queenstown
• Day 1 of Routeburn Track 3-day luxury guided walk
• Day 2 of Routeburn Track 3-day luxury guided walk
• Day 3 of Routeburn Track 3-day luxury guided walk
• Arrowtown, Wanaka, Mount Roy Track
• Franz Josef Glacier
• Tranz Alpine train Greymouth to Christchurch, then to Singapore
• From Singapore to Conrad Maldives Rangali Island
• Day 1 and 2 at the Conrad Maldives: beach villa, overwater spa, Atoll Market, snorkeling
• Day 3 at the Conrad Maldives: water villa, diving with manta rays, meeting new friends
• Day 4 and 5 at the Conrad Maldives: Vilu, Sunset Grill, reef diving
• Day 6 and 7 at the Conrad Maldives: whale sharks, Ithaa, snorkeling
• Returning from the Maldives via Singapore
• 10 hour layover in Seoul and landing safely into SFO

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Continuing from the previous entry...I forgot to mention that before we went to the SATS Premier Lounge at Singapore's Changi airport, I had visited the Tax Refund office to get cash back for my purchases on Orchard Road.  The procedure was easier now than it was when I was in Singapore last; you scan your specially provided receipts (you need to tell the store you plan to collect a tax refund so that they can give you the right documentation) at a kiosk and another receipt is printed out, which you provide to the refund counter to get your cash.  Apparently you can also request the refund to be returned to your credit card within 10 days but I hadn't selected the option.  Well, rather, the person who came over to work the kiosk for me ended up selecting cash out.

Some interesting things seen at the airport:

free OSIM massage chair usage

having a bug to aim at helps keep the restroom clean

Kaleb and I made our way from the lounge to the gate for our 11pm Asiana Airlines flight OZ752.  Unfortunately it was an older plane so the business class seats were not lie-flat, but they reclined.  Since it was just a six hour flight (even though overnight), we did not get a personal toiletry bag.  Not that it mattered to us, since we had our Singapore Airlines slippers and eyemasks. :)  I wonder if the flight attendants noticed.

The service was very friendly and attentive...it's no wonder why Asiana is on the Top 10 list.  The flight attendants came around serving pre-departure beverages as well as take our supper order before the plane took off.  More eating!  The meal was served in a timely fashion in order to maximize sleep.

old style personal entertainment

pre-departure beverages

Western supper menu

Korean supper menu

shrimp appetizer

bibimbap

dessert

tea with traditional Korean cookies

Fortunately for me, I had seen most of the movies offered on the entertainment system on previous flights so I wasn't tempted to stay up the whole time.  I was able to get a couple of hours' sleep...Kaleb never sleeps well on planes so he got less.

We landed at Incheon airport with little fanfare.  There was no breakfast or snack served in-flight since we arrived at 6am; we ended up getting breakfast at the airport McDonald's.  I was surprised that McDonald's didn't serve hot tea!

Our connecting leg was to depart around 4pm, giving us 10 hours to spend in South Korea.  What to do?  I had done research during the planning stage and found that the airport sponsored free tours of Seoul; I signed us up for one of the longest tours offered (5-hour Seoul city tour).  We had no problem finding the tour desk when we arrived using the directions printed on our confirmation.  To my horror, the agent looked up our reservation on a printout and said we had been canceled...what?!?  I provided a copy of my receipt to show that we were signed up.  She looked at it and said that it shouldn't be a problem to put us back on.  Whew!  We paid $13 USD per person (for lunch and entrance fees, cash or credit card accepted), then were given a small button to pin onto our jackets so that we could be identified as part of the tour group.

tour desk

tour group heading out to the bus

someone's really tall!

running on couple of hours' sleep

tour guide taught us a few words in Korean

The tour guide spoke very accented English so it was difficult at times to understand her, which was okay since for some of the tour, we were given a time to meet at the bus and was left to wander on our own.  The first stop was Gyeongbokgung, a royal palace in northern Seoul.  Much of it was destroyed by the Japanese, but it is slowly being restored to its former glory.

palace and city contrast

map of palace grounds

manicured grounds

so many tour buses

We hopped back on the bus and headed to Jogyesa, a Buddhist temple, for a quick look.


Then we drove to a walking district for lunch (Insadong Street), with a bit of time allotted for shopping.  We didn't buy anything, though it was tempting to purchase an ice cream for the crazy-shaped cone!  Lunch was a choice of either bibimbap or beef stew.  Our tablemates who had the stew said that it was too sweet for their taste.

Insadong

making our way down an alley to the restaurant

our lunch spot

panchan (Korean side dishes) - all vegetarian

bibimbap (vegetarian)

what I thought were hanging decorations...

were actually ice cream cones (fresh ones inside!)

Then it was back to the airport...or so we thought.  We ended up going through a bus wash...thrilling! ;) (9-second clip if you're interested; click here if you cannot see the preview below)


If you have several hours to kill while waiting for your connecting flight in Incheon, I would recommend going on the free tours to conveniently get out of the airport.  The tours range from one to five hours, so probably a four or more hour layover should suffice.  If your connection is very long, you could go on multiple tours if departure times line up.  Based on the online reservation form, tours are limited to 7 to 15 people per departure but it seemed that if there was a lot of interest, they would bring out the large tour bus to accommodate all, including walk-ups.  I think we had over 20 people in our group.

We had access to the Asiana Airlines business class lounge in Incheon airport, but for some reason, I don't have any photos other than in the restroom.  It may have been because the food selection wasn't much better than the lounge in Singapore.

toilet with automated bidet

Our last flight of the trip was on Asiana flight OZ212.  It used to be flight 214, but they retired the number after the crash at SFO. (which we missed by a day on our way back from Calgary to SFO last July)   This plane had the updated lie-flat business class seats, hooray for 180 degrees of comfort!  We did receive toiletry bags this time.

settling into business class

seat extends to footrest in"lie-flat" mode

toiletries and headset

contents of toiletry bag

More eating...dinner was a more leisurely occasion, compared to supper on last night's flight.  I selected the Korean menu and Kaleb went with the beef tenderloin on the Western menu.

choice of Korean-style dinner

or Western-style dinner

tomato and prosciutto bruschetta (both Korean and Western menu)

fresh ginseng salad (Korean)

salmon mousse with pineapple sauce (Western)

black sesame rice porridge (Korean)

very tasty cauliflower soup (Western)

ssambap - Korean lettuce wraps

beef tenderloin with mushrooms (Western)

fresh fruit dessert (Korean)

yuzu panna cotta (Western)

Korean traditional cookies

If somehow you were still hungry after dinner (or for a midnight snack), you could partake in other offerings such as sandwiches, ramen, or soup.  We received a bottle of water for hydration during the night.  I set up the lie-flat bed (padded sheet that fit the length of the seat, large pillow, and thick blanket) and tried to catch some zzz's before breakfast.  I could feel the seams of the seat so it wasn't exactly a real bed; the leg area was also tapered as you can see from the previous photos.  Nevertheless, it was still way better than sitting in economy!

bottled water

breakfast menu

fresh fruit, yogurt and banana loaf

Korean rice porridge with cute little soy sauce droppers and pickled radish as condiments

seafood crepe

As the plane approached SFO, we couldn't help but hold our breath.  Of course, it was a perfect landing, not even a little bump!

And so ends our epic trip to New Zealand and the Maldives via Singapore and Seoul...stay tuned for our next adventure in New Orleans!

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