Read the small print ALWAYS. Especially when it is really important.

So, I was wondering before we left home what we would do in Seoul, South Korea for our 3.5 hour layover. Turns out we did not have any time to spare between flights. And no, our flight actually arrived in Incheon International Airport on time. The problem started when we dropped off our rental car and checked in at the LAX ticket counter. The lady asked us where
we wanted our baggage to go. Well, I thought it would be obvious and responded,

“Beijing of course.”

She informed me that was not possible. She said that we would have to pick up the luggage when we arrived in Seoul, go through customs and then go back to the check in counter, have the baggage checked back in, go through security before ultimately boarding our next flight to Beijing.

“That does not make any sense” I said.

Well that’s what you will have to do since your flight to Beijing departs from another airport. “What?”

She proceeded to explain, “You see you fly into Incheon International Airport but you depart from Gimpo International airport to fly to Beijing.”

I looked back at my itinerary and the airports and sure enough - two different airports. Thus, read the small print. So I steal Tamra’s Iphone and start searching for ways to transit from one airport to another.

She turns to me and says, “Did you just google how to transfer between Incheon and Gimpo?”

Maybe I did, but I did find that there was a commuter train running between the two airports. It was the train or a 45 minute taxi ride. Well let’s give it a shot, by Planes, Trains and Automobiles we will get to Beijing. After landing at Seoul, collecting our baggage and going through customs (about an hour) we raced frantically trying to find this train. At last we find it after a quarter mile of walking through endless corridors. We go to the ticket counter and of course they only take cash. That would be Korean Won mind you. No currency exchange around, except back at the airport terminal. So I leave my wife in a foreign country for a second time (she never really forgave me for the first time I did that 2.5 years ago) and race back to the currency exchange and get 10,000 won. Finally, we boarded the train. Did I happen to mention it was a commuter train. Every stop, more and more people poured on. Here we were with suitcases and carry ons and wall to wall people on board headed off to work. Additionally, there does not appear to be any personal space in Asian countries. We did eventually make our flight but were rushed the entire time. The upside to the entire thing was a chance to see parts of Seoul from the train that we would not have been able to see otherwise.

Chris upon boarding the Train, pointing at the stop we have to get of at.

A few veiws from the train