Getting to Jeju Island, South Korea
We figured out a few things out when we booked our self-tour/ hiking trip to Jeju Island. Of course, looking at blogs and travel sites helped but there were just some things that weren't explained.
Hopefully this blog post will assist in your journey.
Travelling to Jeju is relatively easy. The language barrier could prove to be a stumbling block but Jeju residents are so used to foreign travelers (you can fly there direct from Hong Kong, Japan and Philippines!) that they sorta expect you to thumb through your travel documents, point point and do the universal body language dance.
Incheon International Airport (인천국제공항) ✈️ Gimpo International Airport (김포국제공 ✈️항)Jeju Island (제주도)
If you are flying by Asiana or Korean Air, there would be a transfer at Incheon International Airport. However if you decide to take the budget carriers, the first thing you have to do when arriving at Incheon is getting yourself to Gimpo International Airport.
I collected my Korean EG SIM card from the bookstore at Incheon. If you are facing Gate 7, turn around and you would see K-Books.
This is my second time using EG SIM and it's pretty alright for 4-5 days in Korea. Do not buy EG SIM if you are not using a Samsung or iPhone. There is a huge problem syncing with the network if you got a phone like Lenovo, XiaoMi or god forbid, a Blackberry. Requests for refunds will not be entertained.
To get to Gimpo, look for the signs at Incheon upon arriving directing you to an "Airport Railway". You will find yourself at the airport basement. Grab your T-money at the convenience store (you will pass by it on the way to the train station) and top up around SGD100, if you are planning to return to Seoul after Jeju. Trust me, it's worth it.
If you are not coming back to Seoul, buy a one way ticket from the ticketing machines. Do not buy the Express Train, it will bring you to Seoul Station directly instead of taking you first to Gimpo. The commuter train may be tad slower but it comes more frequent and leads directly to Gimpo. The train ride on the commuter train was quiet and comfortable. We took this time to swap SIM cards.
Gimpo International Airport (김포국제공)
We made a mistake of underestimating the distance and time it would take to store our luggage at Gimpo. It was a good 15 minutes walk following the signs stating "Domestic Airport" from the train station.
After that we look around for the bag (수하물보관소) to store our big bags. Since we were going hiking, we planned to bring only an overnight bag and a 25L hiking bag. There was this grumpy elderly man taking care of the counter who probably was wondering what was his sin to be dealing with so many foreigners who barely spoke Korean. It cost us around SGD70 to store our luggage there for 3 days or 72 hours.
We received an acknowledgement slip after we stored the luggage. This is the only way to identify that the luggage is under the airport's safekeeping. The grumpy man told us that the fees are to be paid upon collection. You will need to guard the slip if you want your luggage back.
Travelling to Jeju is relatively easy. The language barrier could prove to be a stumbling block but Jeju residents are so used to foreign travelers (you can fly there direct from Hong Kong, Japan and Philippines!) that they sorta expect you to thumb through your travel documents, point point and do the universal body language dance.
Incheon International Airport (인천국제공항) ✈️ Gimpo International Airport (김포국제공 ✈️항)Jeju Island (제주도)
If you are flying by Asiana or Korean Air, there would be a transfer at Incheon International Airport. However if you decide to take the budget carriers, the first thing you have to do when arriving at Incheon is getting yourself to Gimpo International Airport.
I collected my Korean EG SIM card from the bookstore at Incheon. If you are facing Gate 7, turn around and you would see K-Books.
This is my second time using EG SIM and it's pretty alright for 4-5 days in Korea. Do not buy EG SIM if you are not using a Samsung or iPhone. There is a huge problem syncing with the network if you got a phone like Lenovo, XiaoMi or god forbid, a Blackberry. Requests for refunds will not be entertained.
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| Source: http://koreasimblog.blogspot.sg/2013/10/eg-sim-card-you-may-collect-eg-sim-card.html |
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| Walking to catch our ride to Gimpo |
Gimpo International Airport (김포국제공)
We made a mistake of underestimating the distance and time it would take to store our luggage at Gimpo. It was a good 15 minutes walk following the signs stating "Domestic Airport" from the train station.
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| Head upstairs to Departure and look for Domestic Departures. Source: Google Map |
We received an acknowledgement slip after we stored the luggage. This is the only way to identify that the luggage is under the airport's safekeeping. The grumpy man told us that the fees are to be paid upon collection. You will need to guard the slip if you want your luggage back.
Our flight to Jeju was booked through Jeju Air's website. Most Korean websites runs on IE only so don't bother trying with any other web browser. I spent some time mucking around on Chrome before realising that. Reservation instructions are in English and is quite easy to follow.
Running over to the check-in counter, we handed over our passports with 30 minutes to spare! Frequent travellers would know that almost every check in counter closes around the 45 minute mark before departure. Domestic flights in Korea on the other hand only require you to check in 15 minutes before departure! We found out that nugget of information only when the counter lady informed us that they needed to scan our luggage since we were foreigners, so we had to wait at the counter as they were doing that.We were really hoping that the plane wouldn't leave without us.
It was the first time I had ever heard that foreigners would be subject to extra scans.
We dashed to the gate once we were cleared. Luck would have it that our gate was way right at the end! I think I only started breathing normally once I got into the place as the last group of passengers.
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| Wink of good things to come? |
The lesson here is to buffer more time than you think is required. Murphy's law always strikes when you least expect it!
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