South Korea, April 2017: The Way To Myeongdong

Last April 14-19, 2017 (to be exact), i went on a solo trip to Seoul, South Korea.  Yes, i was a solo female traveler in a country where i don't know anyone. In short, i was a total stranger.  But reading from the reviews, i was only a little anxious.  Seoul is one of the safest cities we have in this world. So i mustered enough courage, packed my bags (eva air gives 30kg baggage allowance for economy class passengers) & flew to this beautiful country. I picked a hotel that's centrally located along Myeongdong St., it's the Hotel JHill which is a boutique hotel.   There's also Royal Hotel Seoul on the same street but a bit on the higher end in terms of price. Hotel JHill is perfect for my budget of 5 nights.

I chose to fly with Eva Airways because of their Hello Kitty planes (i'm a lover of anything hello kitty :-)).  Upon booking, i checked the hello kitty schedule flying to Seoul and made sure that i booked those both ways.  At the time of booking, Hello Kitty jets fly to Seoul from Taipei. So i flew from Cebu to Seoul via Taipei.

I felt so giddy upon seeing my boarding pass in Cebu  even if i know that the Cebu to Taipei leg is using Gudetama service.

                              My Cute Hello Kitty Boarding Pass next to my Arroz Caldo from Ullis

                           The ground crew puts this sticker to all the passengers upon checking in

                               Here's the eva air seat (Cebu-Taipei) with the Gudetama service

Upon landing in Taipei, i was so excited to see my ride, and this is what showed up...a Bad Badtz-Maru Plane.  I was soooo frustrated that i didn't take a photo of the interiors of the plane.  While watching the evai air video on board, i learned that the routes had changed.  Hello Kitty planes are nto anymore flying to Seoul.  The kitties are still flying to Paris, Singapore, Houston and Tokyo.

I just feasted my eyes with these cotton candies in the sky which caused the plane to shake from time to time (turbulence).

Upon arriving at Incheon Airport, i proceeded to the counter to buy my bus ticket.  The hotel sent me a map and guide - options to reach Myeongdong, via Train, Bus or Taxi.  I chose the Bus as i saw it to be very convenient for me in reaching the hotel.  If i take the train, i will have to transfer train and stations multiple times.  Going to Hotel JHill, i took bus 6015 and get off at Royal Hotel Stations.

Here's the bus ticket to which i paid KRW14,000.00 from Incheon airport to Myeongdon Royal Hotel stop.  (the return fare though was KRW 15,000.00)

Standing at the bus 6015 stop at Incheon Airport

Here's bus 6015...approaching my stop

I got off at Royal Hotel stop, walked to the left past the KEB bank headquarters.  Walked straight and and keep going,  When you see the Olive Young store to your left, look to your front and Hotel JHill is staring at you.  But if you arrive during night time like me (i arrived 9:00 pm), there's a likelihood that you will not notice the signage due to the so many street vendors covering the building.  Just look up to the top of the buildings (which i did) and i saw the Hotel JHill signage.

When you're going around the city, there is a taxi for english speaking foreigners.  How sweet of them....

Seoul is a vibrant city...i will definitely be back to explore the place more.

#evaair, #hoteljhill, #bus6015, #royalhotelseoul, #Myeongdong, #Seoul