November
9th, Saturday
We were going to be picked up at 10:30
from our hotel in Jeju. The driver
showed up early (10:15 or so) and drove us to the airport in Jeju city. It takes about 50 minutes or so to do the
drive – most of the time chugging through the traffic in Jeju city. We said good bye to the driver, and found the
Korean Air ticket counter. We were proud
we could figure out almost everything (there was an English button which saved
us a great deal of pain. We went
downstairs and found Angel in us Coffee.
Water and a sandwich. The
sandwich was odd, but the water was great.
We hung around the gate until they let us on the plane. Officially we were supposed to be in the last
group to board (seats 40 and above). But
the stewardi were merciful and we clumped on fairly quickly.
Our flight was from Jeju to Gimpo
Airport in Seoul. It’s very close to the
city. We then had to take a train (4
escalator rides down from the baggage area – tough with big cases. We bought tickets to Incheon Airport –
terminal 1? Terminal 2? We chose 2 we hadn’t been advised which to
take. On the ride over Chuck found United stops at terminal 1 – oh well. The train ride was rather crowded for the
first several stops. Once it cleared out
a bit, it made the ride more pleasant.
Our next challenge was finding the
shuttle to the hotel. Again, we asked at
the information desks and found the shuttle bay outside. Best of all the Grand Hyatt shuttle was right
there. New issue – East or West Tower?
Again, we hadn’t been advised.
Sigh. We opted for west. Nope.
We could easily walk to the east tower.
Went to room 305. Nice room with
views of the airport.
We decided a cup of coffee and a
little something would hit the spot. We
were enjoying both when a waitress came by and told us that the table had been
reserved for dinner at 5 pm. The whole
restaurant was turning into a buffet like Cinderella’s ball. We walked around the lobby of both the east
and west towers. Bah. Dismal bars for bar snacks or buffet
dinners. What the….?
Eventually we opted to spend the
night in our room with room service. We
ordered hamburgers and salad (both delicious-Korean beef is superb) and had a
lovely dinner and rest. We drank some
Cass beers from the mini bar – as long as you‘re going for the gold……. Restful
night, and a nice dinner.
November
10th, Sunday
Our last Korea day. We went downstairs for breakfast, only to be
told that we weren’t signed up for breakfast.
We insisted that we’d prepaid, and I said, “Then let’s eat at the
airport later”, and we began to walk away.
The Maitr’d chased us down and said we should eat and she’d straighten
it out. I believe our major problem was
that the tour was supposed to end yesterday, but because it was $4000 cheaper,
we bought tickets to go home today.
Clearly, this last day is a kluge add-on. We went to the main check in desk with our
papers to show we weren’t making a breakfast story up. They copied our information. We got out things together and went back to
check out. Sure enough the tour company
paid for breakfast. It wouldn’t be too
big a deal, but the breakfast – like last night’s dinner was going to be a
buffet. An American buffet breakfast was
about $30 per person. I couldn’t eat $30
worth of breakfast with a gun to my head.
At 10:45 an “English-speaking”
driver showed up to take us to the Korean War memorial sites around
Incheon. His English WAS better than my
Korean, but then, that’s not saying much.
He was a very nice guy though. We
went to Jayu Park. There was a memorial
to those soldiers who’d died, a monument to General MacArthur, and a statue to
young kids who joined the war effort.
The park sat at the top of a very steep hill. Driving, parking, and general manoeuvering
around this place was tough. The weather
has gotten a bit dismal. Foggy and cold,
it didn’t make for very good photos.
View of Inchon from the park
Inchon docks
Korean War memorial
Us in the park
MacArthur statue.
Our next stop was another memorial
to the war. Tanks, guns, rockets,
statues of soldiers, and a very artistic column to the fallen soldiers.
Again, a little hard to take a photo to show the scale of this memorial
The flags of the nations from the UN that fought in the Korean war.
When that stop was over, we climbed
back into the van and headed for Terminal 1 at Incheon Airport. We got to the airport at 1, couldn’t check in
until 2, but a lovely coffee and the Asiana Lounge make for a restful hang
around until we leave at 6.
Incheon – San Francisco – LAX – Lyft – home. Gak. 
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