We were at the midway point of our 18-day vacation in South Korea. On Day 09, our plan was to relocate from Suncheon and head to Seoul which we’d be using as a base for most of the rest of the trip, barring the last evening where we’d spend the final night at Incheon. We’d booked a KTX train ride that was departing at 7:21AM, but on Day 06 learned that this scheduled train had been cancelled because of the ongoing worker’s strike. That was a real bummer, and we scrambled to find alternatives and got really lucky to find a train that was departing the same morning albeit at 5:27AM. Not much of a choice, so we booked seats on this train. On a subsequent night, the updated KTX booking website reported that the tickets for the train were completely sold out.
Our departure from Suncheon towards Seoul on Day 09 this morning was without incident… mostly! We left Baguni Hostel at 4:45AM and walked the short distance to Suncheon Station. It was eerily quiet this early in the morning with practically zero vehicle traffic until we were almost at the station. There was also a very light and gentle snowfall at this time too. Our train departed on time and it was going to take just under 3 hours to reach Seoul. The four of us were in different carriages, and at the penultimate stop at Yongsan Station – which to be fair is in Seoul – the wife got off with the daughter, while the son and I were still onboard as we would only be getting off at the next station – Seoul Station. Fortunately, we saw them already heading to the platform exit from our carriage window, rushed out to stop them, and we all managed to get back onto our train in time before it departed. That was a near mishap!
Our Airbnb apartment is just a few minutes’ walk from Seoul Station, but it was not ready for us to check in when we arrived at Seoul Station at 8:27AM as the previous guests had not checked out yet. We were able to link up with our host though who was happy to safekeep our luggage for us first. An early lunch at the level two food court at Seoul Station later, we were ready to explore Seoul. Our first area of exploration was the Ewha Street area, and we explored the campus grounds of Ewha Womans University, the shopping street itself, and eventually wandered to Sinchon.
Pictures!
