An Hour by Hour Guide to the Seoul Experience

In September, @austinhopper and I spent an incredible week in South Vietnam stuffing our faces with Bánh mì sandwiches and sipping on $0.60 beers, but more on that adventure later. Today is about an unexpected highlight of our trip: Our 24-hour layover in Seoul, South Korea and how we made the most of it.

Day 1

6:00PM
The Seoul Incheon International Airport (ICN) is one of the largest and busiest in the world, but surprisingly easy to navigate. The airport itself is a good 30 miles from Seoul's city center, so our first hour was spent on the Airport Railroad Express (AREX) getting to our hostel in the Mapo-gu district.
At 8,000 KRW ($7.37 USD) it's definitely the most cost efficient way to get to the city and with the help of a universal symbol & coloring system, we found the right train despite our lack of knowledge of Korean.

7:00PM
We checked into Seoul I Guesthouse which is conveniently located close to a ton of restaurants, bars and shops. We did both dorm style and private rooms during our trip, but here we paid about $30.00 for a private room and secure place to leave our belongings for a night out on the town.

8:00PM
Navigating a Korean BBQ.
I left this one to Austin. My vegetarian tendencies had me at a loss when our waiter brought out a pile of seasoned raw meat stopped with noodles. I did manage to get some deliciously grilled veggies and kimchi for myself while Austin chowed down on bulgogi, a spicy beef dish. We paired dinner with Makgeolli, a traditional unfiltered rice wine that's a really weird combination of fizzy and milk-like with a sweet and sour edge. It's a probiotic drink that's really good for your immune system-- never a bad thing during periods of long travel.

9:00PM
Time to party Gangnam style. Technically we were in the Mapo-Gu district, but the legends of great Seoul night life were definitely upheld there by Hongik University's college students and other travelers passing through.
We tried out some fooseball against some locals and really quickly got our asses handed to us, but then, much to our surprise, we found a beer pong table where we could let our western skills shine and beat them by a landslide. We had a good laugh about the table rules of beer pong in Seoul, which are essentially anything goes. Austin & I are both into bar games, so it was a good fit for us, but there were also a number of dance clubs in the area too.

10:00PM - 8:00AM
Too many shots later, we did a jog back to the hostel and got a good night's sleep.

Day 2

To say our knowledge of South Korea was lacking upon arrival would be an understatement, so a lot of our experience was shaped by just exploring our most immediate surroundings and going with our gut about what may be interesting to see. Just a disclaimer that we probably didn't hit most of the must-sees of the city and I think we prefer to travel that way. Especially if you're short on time, I recommend just getting the most out of what's around you, instead of shuttling from one tourist site to the next. Anyways...

9:00AM
You know that hungover feeling that leaves you in a zombie-like daze for a good hour or two while you slowly get your body moving in the direction of food? We were in just that until one of these sat glistening at us in a shop window:

BLANC Bakery had the cure to it all for us. Paired with some fancy "tropical" milk in a chic little bottle, we experienced a small fraction of the heaven that is the Seoul bakery scene. We shared three pastries between us before all was said and done.

10:00AM
Time for touristing. Everything you may have heard about how efficient transportation in Seoul is probably true. For 2,000KRW ($1.84 USD) we rented a pair of these bikes from the city's bike-sharing system for two hours.

Being at the end of our trip to Asia, we weren't looking to shell out money for cabs, so it was pretty awesome to have such an affordable option to get around the city.

11:00AM
Deoksugung Palace - We came across this in the heart of downtown, which is quite a striking contrast to the sky scrapers and modern structures of the city. If I remember correctly we paid like $1.00 to get in.

12:00PM
The palaces captured our imaginations, so we headed to Gyeongbokgung next. The complex was huge and really beautiful, to say the least.

1:00- 2:00PM
We rode alongside the Cheonggyecheon Stream that winds through the city as we headed back to our hostel to get packed up. The hostel's rooftop patio was a great place for a final phone charging and soju sipping.

3:00PM
We began our train ride back to Incheon International Airport, but not without stopping to check out some of the underground shopping along the way!

Because of its affordable and convenient transportation, diverse experiences and attractions, and overall uniqueness, Seoul may be one of the best places to have a layover there is. I would be happy to have a layover there again!