South Korea & Taiwan Blog 1: Getting there
Prelude:
A bit of information to help set the scene. This is our first overseas trip since the trip we had planned to Egypt, Jordan, Dubai and Oman was cancelled due to Covid.
So in November 2022 we started thinking about leaving NZ again, and decided that South Korea could be an interesting destination. To be honest we knew very little about South Korea, but the more we starting looking the more we realised that it was the kind of Asian trip we needed; after the last 2 trips to Asia being SE Asia ( Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar ) and India we were looking for an Asian experience that was a little more… civilised. So destination 1 was chosen, but it seemed like a long way to travel to only see 1 country so we started looking at locations to pair with South Korea. Japan was the obvious choice, but at the time we were booking flights etc Japan was still closed to foreigners due to a Covid wave, so we pivoted to looking at other places we knew little about but could be easy to visit, and decided on Taiwan. Again the more we researched the more we liked the idea of exploring this island for a couple of weeks. So the plan was set; 2 weeks in South Korea ( staring with 5 nights in Seoul and then ‘freeballing’ it for the rest of the 2 weeks ) then a flight from Seoul to Taipei ( again 5 nights booked then ‘freeballing’ ) and then a flight back to NZ.
And it might seem like a little detail but the fact that AirNZ had direct flights to/from Seoul and Taipei was a big factor in the decision to go there.
And as another piece of background to these blogs, as photographers we would traditionally carry our lightweight travel camera setups with at all times, shooting snapshots and more ‘artistic’ photos with the same gear. This works ok but in the past has tended to mean more artistic photography than snapshots due to having to get the camera out of the bag for each photo make sure the settings are right and the right lens is attached etc etc.
So this trip is different; we decided early on to use our normal travel camera gear when we needed to, but the bulk of our record shots of out travels would be taken on our iphones ( and spoiler alert: it was so nice to just point and shoot when needed, without having to engage the photographer brain, and we took way more snapshots than we normally would )
The photos you will see in these blogs will mainly be from our iPhones, with other shots from our Fujifilm cameras as appropriate, but sometimes these will be just the jpegs straight out of the camera and other times the fully edited RAW files.
With that out of the way, lets get on to the journey: this first blog will cover getting from Napier to Seoul and the start of the holiday; this is always the part that I don’t enjoy. And probably the least interesting to read about.
And just for clarity:
$ = NZD$
W= Korean Won ( W1000 = $1.20 )
T$=Taiwanese Dollar ( T$20 = $1 )
Day 1 – Friday, 7 April, 2023 Napier to Auckland
Drizzle in Napier
Cloudy in Auckland
Packed our bags etc at home then caught a taxi to Airport @ 3pm, checked etc. Relaxed for bit, had a coffee and boarded at 4:40pm, flight left at 5:00pm, ok flight, landed Auckland at 6:05pm
Got bags then had dinner at Gypsy Moth at airport ( $60, Butter milk chicken, pork belly bites, beer & wine ), then caught bus to Ibis Hotel ( $8 ea ) at 7:10pm, checked in etc and up to room ( $141 for 1 night ).
Relaxed.
Day 2 – Saturday, 8 April Auckland to Seoul
Fine weather all the way
Up at 7am , got ready then bus to Airport at 8am ( $6 in this direction!!???), checked in , through immigration etc in 30 minutes.
Got some breakfast at café Airside ( $60 ) then wandered around the shops and relaxed/watched people.
Called to Gate 16 at 11:10am, walked over to the gate lounge, waited a bit then onboard at 11:30am. Full flight with lots of Korean’s heading home. Took off at 12ish.
Good flight generally, a little bumpy all the way. Watched lots of movies, had lunch and dinner served. Lots of thunder clouds to be dodged on the way.
Dark when we arrived at Incheon Airport at 8:30pm, slow and confusing process through immigration; we filled in Arrival cards and Health Cards, then found that because we had a “K-ETA” visa and “Q Code” already we didn’t need either. There was no information on the plane about what we needed to do, which would have been helpful. Popped out to the main terminal at 10pm ( 1am NZ time ).
Drew some cash ( W500,000 = NZD$631 ) at the only ATM, then walked to Maglev train to get to hotel ( found that it was closed after we walked there ) then walked back to terminal building and down to get taxi ( W10,000 ) to Best Western Premier, Incheon ( $129 for 1 night), checked in, got drinks at 7/11 and crashed to bed at 11:30om. The room at the BW Premier was ok but old and tired. our room was at the end of the corridor which meant it was quiet, but a. long walk to the lift.
