"Seoul Searching" - Seoul, Korea

Yes I know, corny title... but it totally applies to me so HA! :) 

It's a late post, and I know I should keep up with it... but sometimes flights are exhausting!! I can't complain though; I've had 2 overseas in a row! 

I was fortunate to "win" this flight to Seoul through open bidding. Open bidding is where there is a list of open flights and need flight attendants with certain qualifications to fill those open flights. In addition, your schedule must be compatible with the open flight in order to get it.

-- For example, this particular flight needed a Korean speaking FA, and it departed on the 27th. I was Korean qualified, and my on call day started on the 27th (Thanks to my FA friends who bid for me!!)

I haven't been back to Korea since I was 6 years old for my grandfather's funeral.. and I've always longed to go back to my roots, meet extended family, see the evolution of a city after 18 years of absence. Needless to say, I was very excited.

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The flight to Seoul was HORRIBLE. My excitement was totally drained after having to tend to over a 100 children. I think the flight was around 85% children... so imagine kids around ages 9-13 running amok, asking for TONS of pop (we ran out of cola and sprite... and then they resorted to ginger ale and diet coke... wtf??) and a handful losing their passports. We were delayed in departure because one child lost their passport and no one knew where it was. I saw kids shoving their passports in the overhead bins, so I wasn't surprised... just shocked at how disorganized the school group leader was with these kids. The leaders got to sit in the executive first area, which I'm guessing is a part of their contract. Obviously this is a horrible idea... they cannot expect flight attendants to be keeping track with all these kids!! 

So long story short... the flight was super demanding. Senior FAs told me this isn't usually how Korean flights go; since it was the end of the winter break in Korean schools, there was the massive influx of students at this time of the year. I had to speak Korean for the entire flight which was a bit challenging, but I'm getting used to it. Korean people must love Korean-Canadians (aka gyopos) though... so many grandmas and grandpas were asking me so many questions on how I was so good at English and Korean and one even invited me to their home!! hahaha.. gotta love the elderly.

By the way, if you're on a Seoul flight... the bibimbap in economy class is pretty good.. just letting you know! ;) I wasn't able to try the executive first meals... next time for sure..!!

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We arrived at the hotel, and the Grand Hilton was nice! Although located a bit far off from the main areas of Seoul, the hotel shuttle took us to the subway station which was very convenient.

Grand Hilton Seoul

When I first arrived, I had no idea that I had to put my room card in this little compartment or else the lights would shut off in a few minutes. It's quite smart and efficient, since it helps you keep the card in place while you're in the room, and you could simply remove the card to turn the lights off before leaving the hotel. 

I tried contacting my friends in Seoul, and didn't realize that I had to include the area code for dialing. So.... I dialed and left messages to totally random numbers. I was going to try and meet my friend in the evening, but she lived a bit far away from where I was so it wasn't going to happen. My other friend ended work late, so we decided to meet for lunch and shop around during the day. 

By this time, I was starving. So I walked around the area looking for places to take out. It was a bit intimidating to enter the restaurants, because they were almost all places where you take your shoes off, sit down on the floor and eat. Not that I'm uncomfortable with this type of eating, but to stand there and have a bunch of people look at you at an open space was a bit awkward! I settled on one restaurant that specialized in rice and stew combos, but the only thing that I could take out was bibimbap... so I had bibimbap allllll day. Next, I stopped by 7/11 and bought some old-time snacks, such as banana milk, chicken chips and acacia gum. I pretty much passed out on my desk while eating.

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Next morning - I was up and ready to explore Seoul!! I was super excited to see my friend, since we haven't seen each other in a long time and it just felt so surreal to see each other in another country. My parents told me the metro would be too complicated for me to use, but it wasn't bad at all. I think even non-Korean speakers will have no trouble using the metro, since the machines provide English services as well and tell you how much you would have to pay to go to a certain stop. 

Ewha Women's Univ. Station

I met my friend at the Ewha Women's University Station, known for it's cute jewelry boutiques and abundant shopping. We ate at a restaurant where they served a 3 course meal (hot pepper shabu shabu, followed by kalgooksoo, a type of korean noodle, and then fried rice). The meal was around 10 dollars! I was astonished at the cheap food prices and how you don't tip in Korea. Apparently Korean people find it offensive... unless you tip an extravagant amount, they rather not have the extra cash. 

After the meal, we explored the shops - since it was a holiday (Samil Movement in Korea), some stores were closed. I didn't really buy much, just a few nail polishes, snacks and a scarf (10 dollars!!). It was nice to just browse and see what the stores had to offer. Some of the store owners were non-Koreans speaking in fluent Korean and that totally threw me off. It's kinda nice to see that though :)

TV Show Filming

We also had a chance to see a filming of a tv show around campus and since it was a holiday, a bunch of people swarmed the area and lined up to be in the show (the stars were apparently cooking and serving people with food..?). I got to peek at some pretty famous Korean tv stars (Noh Hong Chul and this other popular tv host), so that was a little treat!

All in all, my time in Seoul was super short but sweet. I was very sad to leave, but I'll be returning in April for vacation. ♥

*Recommendations

- Bring currency to Korea if you want to shop around - cash is a better form of payment especially in small boutiques.

- Don't drink tap water (this applies to all foreign countries) - I forgot that the restaurant served tap water and my stomach paid a dear price when I came back home...

- Don't be afraid to ask! -- Do you see the person in red in the Ewha picture? They are information guides and they can speak English, Japanese and Chinese apparently. Don't hesitate to ask if you're lost or want suggestions.

*Hotel Review (Grand Hilton Seoul)

I enjoyed my stay here! The hotel was very nice overall; my room was clean, spacious and well-equipped. The concierge was very helpful, spoke in English when I had difficulty asking certain questions and suggested good places to eat around the area. Converters were available upon request, and you also get a free drink coupon. The only downside is that if you want internet in your room, you would pay 19,800KRW for 24 hrs.. I was too tired to go down to the free wireless room so I paid.