Remember when I said I was running on fumes at this point? Well, I hit the ground running in Seoul, determined to make the most of the final 48 hours of this trip. The problem now was, I had to transfer from Incheon Airport to Gimpo Airport. I'd never been to Gimpo before, and I scheduled a three hour transfer because that looked to be simple enough...until I got to immigration and the line was nearly an hour long due to multiple widebody arrivals just in front of us. Ugh!
Through immigration, follow the signs (which were very good), and finally find the train station for trains to Gimpo. After fiddling around for a couple minutes, a nice agent came up to me and said "NO CARDS!" Ugh. Now I have to find an ATM. Side note: is Korea one of the last places in the developed world where cash is semi-frequently required? Took about 15 minutes to walk all the way back to the main terminal, find an ATM, get cash, and finally back to buy tickets for the train.
No drama from there, and the train to Gimpo was a fairly short ride and very easy to navigate. I had managed to obtain my boarding pass online, so headed straight to security. I couldn't believe the finish line was just a couple of hours away!!
Security at Gimpo was a piece of cake - this is an airport clearly designed for efficiency, and assuming no lines it could be easy to be Uber to gate in 5-15 minutes depending how close your gate is to security. Added bonus: no LAG restrictions or need to take electronics out....super easy peasy!
Found the Korean Air lounge on the second level since I had 30-40 minutes to spare, and it was very...minimalist. Comfy seating for 40-50 people, and a small snack buffet which was really just coffee and tea, water, and some soft drinks. There were also some packaged snacks, but nothing terribly impressive. Given this is a domestic-only airport nobody is going to be flying over an hour from here, so really this is built to be all about efficiency. I'm not sure what I'd had in my mind prior, but it all worked out quite well.
Off to the gate, where despite being an absolutely rammed full flight everyone was queuing up in an extremely orderly fashion by group number, so was able to get on board quickly. Small tip for this route: tickets are extremely inexpensive (under $100 for full Y) and on some flights Korean operates a 737 with an actual business class...not that you need that for for such short flights, but just something to be aware of since it was maybe $30 more than economy. Most of the flights when I went were A220s with no business cabin, so just choose wisely.
Korean Airlines flight 1205
Seoul Gimpo, Korea (GMP) to Jeju Island, Korea (CJU)
Depart 18:50, Arrive: 20:00, flight time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
Boeing 737-900, Registration KL7726, Manufactured 2005, Seat 08E
Miles Flown Year-to-Date: 217,115
Lifetime Miles Flown: 3,257,012
Was one of the first to board, seats were comfy, and this is definitely the happy smile of someone about to earn a million miles!
Flight went out completely full, but with comfy 2x2 seating and a flight time of only about 50 minutes...and don't forget the generally more polite and orderly flights work in Asia...it was plenty comfortable. Flight attendants had time for a brief "service" of passing through the cabin with water...and that was really all there was to say about the flight. Landed right on time, pulled into the gate, opened the door and walked off and....even though official confirmation was still pending...
I WAS FINALLY A MILLIONAIRE!
Note the puffy jacket...it was a wee bit colder in Korea (even Jeju in the south!) in December than it had been just a few days prior down in Southeast Asia (although, side note, Hanoi was surprisingly pleasant at only around 20 degrees!) Million miles secured it was no problem calling an Uber to take me to my hotel...the Hyatt Regency. First thought, this lobby is outrageous and over the top!
The sheer size of the lobby reminded me of a Las Vegas hotel with the soaring ceilings and over-the-top decor. It seemed to be a rather large hotel, and I can imagine in the peak season Jeju is absolutely packed with visitors. If my absolutely full flight in December was any indicator it must be pretty popular in the off season as well.
Quick check-in, change of clothes, and off to do a quick 1.5 mile run around the city since I was running behind. It was almost 8:45pm by the time I got out to run and shortly after 9pm when I returned (yay, drama-free run in the dark on city streets with narrow sidewalks...traffic was congested enough that I mostly actually ran on the edge of the road and was just fine) but I was determined to see get out and enjoy a LITTLE local culture. Finally by 930 or so I had cooled down enough and showered and called a quick Uber to take me to Magpie Brewing which advertised that they were open until 1am.
One of the reasons I love going to breweries or craft beer joints when I have a short time in a place is that it's not only one of the easiest places to meet people (sitting at a bar/common table lends itself to easy conversation...especially when people have a couple drinks and get over any shyness) but you get a little insight into how the local globalist crowd lives. I find a lot of overlap with this crowd and people who like to travel and are curious about the world, so for me it's often a great way to meet a local, younger, cooler, more international crowd.
It's also a great way to find yourself with a great pizza anywhere in the world...
So, a million miles earned, but there was still one problem: I hadn't decided how to get home. I was holding two different options: one was a straight shot back on a United award (which was sounding very appealing given how exhausted I was) and the other was to take MIAT Mongolian to Frankfurt with an overnight in Ulanbaatar...which sounded a whole lot more fun. I was too tired to make up my mind that night....so decided to sleep on it....despite having a flight back to Seoul at 9am followed by both the United and MIAT flights being out of Incheon around mid-day. Nothing like a little last-minute decision making.
Unfortunately, the trip ended on a bit of a sour note...with "a bit" being an understatement. Called an Uber back to the hotel, and when he arrived he motioned to me to sit in the front seat. I didn't think anything of it (even though I don't think I've ever sat in the front seat of an Uber before) but just assumed in my mind that maybe the back door didn't work or something like that. A few minutes into the ride, the driver (who spoke no English) started using Google translate whenever we would stop at a light to try and have a conversation. Innocent enough at first..."where is Jason from" and "why is Jason in Jeju" then things got awkward "is Jason married?" and "does Jason have children?" On their own, these aren't unusual questions for people to ask a foreign visitor...I get them all the time and people are genuinely just curious about this visiting person.
Sadly, in this case, after confirming no wife or kids...he decided it was acceptable to reach over and start massaging my neck and shoulders. I froze...not sure how to react. I'm pretty sure if I actually felt endangered I would have reacted...because I could have extremely easily overpowered this guy...but not feeling endangered by just creeped the heck out (and knowing we were a couple blocks from the hotel) I just tensed up and froze. I know this is a common response to unwanted contact...but it was uncomfortable as heck. I did think to instantly alert Uber by the app...but regardless what they say...some call center guy halfway across the world isn't a whole lot of help.
Got back to the hotel about 30 seconds later and instantly lept out of the car. 1 Star review for this driver...and once Uber had confirmed I "was safe" they said they would "follow up." To their credit, I did get a phone call the next day and a promise they would "review this driver to see if they should continue to have access to the platform" so....ugh. Lesson learned: Uber is great 99.9% of the time...but those stories you hear about bad drivers? Definitely a thing.
Now, let's get on to happier things....time to move on to what comes after a million miles...and this is where it gets even more fun...........