This year is an odd year and again... my mum and I miss Seoul too much to miss out on a trip there.
We were really lucky with our flights and accommodation this trip. We tried two new hotels this trip, Singapore Air's (or rather, Silk Air's) direct flight from Singapore to Busan and flying to Seoul from Busan instead of taking a train (because I am afraid of zombies...)
Silk Air- Flight SIN > PUS
Okay truth to be told my mum handled most of the bookings while I was busy at work and for that I am really grateful but I WAS STILL SHOOK WHEN I FOUND OUT IT WAS A SILK AIR FLIGHT TO BUSAN TWO DAYS BEFORE THE FLIGHT.
No hate to Silk Air man. But when I went on board I realised there was no in flight entertainment system and the leg room was really quite bad D: I didn't know I had to download their Silk Air entertainment app and when I tried to download it, it was about 40+ mb? Er... nah.
The flight was 6 hours and I had only 2 x 1 hour naps which was... really painful the next day. Just as I finally settled down to sleep about 2.5 hours into the flight the lights were turned on and I was awakened to eat my in-flight meal. GG.com
We landed in Busan at 6.30am, which is about 5.30am Singapore time. Wah, I am not sure how my mum and I managed to still survive till 4pm, which was the time our hotel allowed us to check-in.
Also I was super confused to step out literally into the open from the aircraft then into a bus to get transported to the terminal? The last time I did this was in Kuala Lumpur whoops.
Airport transfer
Gimhae Airport offered three transportation routes to the main city. I did not want us to take the train as I was unfamiliar with it and I was not so sure how much the taxi ride would cost either.
So.... we opted for the airport limousine bus. We have no clue about the schedule or how to take it so we just winged it based on some random instructions we read online.
In order to NOT WING IT, learn from our mistakes and please refer to the instructions below:
1) After exiting the arrival hall, go out of the exit labelled "GATE 3"
2) Look towards the left and see if there are these buses with the large korean and english words on their windscreen.
There are two destinations for these buses, choose either the one heading for Busan Station or for Haeundae. Thankfully the bus drivers could speak very basic English.
3) If the buses are not there, check out the panel which has the departure timings of the bus printed.
Unfortunately, I did not manage to take a picture of it as we arrived at the bus at 7.13am, at which the bus driver ahjussi promptly opened the bag compartment for us to put our bags (by ourselves, he doesn't help so just take note don't expect him to!) and then shoo us up the bus and drove off at 7.15am.
We paid 6,000 won per pax and there is no change provided so please take note of this as well! We had small change so we paid 12,000 won for the both of us.
Seats were really comfy though. And all the major stops had announcements in Korean, English, Japanese and Chinese (in that order).
4) The bus took us comfortably to Busan Station and dropped us opposite the road.
We could cross the road and get to our hotel (which was super near the drop off) or we could take the elevator down at exit 3 and then go up again via exit 4.
Looking back... the elevator route was a bit unnecessary hor. But when you lack sleep you are blur like a sotong.
Toyoku Inn
This hotel is located here and it's great because:
1) It is located very near to the airport limousine bus stop
2) The moment you exit the hotel, the long queue of taxis waiting for passengers is right in front of you
3) You are only 1 min walk from the main entrance of Busan Station. the bus stops at the main road, the entrance to the underground trains
However I would say that the room is very small, we had difficulty opening both of our medium sized luggage bags at the same time. They were also really anal about the check in time, even 5 mins earlier also they refuse to give us the key to go into the room sobs. I was so tired.
In any case, we left our luggage there and then went out exploring!
Transport Cards
Prior to our trip we actually already have 3 T-Money cards, the kind that are used in Seoul. T-Money cards can be used for both the subway and the buses in Busan. However, Busan has their own version called Cashbee (I think) and this card cannot be used in Seoul. So remember to get the T-Money card, I think you can probably get one easily from the convenience store or at the subways.