ICN for Seoul (wintertime)

My last couple of times in South Korea happened to be in wintertime and it is damn cold in winter!

But I can totally say that it is one of my favorite destinations ever!

Itaewon district

I even had an uncomfortable adventure on my very last ICN flight linked to my passport: I changed it recently and informed the related responsible in my aviation company who hadn't done their job of updating the information in the system, so when I got to the passport control in Seoul, I risked to get deadheaded back as an INAD. Me, the Crew!!! It would all go well (we had a 24h layover during which the company could remedy the error in the system), if it wasn't for my Purser (the most senior Crew, basically our boss for a day)  who got so scared of the situation that she felt the urge to amplify the situation by warning the whole hierarchy (up to God) of my situation and putting it all on my back. If I  had listened to her, my very last layover in South Korea would have been spent in the hotel room! Thankfully I, at least. think out of the box, so after sorting the problem out with who was really in charge, I went out with my fellow Crew. And I am happy about it!

After the full immersion into the street food - and my oh my if there is plenty of it - we decided to visit a Cat Cafe. This is the only place on earth so far I've visited that has this kind of places. Basically it's a bar where you can take a drink and chat, BUT surrounded by cats and dogs! So instead of a kennel or cattery, this place is hosting homeless cats and dogs and offering them some attention by the animal lovers who are visiting. It was fun and enlightening!

Cat cafe

After this adventure there was some more street food and crowds with nice background music. You could hear it, smell it, feel it all. Let's not forget it was long before the pandemic, which feels ages ago. 

Our final research before the closure of the shops was of course about the cosmetics. Have you ever heard about the Korean cosmetics?! They are famous about it. probably because the population starts using cosmetics very early and even the surgical interventions are quite common among the Korean youngsters. That's too far for me, but I do appreciate the endless brands of premium cosmetics of all types. That winter all my fellow ladies friends got a Korean cosmetic product for Christmas. Myself included!

Unleashed Crew

I have to tell you something about my first thought of South Korea, we're talking about 2013 when I had my first ever layover in this incredible country. Also that time was summertime, so I will do another post about it entirely. This is just a sneak peak of my first impression.

I had an adventurous layover and colorful exploring! Next day while I was walking at the airport, on my way back with the rest of the Crew, I saw a huge map. Unfortunately I didn't have time to take a photo, but I observed it carefully. It was the map of the world slightly different from what we're used to see at school. Or at least I thought everyone in the world was using the same maps. NOT. Apparently in Asia they suggest an Asia-centralized map, where Korea is at the very center, Americas at the right and Europe on the very left edge. It was so weird for me to see that! But enlightening as well! Why not, it's totally logical! In fact I made up my mind that Korea is sort of a parallel world to ours: it has the same standard and technology, but fashion, customs, music and food is totally different and what I loved is that - it is not copied from the western world! They have their own and they value it, which is awesome in my opinion. From that moment it became one of my favorite countries in the world. Right here is the answer to your question "what's your favorite destination?".

ICN airport of Seoul