The trip that I was anticipating for 2 months since I booked the air tickets in Dec 2013!! I was checking out Korean Air's main website on connecting flight to Jeju but sadly they don't allow people to book connecting flights between international and domestic routes. Thankfully, my colleague introduced me to a very useful website
http://www.hipmunk.com/ which you can do multi-city flights search and compare prices of different airlines at the same time! I selected the cheapest option with the best connecting flight times and it directed me to priceline.com to make my booking. Anyway, I compared fares with SQ and even low cost airlines such as Scoot and AirAsia X, the fares were about the same so I decided to go for comfort!
Day 0: 14 Feb 2014
Our flight to ICN (Incheon) was on 15 Feb 2014 at 1.30am so we had to reach the airport at about 11.30pm on Vday. I took a free limousine sponsored by UOB as I booked my flight tickets using UOB PRVI Miles Platinum Card. You just need to spend a minimum of SGD 500 in a single travel related transaction and you will be entitled to one-way ride to the airport in a limo! Well, it's not exactly a huge-ass limousine, it was just a Mercedes Benz E Class.
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| Breakfast on Flight |
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| Breakfast on Flight to ICN |
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| Beautiful View from my Window Seat |
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| Safe arrival at ICN Airport! |
Day 1: 15 Feb 2014
Upon reaching ICN airport, we had to make our way to Gimpo (GMP) Airport for our domestic flight to Jeju. The train towards GMP was at the basement. It was quite a long walk upon checking out of immigration. The ride from ICN airport to GMP airport was about 30-35min and it comes every 12min. It costs KRW 3650 (about SGD 4.30) per person excluding a deposit fee of KRW 500. You got to pay KRW 4150 first and then get KRW 500 refunded at your ending point.
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| ICN Airport Train Station |
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| Single Journey Ticket |
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| Deposit Refund Machine where you will get your KRW 500 back |
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| Gimpo Airport |
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| GMP Airport with Korean Drums Set. Btw, I love my kitty sweater from Zara. |
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| Boeing 747-400 to Jeju from Gimpo |
Initially, I wanted to get a data plan SIM card for my phone but the queue was long and the charges were quite expensive - around SGD 10 a day. So I just forfeited the idea and went to KT Kumho rent-a-car booth. After checking my documents and International Driving Permit (IDP - you will definitely need one in Korea if you wish to drive, you may apply at
Automobile Association of Singapore for the permit), we proceeded to Gate 5 where there's a shuttle bus to fetch us to the rental car office to collect our car. Anyway, I reserved my car via
http://www.rentalcars.com/ at about SGD 191 for 2 days. Actually there were cheaper cars to choose from but I prefer bigger cars so I chose Hyundai Sonata and paid a higher price.
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| Me driving towards our first hotel! Look at the clear blue sky! (BF took this pic, I'm a safe driver!) |
With the help of the GPS, I made it to the hotel in about 1.5h. The GPS was so good! You can just search for phone number of the location if you can't find the exact address. I got used to left hand drive after 10min of driving, it's rather easy! BF got so comfortable sitting next to me and he actually fell asleep while I was driving. -.-
Feliz Town Hotel
Address: 12-98 Siheung-ri, Seongsan-eup, Seogwipo-si, Seongsan, Jeju-do, South Korea
Contact Number: +82-64-782-4003
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| Feliz Town Hotel |
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| Feliz Town Hotel |
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| Hyundai Sonata - so gorgeous! Very good handling! I love this car! (Feliz Town Hotel provides free parking) |
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| Our hotel room |
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| Bathroom was NOT HEATED. It was a pain to shower!! FREEZING COLD!! |
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| Mini Kitchen |
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| Nice view of the sky and sea! |
We were famished when we reached the hotel at 3pm (Korea time)! We asked the hotel staff to introduce us good places to eat and she gave us a map (pic below) full of restaurants nearby!! As black pork in Jeju is highly raved, we picked Bokjassi Roasted Pork/Jeju Black Pork as our first meal! The black pork was REALLY GOOD!!!
Bokjassi (Jeju Black Pork)
064-782-7330
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| Map of Restaurants nearby Feliz Town Hotel |
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| Bokjassi Black Pork Restaurant - RECOMMENDED |
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| Very pretty sea view from the restaurant |
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| Grilling the raw black pork |
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| *drooling* |
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| All for KRW 48000 (about SGD 57 for 2 pax), one bowl of rice costs KRW 1000 by the way |
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| The staffs helped us cooked and cut the pork |
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| JUICY AND TASTY |
This was the BEST PORK I ever tasted in my life!! So awesome that the normal pork couldn't satisfy me anymore! Singapore, why you no black pork?!?!
We then made our way to Trick Art Museum. Even though they close at 7pm, the last entry is 6pm. We missed it by 10min. Thus we had to make our way back to the hotel in the dark and this time round my BF's gonna do the driving. As he drives everyday in Singapore, he was very used to right hand drive and keeping left on the road, thus he made a few mistakes and didn't dare to make a left turn! Hahahaha =P And so we concluded that I drive better with LHD. ^^
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| Tiny me with a Huge Hyundai Sonata |
Everything closes as early as 7-8pm in Jeju and so we just grabbed some instant cup noodles and drinks at GS 25 convenience store and headed back to our hotel for an early night. We had to wake up early to watch sunrise at Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak the next day. Stay tuned for the
next post! :)
Hi! Just wanted to ask a question regarding your trip to Jeju. I'm also from SG and i've been wanting to go to Korea for some time. How did you manage to book your flight to Jeju? I've been trying to look for flights to Jeju and they don't really specify it well..how much time did you allocate between your jeju flight and your flight to incheon? I'm a little worried that I might nit make it in time to the jeju flight..
ReplyDeleteHello, you can go to http://www.hipmunk.com/ to book connecting flight to Jeju by selecting "Multi-city" tab under 'Search Flights'. There is no direct flight to Jeju from Singapore, and there are several airlines with 1 stop-over option such as Singapore Airlines (via Seoul), Cathay Pacific (via Hong Kong), Korean Air (via Seoul), Asiana (via Seoul), etc. Otherwise, you can always take a flight to Seoul and then take their low cost domestic airline, such as Jeju Air or Jin Air (similar business model as tigerair/airasia/jetstar) with multiple frequencies from Gimpo Airport to Jeju Airport. I booked my Jeju flight 3h apart from my arrival time in Incheon. I think somewhere between 2.5-3h will be good as it took me less than 1h to travel from Incheon Airport to Gimpo Airport via train, including clearing the customs and collecting baggage. Hope this helps. =)
DeleteThank you! (:
Deletealso thank you for your posts, they're really helpful!
we also stayed at the same hotel (the room looked exactly the same with the external view) and went for the same black pork place!! the pork is excellent!! but a little too much for 2 pax but we did not waste any meat :)
ReplyDeleteI took Eastarjet from seoul, China Eastern Airlines offers flight via Shanghai
how to rent the car please??? is it really safe to drive first time left handed? how long does it takes to drive from the aiport to sunrise peak or do u reckon its faster to drive from airport straight to seowipo ??
ReplyDeleteHi, as mentioned in my blog post above, I rented via the web from http://www.rentalcars.com/. You just need to key in the location, collection time and pay with your credit card. When I first started driving on the left, I got a little strange feeling but I got used to it after a few junctions in around 10min. It's not that difficult at all. =) It would be around 1.5 to 2 hours drive from the airport to Sunrise Peak, depending on the traffic. It would definitely be faster towards Seogwipo as the distance between Airport and Seogwipo is shorter than Airport to Sunrise Peak. Hope this reply can clear your doubts. =)
DeleteHi Lynne, am planning a trip in jeju and would like to rent a car, would like to ask you the following:
ReplyDelete1) where are the places you visited? or the places you would recommend us to go?
2) how much is petrol in jeju?
3) how is sonata fuel comsumption?
4) is parking convenient?
5) was your GPS in Korean or English?
Hello,
Delete1) I mentioned all the places on my blogpost Korea Day 0-3. Places worth going are Seongsan Ilchulbong (Sunrise Peak), Bokjassi (Jeju Black Pork) we had as mentioned in this post, Jeju Folk Village if you like culture (their bibimbap is the best I ever had!) and Hallasan.
2) It was around SGD 65 when we topped it up before we returned the car. We drove quite a distance within the 2 days so it was quite okay.
3) Sonata is pretty fuel efficient as mine was a new model.
4) Parking is free almost everywhere (except Hallasan). Very convenient!
5) GPS was in English. Very good in giving directions. However, it will keep warning us when we drive above 70km/h, a bit annoying. Haha
Hi :) I just wanted to ask if when you hire a car does it include the GPS? or did you bring your own? Thank you
ReplyDeleteHi, while I was hiring the car on the internet, I indicated that I wanted a GPS. Some car rental charges extra for GPS, thus you got to check the terms & conditions before confirming. I would strongly recommend you to pay for the GPS if you are foreign to the roads in Korea.
DeleteThx for the great information! I found your blog while trying to find out how to rent a car more easily :) Glad you had a great time in Jeju Island!
ReplyDeleteHi, I am going to Korea in a few days time. I would like to know if it is better to exchange money in Singapore or in Korea and what are the places to best exchange the money at? Thank you :)
ReplyDeleteHello, my rate was better when I exchanged in Singapore at Majeed Money Changer (710A Ang Mo Kio Avenue 8, 6451 4948). The money changer will give a better rate if you are exchanging a bigger sum of money. I exchanged SGD 2000 with him but on that day he did not that that much KRW to change with me. He took my SGD and left me a receipt to collect it 1-2 days later. Initially I was a bit worried but he did fulfill his promise and gave me the KRW once the cash arrived. His rate was much better than the money exchange in AMK hub.
DeleteI did change extra SGD 150 in Myeongdong. The rate was a little lousier. The money changer was next to Giordano in Myeongdong if I remembered correctly. I did mention it in one of my Korea trip blog post though.
Enjoy your trip!
Cheers,
Lynne
Actually, paying using a debit card is better than going to a money changer.
DeleteFirst and most importantly, the rate is better!
Secondly, you save the hassle of going to a money changer
Thirdly, you dont have to carry so much money with you.
To sum up, its Cheaper, Convenient & Safer
I just went to Jeju for 2 weeks in july 2014
Cheers ;)
Hi Shaun, really? I have never gotten a better rate using debit/credit card. Bank charges overseas transaction fee which worsen the exchange rate. Maybe your bank charges differently, may I know which debit card you used?
DeleteHi Lynne
ReplyDeleteI read that korean GPS uses their tel no to locate. (thinking that was easier compare to keying in the address). The english GPS you used also the same?
Thanks!
Hi Nico,
DeleteYes! It was a breeze using the GPS. Their GPS is very accurate and you can rely on the telephone numbers. =)
Thanks Lynne! I'm trying to book a car from KT Kumho too.. and there are Eng and Kor GPS to choose from so I'm wondering is it the same as what you used... :)
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome Nico! Enjoy your drive in Korea! :)
DeleteHi Lynne, would like to ask how much was the cost for your flights in total for multi city? I have already booked my flight from Malaysia to Seoul ( im a malaysian :D ) and im now looking flight from seoul to jeju but it costs quite expensive, around RM500 for round trip. btw, im going jeju on oct. so do you think i should book the flight now?
ReplyDeleteHello, my Korean Air flight was USD 725 in total for Singapore to Jeju (Via Incheon), Jeju to Incheon (Seoul) and Incheon back to Singapore. I think RM 500 is reasonable for a round trip from Seoul to Jeju, if it includes check in baggage and drinks/snacks on board. You can subscribe to the airline and wait for promotion. October is still pretty far away, especially for domestic flights. You can start looking out in July.
DeleteHi Lynne, thanks for the great info you had! Can u also share with us some left-hand driving tips in Jeju? Thanks in adv! :)
ReplyDeleteHello Lynn, you are welcome. I'm always happy to share. I think just try to get used to it for the first 10-15 minutes, like keeping right on the road and turning into the correct lane at a slower pace. It will be easier to get used to for people who don't drive regularly in Singapore, like me. =p For people who drive everyday in SG, it is harder to switch over. Don't really have any tips actually.
DeleteHi Lynne, can I check with you in regards of the baggage information for China Eastern Airline? Is it confirmed that from SG to Korea by China Eastern Airline, the check-in baggage is 23kg per pc (max. 2 pcs only) for economic class? In addition, the hand carry baggage is only allowed 1 pc of 5kg only? Lastly, I would like to know more information about the transfers from Shanghai Pudong to Korea? (e.g. do we need to collect our luggage? What to do if our flight from sg to Shanghai Pudong is delayed, will we still be able to catch our nxt flight (from shanghai pudong to korea)?
ReplyDeleteHi Carin, sorry I am not able to answer you regarding your questions about China Eastern Airline. I took Korean Air to Korea and have never taken China Eastern too. You may want to check with China Eastern's customer service hotline 6222 3456 or their website.
Delete