This is a long overdue post, but I was so impressed with the Seoul Airport, I wanted to write a little about it in case anyone out there reading this finds they are headed through Seoul.
I flew from Bangkok, Thailand to Seoul, Korea in late July, in transit to the United States. I had about a 2 hour layover, and had done a little research on the airport prior to flying into ICN.
My flight left Bangkok close to midnight and landed in Seoul around 7am local time. I had read that there were showers for those in transit, so as I deplaned I set out to find them.
There is a nice, quite area upstairs with multiple computers for those who would like to check email, surf the net, etc. The only problem I saw was that there was no time limit posted, and all the terminals were full, so I didn’t take advantage of this service.
As I made my way past the computer terminals, the showers were next to the day spa/massages. When I walked in there was no attendant, but a sign saying that a shower kit (with toothbrush, soap, shampoo, etc) was $5 USD and a towel only was $2 or $3 USD (I can’t remember, and I didn’t care). Since I had brought my own toiletries with me I opted just for the towel.
I had to go around the corner to a private day club to get an attendent to rent me a towel, and then came back to the shower area for my free refreshment. The towel ended up being about the size of a hand towel, which I was disappointed in, however beggars can’t be choosers, and I was just happy to get a shower out of the deal.
The use of the showers themselves is free, so I checked the appx 10 showers to see which one was available. There are signs on the doors that you can change from “in use” to “vacant” and vice versa.
Upon entering the “vacant” shower room, I was please to find a large shower stall, cabinet-style sink, and toilet.
Although the showers are not cleaned after each use, the one I used was very clean. This is Asia. Asians tend to be very clean people. I can’t imagine the same service offered at JFK in NYC. The place would be wrecked!
The water was hot, the water pressure was great, and there was no sense of urgency from people waiting outside for me to hurry up (could be due to the time of day I was there).
After I showered and left the shower area, I went to a place where there is free internet connections for those with their own laptops. You can sit, plug in to A/C power and get online, either via wi-fi or CAT-5 cables.
This is how I spent the rest of my time in Seoul. A great layover, and I didn’t feel as beat as I would have had I not had a shower 5 hours into my travel.
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