Thinking About Visiting Me?

Yay! If you're reading this you're probably thinking about visiting me. Here are the pertinent details.

The airport code for Seoul is ICN. I think your cheapest flights will land here. After you land at the airport you need to find the Seoul Airport Railway. It's the dark blue line on the Seoul Subway map. You're actually landing in Incheon, so it should be easy to find at the airport. The subway cars are big with room for baggage and racks on this line, so you don't have to worry about fighting for space (too much. It is Korea though so be ready to give up your personal space.)

Get off of this line at Seoul Station. Take the escalators up to the Korail station. I would allow about 2.5 hours to get from the airport to Seoul Station. This should leave time for bathroom breaks and picking up something tasty and familiar to eat in the station before you get on the train.

You can buy your KTX (bullet train) tickets online before you come. (There is a small English button in the upper right corner. You want the KTX from Seoul to Dongdaegu. If KTX isn't available for that day you can take the Saemaul train, but it's quite a bit longer at 3.5 hours or so.) Buy them in advance to ensure that you have a seat. It should cost no more than 45,000 won for a standard fare. I think for a bit more you can get a nicer seat, but it's only an hour and 45 minutes to get to Daegu. Try to get the seats in the middle of the car that face each other too. You can buy the tickets and make sure to have a seat 3-4 days in advance easily. Sometimes there's festivals and stuff that make it harder to find a train though, so earlier is better ;).

You'll have to check in at the ticket counter with your passport to pick up your tickets. Have your printout and the passport of whoever made the reservation handy. At Seoul Station they will most likely know enough English to help you. If not here is the useful phrase written in horrible romanization to help you out.

"Say-gay saram dongdaegu gada" - "three people going dongdaegu"

If you missed your train because of a delay don't worry, changing reservations is only about 800 wons each. That's less than 80 cents.

Now, grab your snacks and get on the train. The KTX is super cool. You'll get to see the southern part of Seoul and Gyeonggi-do, the province that is basically Seoul Metro. It's HUGE. You'll cross the Han river on your way out of Seoul, go into a tunnel, and when you come out the landscape will be whizzing by at 300km/hour. You will make stops in Daejeon and Gumi, I think. Stay on the train. No one will ask to see your tickets as long as you're in your assigned seat.

They will make an announcement that you are approaching Dongdaegu. Get your stuff and head for the doors. You won't know which door will open until you've arrived and it actually opens. Go up the stairs to find yourself in the lobby of Dongdaegu Station. Look for the tallest guy in the area. It's probably me.

From here we'll probably need to take the subway or two cabs to get you and your bags to our place. If you need to stay at the Novotel or some other hotel in Downtown Daegu we can get you there from the station pretty easily. We'll also make sure and have subway cards for you when you get here and give you our phone numbers so you can call us if you get lost. :)

Now that you're here, we'll take you for dinner somewhere nice. You'll probably want a restaurant with chairs since you've been flying for 24 hours, but we can find places with floor seats if you want the authentic experience.