We touched down for the very first time on Korean land at Incheon International Airport on May 25 6.30am (that's for our record). We were flying the whole night & you know that as much as you try to sleep on the plane, it doesn't really work. The old MAS Airbus 330 didn't have the adjustable head rest (although the seats were reclining) so our heads kept bobbing forward everytime we started to fall asleep. So we knew we needed a night of good rest before we flew down to Jeju.
The thing was this. Incheon was about 1 hour or so away from Seoul. The flight to Jeju was from another airport (Gimpo) which was 40 minutes away from Incheon. So the game plan was to rest for a night somewhere in between Gimpo & Seoul so that we needn't rush back & forth from Seoul city centre. And that in-between hotel was Gimpo Hotel Airport. And it was just a mere 5 minutes away from Gimpo airport which meant that we could just wake up, pack up & go.
We read from somewhere the hotel could actually pick you up from the airport if you ring them up but that sounded too complicated for us so we decided take an airport bus. And it was cheap. we paid only 5,000 won per person. That's like RM15 for a 40-minute ride. Despite the fact that the bus driver didn't speaking the England, he was kind enough to let us off quickly when we realised that we missed Seojong Station.
This is Gimpo Hotel Airport.
It wasn't really a hotel that everyone was raving about. We found it on the internet & the reviews were pretty much okay with certain things still left to be desired. However, its close proximity (5 mins drive) to Gimpo Airport is extremely convenient, & the nearest Seojong Metro Station is just almost at its doorsteps & that could take you all the way to Seoul city centre in 30 mins.
The room looked like this, a bit old but averagely clean.
The fan is there for a reason cos the air-conditioning moves like an old man. If you put your fingers near the ventilation, you'd be lucky to feel a faint, slight movement of air. Of course it didn't help to complain cos all rooms were the same & we didn't want to go thru the complexities of language with the hotel staff.
The bathroom was clean & it had what it's supposed to have for you to wash & to let go.
All the basic amenities were there including the hair dryer, although my favourite auto wash toilet funtion wasn't there.
Emergency flashlight in case of power failures.
Emergency ropes for climbing down the building in case of fire. I am not kidding.
I guess that's what you probably need to have when all the rooms are smoking rooms.This was really in a more suburb Seoul where you could see school children walking alone, people sitting outside their shops minding their own business.
The hotel staff spoke some English but not fantastic enough to completely understand one another. The rate was about 80,000 won (RM240) BUT it apparently did not have any non-smoking rooms & the room was slightly old & dark in their decor. It's basically clean but it was just too smoky for non-smokers like us. But they gave us an air purifier when we requested for one, & that really helped a lot!
So yes, we'd recommend this hotel if you'd need the convenience & the free shuttle service to Gimpo airport. Otherwise, there would certainly be better hotels in Seoul.
And so we slept the whole morning, woke up around noon, & were on the go.
