South Korea Seoul Trip Part 16 (Final): Return Home from Incheon International Airport and Stay Overnight at Narita Airport

[Introduction]

I traveled to Seoul, South Korea, in early September. Although I was not blessed with weather at all, I enjoyed the trip as the food was delicious and people were kind. In this article, I will write about return home from Incheon Airport and stay overnight at Narita Airport as part of Day 5. I had an awful time with Typhoon Faxai.

[Visit Places (series of articles)]
* Day 1: Fly to Gimpo International Airport
* Day 1: Myeong-dong
* Day 1: Myeong-dong (Light-up)
* Day 2: National Museum of Korea
* Day 2: War Memorial of Korea
* Day 2: Dongdaemun
* Day 2: Dongdaemun (Light-up)
* Day 3: Gyeongbokgung Palace
* Day 3: National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art etc.
* Day 3: Seoul Station
* Day 3: Seoul Station (Light-up)
* Day 4: Coex Aquarium and Starfield Library
* Day 4: Lotte World
* Day 4: Lotte World (Light-up)
* Day 5: Paradise City
* Day 5: Return Home from Incheon Airport & Stay Overnight at Narita Airport [This Article]

[Travel Date]
2018.09.05-09

[Main Part]

Incheon International Airport

Following the previous post, I returned from “Paradise City”, an integrated resort, to Incheon International Airport.

As I had enough time, I walked around the airport.

I stopped by “Flavour 6”, a food court, to have lunch.

I ordered a set of Sundubu-jjigae.

Now I will move to the restricted area.

It seemed many airlines required passengers to complete their check-in procedures in advance via self-check-in machines or internet check-in. In my case, as I had already done the check-in procedures at Seoul station (see the related article), I didn’t need to drop by the airline counter, which led to a timesaving.

I passed the immigration and came to the restricted area. As I had already completed the check-in procedures including immigration at Seoul station, I was able to skip it by passing a dedicated lane.

While Korean Air, the largest airline in South Korea, used Terminal 2, I saw lots of Asiana Airlines’ airplanes at Terminal 1.

I stopped by the lounge of Asiana Airlines, as I had a membership of Star Alliance Gold.

I took a quick rest.

When I checked for Japanese news, I found all of public transportation around Narita Airport (Narita Express and Limousine Bus etc.) was suspended due to a powerful typhoon (Typhoon Faxai). I knew Typhoon Faxai made stroke Japan Airport in the morning, but my return flight will reach the airport in the evening, so I was optimistic about the effect of the typhoon. However, it seems to be worse.

Return Home with Asiana Airlines (OZ106)

Anyway, I moved to the departure gate, though I was anxious about the typhoon.

The aircraft of my return flight, Asiana Airlines (OZ106).

The aircraft was specially decorated with Star Alliance design.

Onboard.

In-flight meal of economy class.

The airplane arrived at Narita Airport on time, though there were not any announcements about the situation at the airport.

Stay Overnight at Narita Airport

I landed at Narita Airport.

I reached the arrival lobby after passing the immigration and customs, and realized soon that the situation was worse than what I expected.

The arrival lobby was filled with people and there were several queues. In short, it was in chaos as I couldn’t understand what purposes of each queue were.

I gathered information on the internet and found all of public transportation around Narita Airport including Narita Express, Keisei Skyliner and Limousine Bus was shut down and it was unknown when operations will be resumed. In addition, express highways around the airport were closed and vehicles to the airport were restricted. Thus, Narita Airport became isolated from the outer world.

Now I realized I had no choice but to stay overnight at Narita Airport. So, I secured food and water at a kiosk in the airport.

People in the airport seemed fatigued.

The airport operating company provided a sleeping bag and a bottle of water around 11:30 p.m.

Now it was midnight (around 3 a.m.), but more than a few people were still awaking.

I was supposed to be sleeping at home around this time 🙁

I was worried about out of battery of my smart phone, but fortunately there was an outlet near the place where I put my luggage and a Polish woman sitting beside the outlet was so kind to let me use it in turns.

Finally it was around the dawn.

A TV crew visited the airport for coverage.

I heard an announcement that both Narita Express and Limousine Bus will be available from the first train/bus. Then, I booked the first Limousine Bus for Shinjuku area online.

The departure time is 7:15 am and I arrived past 6 p.m. yesterday, which means I have stayed at Narita Airport for about 13 hours.

At last, the bus reached the bus stop!

Then, I returned home and my Seoul trip was over.

[Closing]

That’s it for the article about return home from Incheon Airport and stay overnight at Narita Airport as part of Day 5.

As the final article of Korea Seoul trip series, I will recap the trip. I was worried about the situation that the relationship between Japan and South Korea has been worsening, but my concern proved unfounded. I saw lots of Japanese tourists there and people in Seoul were overall kind to me. In addition, many Korean people can communicate in English, so I didn’t have communication issues in most cases, although I don’t understand Korean.

Unfortunately, I was not blessed with weather at all through my stay, which caused me to change my itinerary considerably, so I would like to revisit Seoul in the future.

Now my Seoul trip series with 16 articles was completed. Thank you for reading my blog.

Regarding my next trip, I have already arranged it. I am going to Fukuoka, Japan, from December 12 to 16. I have been to Fukuoka a few times on business, but this is my first visit to Fukuoka for leisure. Winter illumination has taken place at several venues and I will watch them. In addition, Fukuoka is famous for its delicious food and I am looking forward to it as well. My blog will not be updated for the time being, but once I return from Seoul, I will start the next series, so stay tuned 🙂

[Map]

1 Incheon International Airport
2 Narita Airport

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