The Terminal

I admit that I haven’t actually watched the Tom Hanks movie (despite seeing some of it being filmed on the streets of NY when I was there in 2003), however I can imagine the emotions his character went through being ‘trapped’ in an airport for a length of time: Exhaustion, Confusion, Desperation, Isolation, Hope, Frustration…. (I find the list expands the longer the layover).

I’ve had my fair share of layovers, or what I like to refer to as ‘Travellers’ Purgatory’. See previous post here.

Seoul Incheon airport does try to alleviate the pain of the dreaded ‘layover’ with plenty of shops and eateries. They often have concerts scheduled throughout the terminal (I got to see a lovely string quartet when I passed through in 2013), an ice-skating ring, cinema (3rd biggest international airport cinema in the world!) and spa (which was under renovation when I passed through, sadly). Oh, and how can I forget, FREE WiFi!

The airport also offers Korean cultural appreciation activities and tours. This time around, I had 5 hours to kill and after devastatingly finding that the spa centre (which has showers, spas and a massage parlour) was closed for renovation, I spent some time reading Game of Thrones in the comfy reclining chairs upstairs before deciding to stretch my travel-swollen legs. I came across this cute cultural activity where you get to make your own traditional-Korean-style mirror. And they had purple rice paper; how could I resist! (besides, with a good 3 hours left to wait for the next flight, I was desperate to fill in my time!).