After Fajr prayer, my eyes no longer closed. It was my nature to always stay awake when faced with a flight schedule. Meanwhile in the corner of dormitory, my blue backpack with a capacity of 45 liters had been neatly packed since last night, after returning from Gangnam District to be exact. Last night, I decided to do some packing after taking a shower.
Around half past seven in the morning, amid light snoring of Kimchee Guesthouse Sinchon guests, I slowly tiptoed to shared-bathroom to soak myself under warm shower. So, an hour later I was tidy and sat in shared lobby downstairs to just socialize.
In a chair, I slowly drank mineral water left over from last night while opening Seoul Metro map. I have to find the best route to Incheon International Airport Terminal 1 that afternoon.
About fifteen minutes later, a girl with a blue veil with a beautiful Malay face came sitting in front of me. From her appearance, she was preparing herself for exploration.
“From Malaysia?”, the question was definitely directed to me.
I looked up and answered, “Jakarta, Indonesia”.
“Oh, Indonesia. How long have you been in Seoul, Brother?”
“Three days. I’m Donny, may I know your name?”, I answered briefly.
“Mariya, I’m from Kuala Terengganu”.
“You’re ready this early, where are you going, Mariya? “, I kept asking curiously.
“Oh, I want to visit Itaewon, take a look at Seoul Central Mosque. Where are you going brother?”
“I will go home this afternoon, tomorrow I will stop in KL first”.
“Can Indonesian people get a free visa to Korea, brother?”
“Oh no Mariya. I had to pay 150 Ringgit to get a Korean visa. What about Malaysians?”
“Malaysians have free visas to Korea, brother”.
Mariya is a solo-traveler from my neighboring country who is armed with high self-confidence. She even talked about her trip around Asia alone without showing the slightest bit of fear. A hour I had a very interesting conversation with him.
Mariya herself is very interested in several cities in Indonesia which she wants to visit in the future. He asked a lot of questions about Bandung, Malang, Labuan Bajo and Ambon. To compensate for her enthusiasm, I was interested in seeking information from her about several cities in Malaysia which I would also like to visit, such as Kuching, Ipoh, Penang, Kuantan and Kuala Terengganu.
Our conversation ended when Mariya said goodbye to go to Itaewon. After that conversation, I went to my room and got ready to check-out.
At half past ten, I started to carry my backpack, went to receptionist to hand over my locker key and took my deposit money. Then I steadily stepped from Kimchee Guesthouse Sinchon towards Hongik University Station.
As usual in the morning in Seoul, I stopped by for a moment at CU minimarket which wasn’t far from the station to have breakfast. After breakfast, I immediately hunted for Seoul Metro Line 2 carriage to Sindorim Station, which was only 4 stations away from Hongik University Station.
From Sindorim Station I changed to using Seoul Metro Line 1 to Bupyeong Station. Standing in the center near carriage door, I enjoyed the speed of Seoul Metro passing through eleven stations before arriving.
From Bupyeong Station I still had to change to Seoul Metro Line I to my final destination, Incheon International Airport Terminal 1 Station, which was fifteen stations away.
Overall, within an hour and a half, I arrived at Incheon International Airport Terminal 1 Station, which was 60 kilometers from downtown. I arrived at the airport a few minutes before noon. Now I was waiting for Air Asia flight D7 505 from Seoul to Kuala Lumpur which would fly on 15:55 hours.
Actually I was still very interested in enjoying Incheon downtown before heading to airport. But because I realized that the money in my wallet was only a few notes left, then instead of playing the risk and prone to miss the flight, I ended up choosing to spend hours at the airport instead. The most important thing was that my return trip to my homeland was safe and smooth.
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