Incheon’s Transit City Tours - for Free!
Long stopovers at airports can be such an ordeal. Those empty hours wasted while waiting for a connecting flight often bore any traveller to death – well, almost to death. Surprisingly, my recent experience with my friend Janette at the Incheon International Airport in Korea was completely and refreshingly different.
The Incheon International Airport is one of the biggest airports there are, and it’s multiawarded, what with its spa amenities and multiple high-end shops where it’s easy to lose track of time. And the free transit tours the airport offers travellers on stopover may just be another reason for its high ranking.
For long stopovers, there is a selection of eight different guided tours to choose from. These range from an hour-long tour to a maximum of a five-hour tour, depending on how much time the traveller can spend away. Whichever tour is picked, it’s a good way to see more of Korea.
It is advisable to pre-arrange these transit tours online, at www. airport.kr, a few weeks prior to the scheduled trip as it gets fully booked pretty fast. Janette and I were lucky on our recent stopover there; Korean Air Cebu GM Anne Momongan had arranged the twohour Incheon Temple Tour for us.
Upon landing, we went through immigration, had our passports stamped, and showed our boarding passes for the Seoul-to-LA trip. After all that, we went to the Transit Tour desk at the ground floor arrival hall. Our carry-ons were tucked away safely in a designated secured area, so we didn't have to be lugging it around with us during the tour.
Our English-speaking tour guide then ushered us into a 20-seater chartered bus that already had other transit tourists with different travel itineraries. We were all taking advantage of this awesome airport freebie.
On our way to the Heungryunsa Temple, we passed through the Incheon Grand Bridge, which connects Incheon to the city of Songdo. Shortly, with our parkas and scarves ready, Janette and I walked the 180 steps of Heungryunsa Temple. (The steps are said to represent 180 sufferings of humanity from Buddhism beliefs.) The structure looked very modern and newly built – belying its almost 700-year existence. We learned that the Temple had since undergone numerous renovations and expansions.
We spent around 15 minutes on this stop, enough time for viewing the city of Songdo from above. Of course, we took pictures, especially of the numerous Buddhas and other temples. And we just forgot about time such that Janette and I returned to the waiting bus too late – and embarrassed – to find out that everyone were already waiting for us.
Our next stop was at the Incheon Landing Memorial Hall, which took us another 15 minutes. The place was dotted with multiple armaments – LVTs, modified hawk guided missiles, and anti-aircraft artillery – but my attention was absorbed by the facade of the concrete structure, which had an artistic sculpture commemorating the courage and sacrifice of the soldiers that fought against the communist invasion in the Korean War in 1950. An 18-meter tower along with 16 flags representing the allied countries that participated in the war were the highlight of this war memorial.
After the tour, we made it just in time for a sumptuous lunch at the Sky Hub lounge, where I zeroed in on the makeyour-own ‘bibimbap’ counter. The lounge’s well-stocked buffet and bar would keep any anxious traveller, like me, feeling relaxed.
With both my tummy and heart full, our nine-hour stopover in Korea did actually feel short and sweet. Some of the transit travellers that went with us on the Temple Tour had a 14-hour stopover and so they availed of two different tours.
With the free transit city tours, getting bored is no longer part of any traveller’s long stopover at the Incheon International Airport.