Asia Trip 2023 Day 7 - With My Seoul Mate
After a mediocre night of sushi, we woke up hungry for a new day this morning. We left our room a little after 8 AM and went to grab some drinks at Starbucks and a cinnamon roll to split. We took it to-go and had them in our room at the Shangri-La where we finished packing and got ready to take our car to Taoyuan International Airport.
We arrived at the airport 45 minutes later and quickly dropped off our bags at the Asiana desk before making our way through security and immigration. From there we headed to the Eva Air Infinity lounge where we had two hours to spend before our flight. After switching seats a few times we finally landed at a more secluded spot in the massive lounge. I had a quick hot dog, chips, and beer while Jenn went out of the lounge to get some French fries from a nearby Mcdonald's.
The lounge experience was perfect and when it was time to board we walked over to our gate and boarded directly onto our business-class seats. Although this plane was incredibly old we were able to secure two seats next to each other and had a great two-hour flight into Seoul. We skipped the lunch that was served and instead went with a glass of red and white wine and some small snacks while Jenn fell asleep on Ticket to Paradise (a bad movie) and I almost finished the show Fubar.
It was an easy smooth flight and when we landed in Seoul we were met with a massive 45-minute line in immigration before finding our bags and driver and beginning the drive to our hotel, the JW Marriott Seoul. The drive from the airport to our hotel wasn’t too bad considering the traffic going the other direction but still took over an hour. It was here though that we learned that Google Maps doesn’t work in South Korea for driving directions and Apple Maps isn’t much better, which will change our normal way of getting around while traveling. When we did arrive at the hotel we were able to quickly check-in and drop off our bags in a beautiful room on the 26th floor.
We recorded a room tour, dropped off our bags, and went downstairs only a few minutes after arriving for our dinner reservations at Margaux Grill. We were tired and hungry and decided to go with their set 4-course menu. Jenn started with the tuna tartare and I went with the escargot. From there we both had the cauliflower soup, which was fantastic, and a shrimp and lobster dish which was mediocre. For our main course we both went with a Korean steak, Jenn had the sirloin and I had the filet although we ended up splitting them half and half. To wrap up the meal with the restaurant closing for the night Jenn had a chocolate fondant and I had a pistachio cake both were excellent.
We left the restaurant a little after 9 PM and went back to our room where we began to unpack, iron our clothes, and get ready for the next four days in Seoul. Although we’ve only been here a couple of hours it's already shaping up to be a great end to an amazing trip.
