First disasters in Seoul…

I suppose disasters do really come in threes! A lost passport, a dirty airbnb and struggling to get a taxi. Oh and all in one night in Seoul! These are my first disasters in Seoul… enjoy!

Not even out of the airport before disaster struck!

We all have that one friend that cannot be trusted to be left alone. Typically that is me to be honest. Stepping off the plane and gathering our bags, the process was fairly smooth. It was pretty late in the evening and all I wanted to do was head into a taxi and get to bed. We just needed to be covid tested. And then I could do just that.

That was until one of my new friends I met at the airport came to us and said she had lost her passport. She looked very frazzled. We had not even left the airport yet, I could not believe it! She could not have left it on the plane, because we needed it to pass through security. So where could it be? We waited in the arrivals hall as she went in all the bathrooms to check if she had left it in there. We told her we would have our covid tests and then come back to help her look, if she had not found it. Queueing to get tested, she sent us a message saying she had now also lost her suitcase!

Losing her marbles…

This girl was insane! We came back to arrivals and waited for her text. She was at the help desk explaining the situation. I was just grateful it was not me! While waiting, we just happened to look behind us and find an abandoned suitcase in the middle of the hall. The tag had her name on it. It looked like she had just stopped wheeling it and walked off! When she came back, she was relieved, but we still had a passport to find.

It took one of the girls two minutes to go in the bathroom and find the passport lying on the side next to the sink. That was the first sign of how safe Seoul was – a passport left on the side for over half an hour and no one took it.

We said our goodbyes and each headed in our separate directions to our accommodation for the night. Taxi drivers typically do not speak English so I had to show an airport helper the address and he translated. The airbnb was located an hour away and all I wanted to do was shower, eat and get in my pjs.

Airbnb nightmare

The driver dropped me off outside of the building and drove off. The apartment complex was really weird – it looked like a mini shopping centre underneath and there were people milling about in shops and eateries. The layout confused me and I did not know where to go. I had to ask someone or else I would have been there all night! Two Korean lads helped me and took me up in the lift. They asked me about Manchester United and Liverpool football club and I was just relieved that I asked nice strangers to help me. I was in no mood for small talk but I was so grateful they helped me.

When arriving in the airbnb it was a lot smaller than I originally thought. Something did not feel right… They had not made the bed which seemed really strange. Towels were stuffed under the pillows. When I ventured into the bathroom, there were hairs in the shower. A half-empty water bottle and more hair cluttered the dresser. The last straw was the hair on the toilet seat! I was dying for the toilet and a shower but I could not deal with this.

I called the owner, and even though she said she could speak English, I struggled to understand her on the phone which just stressed me even more. So, I contacted airbnb and they found out that the cleaner had not been. They offered to send someone which would only take an hour, but I felt so depleted and exhausted. Airbnb said my other option was to find another place to stay for the night and they would work on a refund.

I called up hotels crying my eyes out. I was on the other side of the world, alone, tired, hungry, sweaty, jet lagged. A hotel told me they had a room but it was a deluxe one. I did not care, I took it. They had no room service so I went down to the convenience store underneath the dirty apartment and bought the weirdest selection of biscuits, crisps and ice cream.

Taxi!

My next problem was getting a taxi. Taxi drivers did not speak English, so how could I order one? My Korean was absolutely shocking, there was no way I was going to get by. An American in the convenience store helped me flag down a taxi on the street, but the problem was we both had no clue how to explain where I wanted to go. He did not recognise the hotel location. He spoke to us in Korean but we had no idea what he meant. We stopped a local and he translated everything. He spoke both English and Korean and helped make sure I got to my hotel safely. I cried in the taxi, so grateful of the colossal amount of kindness I had seen in just the first day.

I was so happy to check-in at around 11pm. My room was spotless with crisp white sheets. It was spacious, nice and ventilated and the bathroom had a special toilet that also washed and dried your bum! So yes, problems really do come in threes, but with people’s help, things are never too difficult to deal with…

Check out my previous blog entry on Seoul here!