Seoul Chronicles: The Place for Budget Travellers

The way leading to the hostel.

Choosing late night flight was like grabbing a two-faced coin – the one side offered us the feel of shortened travel time because we would have to spend most of the hours sleeping in the plane, and the other gave us unfathomable exhaustion ever possible due to the waiting interval in the airport. 

That’s how we started our trip to South Korea back in May. Yes, it took a while before I figured out how to put every experience we have had there in writing – I just thought it’s one huge story to tell and words won’t actually be enough to describe our escape fully. So let me do things in piecemeal and start touring you to the place that we called home while we were there – our choice of humble and homey hostel, the Seoul Backpackers.

Waiting for the airport limousine that will bring us to the city.

All of my sisters travelled with me. Yes, first time. So the moment we had our tickets booked, we distributed tasks among ourselves and of course the one assigned to me (as being the eldest and the most frequent traveller) was to find the best accommodation. Believe me, it wasn’t easy! There were a lot you could choose from in the internet but perhaps it was God leading us to one of the best and affordable hostels in Myeongdong.

We arrived at Incheon at about seven in the morning. From then we started our maze from the airport to the city. It was quite a pain looking for the hotel spot where the map said it was. I remember us girls loudly arguing in the streets, lost and cold. The cab drivers and everyone we attempted to ask directions about were all hopeless in English. Our eyes sparked when my youngest sister tried scribbling the address in Hangul (the Korean alphabet) and approached one bystander. Oh he understood, of course! But he gave us that blank face unaware where on earth was that place. Another hour of gaiting through the busy roads, crossing lanes after lanes, praying that we land right in front of the address we’ve long been trying to find. We’re tired, hungry and already at the peak of losing our patience. Gladly, after a long while, Geah was able to find where the hostel was!

From the outside, Seoul Backpackers didn’t look as promising as compared to other places we saw online. But let me tell you what made finding it the hard way so worth it – it never really promised us a five-star like accommodation; rather, it made our tarrying there so comfortable, good enough for budget travellers like us. 

Our two rooms both have private toilets which is not something very common for hostels in Korea. We were served with simple but fulfilling breakfast everyday – we could grab as many loaves of bread as we want; the coffee was unlimited too. The toiletries were overflowing. The place was clean and pretty safe. Also we were just some steps away from the train station which was quite helpful. Since Myeongdong is the center of everything in Seoul, it was very convenient to roam around the city the whole day, go back to the hotel to take some hours of rest and back to go to other nearby places again in the evening. 

The gray area of course were the hotel keepers who couldn’t speak and understand much English. Well it’s nevertheless expected and was something manageable for us. Despite the language barrier, they were accommodating and kind.

If I ever get another trip back, I probably will still choose to stay there. Getting there won’t be any difficult the second time around, I’m sure.

Should you have plans of going to Korea, here are the details of the hostel:

SEOUL BACKPACKERS

205-125 Namchang-Dong, Junggu

Seoul, South Korea

Tel. No. +82 2 3672 1972

Email: webmaster@seoulbackpackers.com

Posted in: itchy feet,sisterhood,South Korea