Meet and greet at Incheon Airport
Written by admin on May 8, 2009 – 11:32 am -I’ve noticed that a lot of people stand in the crowded exits of Incheon International Airport waiting for their loved ones or passengers up to emerge from customs clearance.
I on the other hand set a pre-arranged meeting place for my family or people I pick up at the airport. I have a number of photos of restaurants and shops at the airport. I then email a photo of where we are going to meet with directions how to get there.
For example passengers from Manila often exit from Exit B , so I tell them to turn left after exiting and look for Ministop and I will be sitting at the benches in front of it. I also attached a photo in the email which makes it easier especially for passengers who are not familiar with the airport.
If you don’t like the idea of just sitting at the benches then the photos below are alternative meeting places.
One of my favorites is meeting at Kraze Burger close to Exit D. If you bring your laptop, free WIFI is available to make your wait pretty much painless.
And there’s also Baskin Robins close to Exit E
Tags: Meeting places at Incheon Airport
Posted in Seoul, Travel | No Comments »
Weighing in
Written by admin on January 19, 2009 – 3:27 pm -With more and more airlines getting strict with the weight of check-in luggage, we’re always wondering wether our luggage is within the 20 kgs. limit of most airlines. I like most other travellers use a household bathroom scale to give me the peace of mind that we won’t be charged excess baggage fees, but what about those times that we can’t find a scale? The days of guessing are over… I found this portable luggage scale purely out of accident while surfing. They come in various shapes, prices and probably with some being more accurate than others. I like the one pictured below and its available for CDN $ 30 at this site. If you don’t fancy that just google ‘Portable Luggage Scale’ and you should be able to find one to your liking that fits your budget.
Tags: Portable travel scale
Posted in Tech, Travel | No Comments »
Gone fishing… or should I say diving.
Written by admin on January 5, 2009 – 8:52 am -My number of posts have gone down significantly during the past few months primarily due to work related reasons and on the 21st of December I left Seoul on a cold Sunday morning to head for the Philippines to spend the holidays there. The highlight of my trip was spent with my family in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan Philippines.
Links :
Tags: Diving, Palawan, Philippines Diving, Snorkling Palawan
Posted in Philippines, Travel | No Comments »
Google Maps Korea
Written by admin on December 9, 2008 – 12:53 pm -Google has recently announced that a localized version of Google Maps will be available in Korea soon. Previously Google maps has only showed satellite photos of Korea but turn-by-turn street directions, detailed street maps, business and residentials addresses were not available. For me this is significant news because it also might be a factor in the long awaited release of Apple’s iPhone in South Korea. Google and other popular portals such as Friendster, MySpace, Facebook have not been very successful at penetrating the Korean market. Its is my hope that Google being a foreign based company is also sensitive to the english community in Korea and thus create a bi-lingual version. More info from the Korea Times article can be found here.
Tags: Navigation
Posted in South Korea, Tech, Travel | 1 Comment »
Lost in Seoul
Written by admin on October 22, 2008 – 4:03 pm -Ever wish you had the guts to drive and explore a new city or go for a roadtrip without fearing getting lost? Especially if you couldn’t ask for directions due to the fact that the local populace don’t speak english.
What you need is a GPS navigation unit. For starters GPS service is free of charge. GPS or Ground Positioning System is a a system that works by triangulating a user with a GPS receiver with the use of satellites. These satellites are owned by the U.S. military and were primarily developed over a decade ago to determine the position of their ships, aircraft and personnel. This technology has now spilled over to the civilian market and we now enjoy turn by turn directions to our chosen destination.
In S. Korea, GPS navigation has been available for quite some time now but the major problem for foreigners like me was that the verbal and displayed directions, maps and language were only available in Korean. These days english turn by turn instructions as well as map displays are available by a simple update from the internet.
The unit I purchased was an XROAD Season 2 GPS. You may opt for other brands but make sure you get one with the Mappy system as they have english updates. One thing I really like about the GPS units here in Seoul is that they provide real-time traffic information. This helps me navigate through the grid locked streets of Seoul especially during the rush hours. I’ve included a video of this in action. Traffic info is displayed for both directions in either flashing red for heavy bumper to bumper traffic, yellow for moderate flow and green for the all clear. Other bells and whistles include the DMB, and PMP.
So if you’re itching to go on the roadtrip without the anxiety of getting lost head over to your favorite electronics retailer and grab yourself one. It’s relatively cheap nowadays with prices ranging from W200,000-350,000 depending on the features that you want.
Tags: GPS navigation, Mappy, Navigation English Korea, SATNAV English Korea, Xroad
Posted in Seoul, Tech, Travel | 8 Comments »