A Night of Seoul: A Long Layover in Seoul, South Korea
A night of Seoul it was! Literally and figuratively…
A Long Layover in Seoul, South Korea
My friend Taryn was along for the long and arduous flight from Tampa to Kuala Lumpur with me. We had a quick flight to Detroit and from there we made our way to South Korea. There we had a 15-hour long layover in Seoul! There was no way we were just sitting at the airport, there’s no visa needed, BYE! We immediately grabbed our stuff and made our way to our hotel to drop our bags off. By the time we made it to the hotel it probably was around 9:30pm. We checked in and made friends in about 30 seconds. An American guy had been staying at this hotel for a few weeks and had befriended one of the locals who ran the hotel. They invited us out, and of course, we said yes! We had a quick freshen up and then met up with our new friends.
We went out for a quick beer at first. Ironically enough- At a German bar! German beer and pretzels were the first thing for us to on our long layover in Seoul. Ha! Then we went down one of the popular streets in town and luckily everything was in walking distance, but at the same time- it was fucking COLD! At least for me, I mean, it had just snowed a few days earlier, unfortunately, none was left by the time I got there. Another time in my life that I have missed snow! If you don’t know- I still haven’t seen snow…Yes, really. I haven’t seen it! Trust me, I’m dying to.
READ MORE: A Seoul Itinerary
I digress! Back to the night of Seoul….As we are walking down the streets trying to see which bar or club we wanted to go to next and I saw a fight happening. There was around 5-7 guys beating the crap out of this one guy- punching, kicking, and stomping on him! I guess that German beer gave me a kick in the butt because I ran over and tried to break this beating up like I was the Hulk or something. I started shoving people to the side, then one of the guys stopped me and said it was OK. “It’s our friends birthday, it’s tradition!” Oh… You beat up your best friend on their birthdays? Yep…. Birthday beat downs are a thing in South Korea. Be warned.
We walked through the doors of this one club and here is where the soul was really felt. Everyone was so freakin nice! We made friends with nearly every single person on the dance floor. Almost everyone was a local and they were so friendly and spoke English really well so, of course they wanted to befriend the random American chicks.
I lost count how many drinks I actually had bought for me that night. Shots, drinks, drinks, shots, “what do you want? I’ll get you anything…”. I’m pretty sure I was double fisting at one point. I couldn’t finish my drink before someone was buying me another. I danced the night away with my new friends and had an absolute BLAST.
I don’t remember dancing that much, that hard, and feeling the love so much in a long time. There were at least 20 of us all dancing together, there were no groups, no judging your dance moves (because we were going craazzzyyy), and of course, the drinks were flowing freely. An epic night, that’s for sure.
So eventually the night ended as it was time for us to start heading back, but not before we had something to eat! We ate some traditional vegetable soup and a Korean seafood omelet “pizza” that our local friend suggested we try. We stuffed our face with kimchi obviously as well!
By the time we made it back to our hotel room, which ended up being a storage room for the night, it was time to pack it up and head back to the airport. The time was about 6:30am by the time we were making it back out in the freezing cold to get back to the airport.
My night of Seoul is something I will never forget! I seriously had so.much.fun. I can’t wait to get back to South Korea and check it out FOR REAL! Taking a long layover in Seoul, South Korea, if given the chance, go for it!
Gamsamida, South Korea! (meaning- Thank you!)
This looks like my kind of night!! South Korea looks like it can be a ton of fun (minus birthday beat downs).
Haha right! It was great but maybe I’ll take a trip elsewhere for my bday.
So glad you loved Seoul! I lived there a few years ago and loved it so much. We went back last year and had amazing night too! We’re taking my mum there for a weekend soon (when she comes out to visit in Beijing)- but it probably won’t be such a wild night this time ha!
Awesome! I almost moved there myself to teach, but ended up in Thailand. Have fun when you go back! 🙂