Seoul, South Korea - What To Do During Long Layovers

Who said long layovers are boring?  It's your chance to visit a country for free!!!!

I really wanted to see Seoul, Korea so even if I hadn't had sleep for about 20 hours, I toured around - besides, I had 15 hours to kill before my next flight. I left my small luggages in the airport lockers and then took a bus from Incheon to Seoul.  

If you don't have a US passport, you might need a visa (this you need to prepare for).

Seoul is a lovely sight at night.  It was very much alive and there are a lot of things to do.  Some stores and establishments are open round the clock 24 by 7.  Incheon International Airport are known to have long layovers, so they know some travelers will be intrigued to catch a glimpse of the city.

Travel Dare:  When you travel,  try one of the local delicacies of a country, even if it has that touch of fear factor. Some may look scary but you never know how good they might be until you try them.  In my case, I tried this uber fresh octopus tentacles!  This dish is so fresh the tentacles are still moving.  

Incheon International Airport is probably one of my favorite airports in the world.  They have free showers and tons of duty free shops.  They have a lot of cool restaurants also.  But what I really love about this airport is the fact that they have a hotel inside.  I got the chance to sleep well after several hours of being awake. 

So there you have it - that's how I spent one of my layovers in Seoul.  People ask if I will do it again... heck yeah I would!  Actually now that I tried it, that's one of the things I look for, a long layover. Besides, I could always just sleep in the plane, right? :) 

The Doughnut Vault

This is the best donut place in Chicago and probably one of the best donut places in the world.  This is not your ordinary donut place.

A lot of people know how good this place is, so you better go there and wait in line - early, earlier than the time they open.  Every weekend, they open at 9.30.  I usually go there latest 9am - and there's already a short line by that time.

The place is small - your hallway is probably bigger.  But their donuts are so soft, fluffy and huge - If you can see the picture I posted, the old fashioned buttercream (bottom middle) is the size of your regular donut from Krispy Kreme / Dunkin Donuts - the rest are the glazed donuts.

the old fashioned buttercream at the middle bottom may look small, but it has the same size as the regular donuts from Krispy Kreme and Dunkin Donuts.  Yes, the glazed donuts are huge, even their donut holes!

My favorites are the vanilla glaze, chocolate glazed and the birthday cake donut holes.  They also have specials that change every week.  You can see the specials in their website.

They serve Bow Truss coffee - which is also a Chicago based coffee.  If you haven't tried it yet, that's good coffee.  If you're up for it, there's a Bow Truss coffee place near the Doughnut Vault (one block away - Wells / Kinzie)