My Staycation in Gimpo City South Korea

Gimpo City South Korea lies on the border of North and South Korea.

It is northwest of Seoul and northeast of Incheon. It is really such a great location to be in.

Don’t worry, it is still safe!!! People always make assumptions so I just wanted to clarify that.

We had a long weekend for Lunar New Year 2021 (February 11 & 12).

I also ended up getting part of my winter break during that week. I ended up having Monday-Wednesday (8-10) off for my break and then Thursday & Friday off for the New Year.

On the 5th of February, I packed my suitcase before work. On the way to work, I bought a T-money card at CU. You can also get them and add money to them at 7 or any convenience store in Korea. There are different cards that you can get but I got the one that works with everything (subway/bus/train/taxi) because it makes life easier.

There’s also an app called BucaCheck (not sure if it’s the same for Androids) where you can just place your card at the top NFC and it scans your card and tells you how much money is on it and the history of usage. Cool.

The card that I got was only ₩2,200, plus however much you want to put on it. It wasn’t that hard to get the card. But luckily, the guy that worked at CU spoke English. You can also use a translator such as Papago if you have trouble.

At 10 pm I was speed walking home. I opened Kakao Taxi and was on my way to Gimpo City.

My friend Jules whom I met in Thailand lives up north in Unyang, Gimpo. After (almost) three months of both of us living here, I was able to visit her!!

I opened Kakao Taxi and put in what I thought was the correct address. The driver was at my apartment in less than three minutes. I did not expect it to be so quick, but hey, that’s Korea for you.

The drive to Gimpo was not too bad. It was a little over an hour.

It’s funny cause I accidentally put the wrong address into Kakao Taxi. That was fun.

I ended up walking to McDonald’s which was across the street and they had a shrimp burger and mozzarella sticks. Of course, I had to try the mozz sticks They were both okay.

After I got my food, I opened Kakao Taxi and gave it another try.

About ₩130,000 and another ten minutes later is when I ended up outside of her apartment building,

Yeah, it was a lot of money 🤷🏻‍♀️

The next day I got to meet Jules’ two friends who she works with- Kylah & Charlie. We walked our way to a tasty brunch spot called Flapjack Cafe. I got a salmon sandwich with some mozzarella fries. Yum.

After brunch, we went to Bonay Cafe on Cafe Road.

Cafe Road defines itself. The road was an interesting, deserted, and winding road. Most of the cafes seemed to be closed. I’m guessing it was due to Covid.

The nice part about living up near Seoul is that there are subway stops at every corner. Jules’ apartment in Gimpo City is less than a five-minute walk from the station! For that reason, I was able to go to many different places that week!

Itinerary from my Gimpo City South Korea trip:

• 2/06/21: Flapjack Pantry, Bonay Cafe & Gurae
• 2/07/21: Flapjack & Netflix
• 2/08/21: Lotte Mall
• 2/09/21: Bukchon Hanok Village
• 2/10/21: Korean restaurant
• 2/11/21: Gangnam
• 2/12/21: Holly’s Cafe
• 2/13/21: Hondae
• 2/14/21: Starbucks & journey home

I ended up staying in Gimpo City South Korea for 8 days. It was a good time.