The direct flight to Seoul went without any issues; meals, movie and naps are always a good combo. We arrived 20 minutes before plan but as our gate was still occupied we ended up being parked on the tarmac for almost half an hour.
Immigration and picking up my bag went smooth and less than an hour after getting off the plane I was standing in the arrival hall. I picked up my SIM- and transport card and took a 1-hour ride with the subway to my hotel. Leaving the station I had found the exit that on the map looked like the closest one to the hotel but I was still preparing to have to walk around for a bit to find it. No worries, though, leaving the station the entrance to the hotel was literally less than 10 meters ahead from where I stepped off the escalator. As it at that point nearing 2200 there was nothing left to do than check in and pass out.
My first course of action the following day was to go to the Olympic Park 45 minutes (by subway) away to pick up my race pack for the run on Sunday. I found the conference room at the hotel as instructed which turned out to be a table outside said room with a couple of people taking runners' ID and then finding their pack in the room. It was very easy for the runners; quick in and out, no expo or fancy sponsor booths. The pack was a first: a box that you would usually see being used to ship stuff in, packed with things, most of what seemed very unnecessary (to a tourist, at least). Outside of the expected bib, bag drop bag and the included singlet (which I will not be wearing, and considering it's XXL it isn't very XXL) the pack included various energy gels, soft skittles, a skittles tote bag, laundry detergent, sport tape, soap/shampoo, ads (among other a voucher for car rental) and other - I assume sponsor - stuff that made you scratch your head.
After taking what I wanted and leaving the rest in a bin I had a walk in the park which most of the time was more park and less Olympic. The stadiums lined the park's east side so unless you were there it was just like any other park. I'll admit that the stadiums didn't look as imposing as I had expected, but considering they had hosted the Olympics back in the 80s I guess things just weren't as big back then. Took the subway back to Seoul central and had a walk to Myeongdong where I spent a few hours walking around exploring and seeing all the food stalls getting set up for the night, had dinner and ended up back at the hotel at around 1900, calling it an early night.
The following days I spent walking around my hotel's location and Seoul main train station to get my bearings and get a feel of the city. The public transport, the subway in particular, is extensive and when getting used to it easy to use to get almost anywhere in the city. It's fast and efficient, but I'm also starting to get the impression it's the only practical way of getting around. I like to just walk the streets with little plan, but while there are sidewalks in most places there doesn't seem to be much going on between areas around the subway stations. You go to a station to do something there, you don't really just wander around. Of course, my experience with Seoul is still quite limited and it likely just depends on gong the right places, but in that case I am still looking for those. As I currently don't have any activities specifically planned I will likely still have my walks around town, but I'll find out in the coming days if that is a useful tactic.
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