The Journey Part 3

When it was time for the United Airlines office to open up.....there was no one answering the door. Banging on the door didn't help much either. For every 10 minutes I would travel from the 1st floor to the 2nd floor to knock on the door, haha. After the 3rd time I asked the information help desk attendant to call the office.....no answer. At this point I'm almost in tears feeling completely helpless. I walked around for a little bit and saw someone go into the office. I ran upstairs and banged on the door again, but for some reason they didn't answer. I just got impatient and started banging on the door consistently. After about a minute of that someone came to the door. I walked in and SAW MY LUGGAGE. What a RELIEF it was to see it. I handled over my baggage claim tag and off I went to the basement to AREX. On the way to AREX I noticed my luggage was damaged. The plastic part that shielded my wheels was cracked. I didn't think much of it and thought it was going to survive the trip. I followed the signs for the Airport Railroad and saw a ticketing vending machine:

I chose my destination of Hongdae and TRIED to pay for it with ₩10,000 bill. For some odd reason it just wouldn't take it after a few tries. I wanted to try a different ticketing machine, but they were being used. I choose my destination again. This time I actually read the on-screen instructions. You can't use ₩10,000 bills to pay for you ticket. You can only use ₩1,000 or ₩5,000 bills. There's a vending machine just for exchanging out your bigger bills for smaller ones and that's what I did. There's more information at this website. You'll get a single journey one-way card:

Scan your card at the card reader:

Went down another floor and waited for my train. Korea subways have these glass automated doors that prevents anyone from going down in the tracks for safety. I hopped on the train when it arrived:

You can see the status of your train to know when to get off. The red dots are where you are/passed and the orange lights are subway stations. Just listen to the announcements on the overhead speakers:

You can also look at the electronic board:

Once you arrive at your station scan your card again at the card reader. You can go to the deposit machine to get some of your money back:

After I got off at my station I just looked at the signs for which exit to take:

I had my instructions out and was ready to roll. As I was maneuvering through the people and other objects, I noticed the weight of my luggage getting heavier and heavier. Up the stairs I went and through the exit. As I'm moving my luggage around and I notice a lot of scraping noises. I check the bottom of my luggage and the wheel is no longer attached to it. It was a good thing I didn't bring the bigger carry-on bag with me. It took me a long time to get to my hostel and I was sweating like crazy, haha. That ends my crazy journey T_T.