Bullet Train to Busan & Ferry to Fukuoka, Japan

The answer to my last blog is....Fukuoka, Japan!!!!

My MIL (mother-in-law) is visiting us from the states.  This is her second visit to Korea.  I found out about 2 days before she arrived here that she has always dreamed of visiting Japan.  I had heard that there was a bullet train to Busan, South Korea & then a super fast ferry to Fukuoka, Japan.  My MIL arrived on Sunday, and on Tuesday Hubby and I decided we would treat her to a trip to Japan for her birthday.  Since Hubby has been to Japan already, and it was going to be too expensive to take the whole family to Japan (we want to do China in fall), we decided that I would take my MIL to Japan!  We left Saturday morning on the 5:30AM bullet train to Busan! For those of you interested in traveling this way, you can book your tickets on line here.  The normal fare is about 100,000 won round trip, but if you travel first class like we did, the fare is about 140,000 won round trip.  Traveling by train looks & feels very similar to  traveling on an airplane.  In first class we had SO much leg room and the chairs were very comfortable!  OH, check this out, since I booked so late I had book by phone and not the internet, this is how they sent our tickets to me...on my cell phone!!!!!!! 

The crazy thing is, they NEVER checked our tickets....on the way there or back.  They never ask us for anything.  On the way home I think I figured it out though.  The lady kept walking up and down the aisle with some type of hand held computer.  I think she was checking it against seats sold, and if you were in a seat that had been purchased, there was no need to bother you.

The train would be fun for the kids as well.  If you have 8 people traveling you can get a 'family seat' where you have 2 rows that face each other.  When Hubby's brother visits us in July, I think we are going to take them to Busan by bullet train, but we will stay in Busan on the beach!  So, here is a picture of what the first class car looks like...nothing too special, but nice.  They have a little guy, like a flight attendant on the airplane that travels up and down the aisle with a cart where you can buy things, but be sure to flag him down because he practically runs through the car! 

(In past blogs I have refered to MIL as Grammy.)  Here is Grammy on the train with her Starbucks we brought with us.  This woman cannot live without Starbucks.  Oh, I forgot to mention, the bullet train takes almost 3 hours from Seoul Station to Busan.

And here she is in Busan, South Korea.

We took a cab from the train station to the ferry.  If you have a friend that speaks and writes Korean, it is helpful if you have them write in Korean where to take you.  If you don't have a friend that speaks or writes, don't worry, most Korean's speak English, or you could show them your tickets to where you are going.  I use Marco Polo Travel in Iteawon, and Marco wrote out everything for us in Korean.  He TOTALLY hooked us up on this trip.  His number is 02-757-2300, use him, he is awesome! 

The ferry was great, Marco booked this for us, but you can do it yourself by going to this website.

Here is a picture of our ferry, it looks so tiny compared to the one on the right.  Our boat is straight ahead in this picture, see the blue roof top, just to the right of it is our boat - it almost looks like one of the crates.

When we first got on the boat, we thought we were in BIG trouble, as it was rocking like no other boat I have ever been on.

We located the barf bags right away, and we were thankful when we did not have to use them.  The boat was actually a very smooth ride once it got going.  The ferry takes about 3 hours to get from Busan to Fukuoka, and the cost is 220,000 won.  You can take a cheaper ferry, but it takes 15 HOURS to get there.

Here is a picture of the boat, instead of a 'flight attendant' type; they use a TV to give you directions.  I snapped this picture; make sure you read what it says.  Also notice that this boat does not sit flat on the water is is on some sort of risers.

A dream come true.....Grammy in Japan!  (I kind of feel like Oprah!)