My 12-hour layover: Hong Kong

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Hong Kong International Airport….” This was it, after twelve long hours of flying I had finally landed in Asia! And my life was not going to be the same- well at least for this one year.

A friend, who I had met four weeks prior while completing my TEFL certificate, came towards me as we were making our way out of the plane. She had been sitting a few seats away from me and had come to check on me during the flight. She had the same look of excitement and anxiousness on her face that I had and we couldn’t stop laughing and saying “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh we are here!” Thank God the airport signs were in English but even then we had our fair share of running up and down from one floor to the next looking for where we could rest and wait for our next flights. 

We decided to ask for help from a security guard who led us to a driver-less train. That train took us straight to where we needed to be. Mind you, this train is inside the airport. Well, it's not actually a train-train, in English, it's called an Automated People Mover but ya I will call it a train. We were told that there is a huge shopping mall inside the airport so we spent some time trying to find it but we were unable to access it from behind the departure gates. We were unsure if we were allowed to enter through the gates hours before our scheduled departure time so we waited in the seating area.

All these questions were starting to make me feel anxious and overwhelmed.

My friend eventually had to go through the departure gates as her connecting flight was about to arrive. I said my goodbyes and wished her luck on her new journey. Inside though I was panicking! How was I going to navigate this really large airport alone? How was I going to access this mall? I had a 12-hour layover, how was I going to kill the time? How was I going to know where to go? All these questions were starting to make me feel anxious and overwhelmed.

I then bought snacks at one of the convenient stores, connected to the WIFI and called home. After chatting with my mom and dad, I decided to explore the floor that I was on. I found a shower room, took a shower and headed back to the seating area. That area became my safe spot because I was too afraid of going through the departure gates because I still had about 10 hours before my flight. After seeing many people stretched out on seats around me taking naps, I decided to do the same. I was sleeping but I was sleeping with one eye open. One can never trust these streets. After my two hour nap, I mustered up the courage to walk through the departure gates that I had been eyeing since I arrived. I thought to myself, "Hey if they stop me and say it's not yet time then I will turn back and go back to sleep.”

The only shop that I could enter with a little bit of confidence was ZARA, I didn’t even bother with the rest.

Turns out that I was meant to go through those gates in order to get to everything that the airport had to offer. I had been sitting there being too afraid to move this whole time when I could have been outchea living it up at the mall. Okay maybe ‘living it up’ is a bit of a reach because that mall is filled with stores such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton etc. The only shop that I could enter with a little bit of confidence was ZARA, I didn’t even bother with the rest. I went straight to the food court which was inundated with people. That airport is massive, no lies.

After walking around aimlessly for about two hours and looking at my watch to see that I had another couple of hours left before my flight, I started to wonder if I shouldn’t have just plucked up the courage and explored the streets of Hong Kong. As massive as the airport is, it kind of began to feel small as I felt like I had been cooped up in it for too long.

Eventually, my flight arrived and I was on my way to Busan, my new home. Arriving at Gimhae International Airport was overwhelming. Unlike Hong Kong, Gimhae has very few English signs and I had to go through the pain of waiting in the line to pass through Immigrations. I met two fellow South Africans while trying to fill out an immigration form and we helped each other out. Turns out we were on the same program and so we hung out together until the English Programme In Korea (EPIK) staff arrived to fetch us.

I was feeling thankful as I could see how God’s hand had really carried me through by providing people to help me along the way.

After safely arriving at Orientation and settling into the room assigned to me for the following weeks, I couldn’t help but reflect on the events of the past couple of days. There I was sitting on a bed, in Korea many miles away from home. I pinched myself to make sure it was real- and yes, I watch too many movies I know. I had made it through the long flights, the extra-long layover, and the dreaded Immigration line. I was feeling thankful as I could see how God’s hand had really carried me through by providing people to help me along the way. The journey to Busan was exciting, tiring and scary but I made it through. And now I know, if I ever have such a long layover, I am DEFINITELY going to go out and EXPLORE!