Preparing for my travels to Korea entails lots of research on places to eat, unique local spots, and activities to do. I found that the best way for me was to watch vlogs on Youtube of those who reside in Korea.
Youtubers in Korea:
Megan (ChoNunMigookSaram)
Joan Kim
Edward Avila
Simon and Martina (EYK)
I found out about the airplane cafe, called First Class Healing Cafe, by watching ChoNunMigookSaram. It was tricky finding the exact location of the cafe since she didn't have an address in the video. Of course, I immediately looked it up on google to see if that would help narrow down my search. Unfortunately, it was fruitless because in Korea, shops are constantly changing (closing or getting replaced by a different shop). And it seems like this massage cafe was newly opened since not that many people seemed to be aware of it on social media. Luckily for me, I was familiar with the Hongdae Area and was able to figure out the location based on the nearby stores in the video.
Once you enter, you can choose the length of the session and the "country" you want to fly to. There are 30 minute sessions or 15 minute sessions. Since we were the last customers for the night, we opted for the 15 minute session and took the complimentary drinks and waffles to go instead of eating it there.
After getting seated in the massage chairs, you take off your shoes and put on a "sock." You are also given eyewear that warms up and plays soothing music. You also get to choose specific areas where you want the massage to focus on--such as your head, shoulders, back, waist, etc. I opted for my shoulders since I'm usually stiff there. As someone who is extremely ticklish and not a fan of massages, it was unsettling at first to have the massage chair ripple through my nerves in a wave like motion. Instead of feeling more relaxed, my body tensed up when the machine began to dig into my pressure points. However, after the session was over, I did feel as if some of my joints were less stiff than when I walked in. Will I sign up for this again though? Probably not. But for people who love massages, this cafe is worth visiting for sure! I can see my parents enjoying this if it were to open up in the U.S. as well.
Address:
서울시 마포구 서교동 345-2 천마빌딩 5층 퍼스트클래스 홍대점
Official Cafe Website
