South Korea Stow-Away (Any Excuse to Travel)

With a mesmerizing blend of stunning landscapes, vibrant cities and rich traditions, South Korea has embarrassingly not made it to the top of my travel bucket list – until now!  My own naivety is to blame; I’ve never taken the time to understand all that South Korea has to offer.  Visiting huge modern cities, like Seoul, isn’t my cup of tea.  But when an opportunity to travel to South Korea presents itself, I’m not about to say no!  So now, having thrown together an itinerary and crammed my research in as fast as possible before we leave, my perception of this exciting country has changed significantly. 

 

Jeremy (my oldest son) and Vivian were married a year ago.  She is 100% Korean (born and raised in California).  This trip is even more special to me because it connects me to Vivian's heritage - and my future grandkids.

 

My son, Chris, is traveling to Seoul for work and I am stowing away as his personal carryon item.  We will kick off the first five days by working – for me that means from Chris’ hotel room.  After closing our laptops at the end of the week, we take off on our 10-day itinerary through South Korea.  While in the planning phase, after I discovered all these great sights outside of Seoul, I came to a depressing and shocking realization that Seoul’s extensive network of public transportation (high-speed trains, subways, and buses) can be quite cumbersome when leaving Seoul – which is the only way to get a true sense of South Korea.  After several frustrating hours (and refusing to take a guided tour), I begrudgingly started removing some of our itinerary’s beautiful destinations.  That is, until I read an expat’s article on how easy it is to drive in South Korea!  And just like that, we reserved a rental car and - yippity skippity - our exciting itinerary was back on 😊

 

Another barrier I found about getting around South Korea is that Google Maps (and Apple Maps) – my go-to resource for planning international trips - is not a thing there due to government regulations (understandably, due to North Korea).  You can see the overall map and read current reviews, but directions are useless.  Instead, you’ll find everything you need from either Naver or Kakao.

 

What will be most interesting about this trip, and a twist to my usual blogging, is that I only had three weeks’ notice to plan it – and I don’t fly by the seat of my pants well at all.  While I could use that as a good excuse to not blog this vacation, instead I’ll provide you with just enough information and insight into Korea to spark your curiosity and make you want to visit, without revealing so much detail that you feel like you’ve experienced it all just by reading.

 

If you do decide to plan a trip to Korea, you’ll definitely want to pick a different season than summer (June, July, and August).  During the monsoon season, we can expect torrential rain, excruciating heat, and “deadly” humidity.  Not even remotely tempting, right?  Korea has four very drastic seasons.  Most people aim to visit in the delightful spring and fall; the freezing/snowing winter and blazing hot/rainy summer are the least desirable. 

 

I hope I’ve piqued your interest and that you find this blog and its pictures as captivating as the country of South Korea!

 

Note: Since almost no one visits North Korea, all future blog references to South Korea will simply be “Korea”.