If you are planning a trip and have not used Airbnb yet, here is a link to use to get a great discount (up to $55) on your stay! https://www.airbnb.com/c/shelbybreek?currency=USD. This gives me a $30 credit towards my next stay! So if you use it THANK YOU SO MUCH!
My grandmother (Melissa), Fiancé (Ramtin), and I recently took a trip to Seoul, South Korea in October 2018. It was an experience of a lifetime! This post is a little insight of our trip to Seoul, South Korea. This is the first of many Seoul posts! Each Seoul post will have tips and tricks of Seoul, what we did, what we loved, and everything in between.
A little back story on why I traveled to Seoul…
My family has hosted nine exchange students since I was little. {If you want to know more about my families experiences hosting young men and women from all over the world… check back later for a post called "Exchange Students."} One year we had a young lady named Young Hee (now Reina) from South Korea. Since we were a year apart and I was at my grandmother’s all the time, we became very close friends. When she had to leave back to South Korea after the year was over, we promised each other that the next time we saw each other would be at one of our weddings. So when my grandmother and I found out she was engaged to get married in October of 2018, we had to make the trip!
When to Go to Seoul?
We went October 23rd – 30th, 2018. Honestly, if I went back to Seoul, I would 100% go back at the end of October. The weather is PERFECT! It is the start of fall… the trees OH MY!! The trees are beautiful and plentiful in this city.
Where We Stayed?
There is A LOT of walking in Seoul, so we stayed at an Airbnb in the Dongsung-dong area. It was really close to Naksan Park. (https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/5585170?guests=1&adults=1.) We chose this location because it was a short walking distance to the subway and it had a shower (a lot of places don’t, so check and make sure you place does). It was hard to find at first, even for the taxi driver. So check all the alleys for your place. There was also steep stairs involved at this location; this is the case for a lot of the places in Seoul. It was also such a great deal; we paid $676.87 for 7 days. It had pocket WiFi if you asked the host to leave it; he also gave us his number if you had any questions. It was a very decent place to stay when you are gone all day. I will say though, the beds were much harder than what I am used to, but this is true of all apartments in Seoul.
What We Did Each Day?
Check back later for posts on what we did each day!
Korean Subway/Taxi
I was shocked at how clean Seoul’s city and subway systems were. Don’t get me wrong, there were some stations that made me think this is defiantly a subway, but the majority was fairly clean. The subway can be very confusing because of the language barrier, but they do have letters instead of just characters to make it a little bit easier. For more information on apps for the subway, check out my post called “Top 10 Things We Wish We Knew When Traveling to Seoul.” The taxis were also decedent. I was very surprised by both, by a good way. To hail a taxi in Seoul, you do just like in the movies, wave them down. If you are traveling with someone, a taxi is the best way to go. It seemed very cheap to ride in the taxi; we would just take turns paying for the trip instead of each having to pay 4,150 won ≈ $3.65 each time you get on the subway. For both the Taxis and Subway you can use your T-Money card. Whatever you do, don’t try to wave down a black cab, they do don’t accept a T-Money card. Something we did not know about while we were in Seoul was the yellow cabs are international cabs and some of these drivers speak a little English. But if you can’t find one of these, you can do like I did which was google each location you want to go to that day and go the website (English.visitkorea.or.kr) in the google search results and screenshot it. This website has the picture of the place and the name in Korean and English, and when the man asked where to go just show him the screenshot on your phone. Technology is great.
Korean Food!
If you’re into Korean or Asian food unlike myself you are in for a treat, or so I’m told. Korean food was not my jam, but I did enjoy Korean Barbeque and street food. Chopstick was difficult for me, so I ate almost everything with a spoon. For some tips and tricks for Korean Food check out my post called, “Top 10 Things We Wish We Knew When Traveling to Seoul.”
Pack Cute Outfits!
Pretty self-explanatory but you will want to take pictures every second of the day in this city because it is so amazing. So, be sure to pack all of your cutest outfits! But make sure to pack super comfy shoes, because there is a ton of walking. Check back later for my post called “Instagramming your way through Seoul.”
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