Day 1: Seoul Adventure

Written By Julie A. Zaloudek

I love myself a fancy hotel, but I usually stay “on the cheap” at places where you get free red delicious applies and Danishes in sealed bags. Just too many other things to spend money on right now! But this trip is a business one for my partner, who is being treated to this gorgeous hotel suite. Yes. Definitely one of the good things I want to focus on with gratitude.

Check out these digs!

It was an excellent 14-hour plane ride, meaning…no delays, people with good hygiene in my row, a bra that didn’t dig, not detained at customs because of my sus passport photo, etc. But good still means a few hours of sleep. We were determined to stay up until 9 pm Korean time (7 am Wisconsin time) so we could get on board with Korean time. This meant staying busy.

Deoksugung Palace was across the street, and an orchestra was playing on the balcony of the Seokjojeon (Daehan Empire History Museum) inside. After a walk-about, we went in search of Korean barbecue and found a lovely establishment with a delightfully bossy proprietress who kept scolding us for being lazy and not turning our meat on the coals as often as we should. Foreigners! :-)

Not knowing how much food came with the meat, we ordered two more traditional dishes - Kimchi Jjigae (stew with pork or tofu) and Bulgogi Jeongol (beef hot pot). It was AMAZING, but waaaay too much. The locals watched us with amusement as the proprietress kept bringing out more food, snapping our tongs up to turn our meat properly, and raising her eyebrows good naturedly at our ignorance. It was a lovely meal, and we made it to 9 pm to find that the hotel left us complimentary wine and cookies. I think I was asleep within a minute of sliding under the cool duvet.

Couldn’t ask for a better first day in Seoul!

A little about Seoul:

  • 2023 population = 10 million Seoul proper and about 27 million in the metro area. That’s about seven times the size of St. Paul/Minneapolis area, 4.6 times the entire state of Wisconsin, and a little larger than New York City.

  • It is just 35 miles from the North Korean border, 716 miles from Tokyo, and 6,248 miles from Minneapolis.

  • The country is a democratic republic with an elected president and three branches of government.

  • The majority of South Koreans have iPhones, despite their national pride in the country’s very innovative Samsung.

  • In October the temperature is between 50s and 70s Fahrenheit, moderated by the ocean.

Julie A. Zaloudek
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Day 2: Seoul Adventure