Seoul and Beyond

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Safe to say we have the travel bug again. Moving to Hong Kong, we knew it would be different than London and all the traveling we did. I mean, we have two kids under 3 – be realistic we told ourselves! We started slow… getting settled until my sister came in June and we took our first big trip to Bali for 5 days. We made that trip as fool proof as possible too. Lined up transportation to and from the airport, spent most of our time at the resort and hired a driver for a day tour up north. It was honestly perfect for what we needed at that time. We hadn’t relaxed like that on a beach vacation in years, definitely not since the two kids, and it was probably our honeymoon 7 years ago!

Next was Cambodia. Rachel was so sweet to watch Finley for 2 nights while Ross, Riley and I adventured to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat. That was a bit more adventurous. Taxi from the airport but other than that tuk tuks were the preferred mode of transport and Riley absolutely loved it! He was almost 9 months at the time which was perfect. A bit mobile but not walking yet – he dozed on and off throughout the day on me or Ross, in the tuk tuk, during our food tour. We definitely felt a bit more adventurous on our second trip.

Our close friends, the Candetos visited and stayed in Hong Kong for two weeks before heading off to explore for two weeks. They invited us to join for a few days in Taipei which was trip 3. We love traveling together – CB an John spent years in Singapore and Malaysia so are much more comfortable with the culture here and push us out of our comfort zone a bit, exploring markets, trying new foods, and checking out the most authentic experiences. We loved Taipei! We did get a few extra days to enjoy it when the Hong Kong airport was shut down during the protests; honestly it couldn’t have worked out better. It just meant Ross worked from there and Finn, Ry and I got to explore a new city, new playgrounds and new coffee/ice cream shops. Win, win win!

It looks like our time in Hong Kong will be shorter than initially expected, so recently we’ve felt the push to get in as much as we can before we leave. Hence, a last-minute trip to Bangkok! It always takes us ages to decide where to book – there are just so many new places we want to see! Plus, there are lots of other factors we take into account direct flights, best flight timing, good hotel options, somewhere we can take public transportation so we don’t have to lug around big car seats, etc. the list goes on!

Anyway, with Bangkok being so much fun and a great success, we were itching to get another trip in before our next visitors. Back to the search – Google Flights is my new best friend. You can type your departure city and dates (or not even dates) and it gives you all the options with one simple search. Dangerous because I want to go EVERYWHERE. It’s always been a fantasy to get to the airport with a bag packed, pick a city and hop on a plane!

Seoul was the lucky winner for the weekend of November 15th. We’d heard mixed reviews in our quick round of surveys, but for us, and this particular trip, it looked perfect (also helped that it was the cheapest option we found a week before takeoff). Train to the hotel? Check. Kid friendly? Check. Marriott hotel on points? Check. Direct flight on reputable airline? Check. Breweries? Check. Enough to see to keep us busy but not so much we’re overwhelmed? Check. Ross and Riley were still getting over colds and bronchitis, so we knew we’d have to take things slower than usual.

I can sum up our Seoul trip up in 5 lines…

  • Breweries

  • Rain

  • Korean Food

  • Palaces

  • The People

Yep, that’s about all we did.

Breweries:

1.       Jafa Brewing

2.       The Booth

3.       Awesome Beer Company

4.       Seoul Beer Works

5.       Soeul Brewery

6.       Won Nation

7.       Magpie Brewing

8.       Mysterlee Brewing

Rain:

Don’t love admitting it but the weather was definitely more ‘fall like’ than we’ve experienced since January, and we aren’t totally outfitted for it… the Koreans were in winter coats, scarves, gloves (I mean I thought they were a little dramatic it was like 40-50 degrees… ). Our gang was in layers of leggings, sweaters, sweatshirts, and Converse.  Which combined with lots of rain, is why we spent most of our time jetting in and out of breweries and on the train to various neighborhoods.

Korean Food:

1.       BBQ

2.       Bibimbap

3.       Street Food

4.       Bulgogi

5.       Lots of things I don’t know how to spell

DELICIOUS!!!

Palaces

1.       Changdeokgung Palace

2.       Changgyeonggung Palace

Finley absolutely loved running around and exploring with her map. Rosy cheeks and all.

The people

As we’ve experienced everywhere we have visited in Asia. The people are just wonderful. So kind and loving towards our two little ones. Giving them treats, helping them at dinner, playing patty cake, just so amazing and warm.