A night layover in Seoul, South Korea

Now that I live overseas, I don’t get to travel to new countries too often. My vacation time and money goes towards going back home to visit my family.

Because of this, I always try to have a long stopover in a different country, so that I can tick a new city off. The last trip I made home, I had a 16hr layover in Seoul and I CANNOT wait to go back again one day.

My plane landed around 7pm and my flight departed the next day around 9am.

I knew someone from Korea, who advised me that the best place to stay, for someone my age was, Hongdae (the university district).

I took the Seoul Station train from Incheon Airport to Hongik University. It was about a 50 minute ride. The train is accessible from the airport.

This website is really helpful. http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/TRP/TP_ENG_2_1.jsp. It explains when the trains come, and how to get where you are going.

http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/TRP/TP_ENG_2_1.jsp. It explains when the trains come, and how to get where you are going.

http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/TRP/TP_ENG_2_1.jsp. It explains when the trains come, and how to get where you are going.

* Where to purchase All Stop Train Passes:

– Single-use transportation cards: Airport Transportation Center on the B1 level of Incheon International Airport

From <http://asiaenglish.visitkorea.or.kr/ena/GK/GK_EN_2_2_2_3.jsp>

Hongik Station was extremely busy and a bit confusing to walk through. I advise you to follow signs to Hongik University station. As soon as you come out of the underground area, you are directly on Yanghwa-ro, which is the road my hotel was on.

I stayed at the Marigold Hotel. It was minutes from all of the action and overall a good experience. The bed wasn’t very comfortable, but the room was a great size.

http://www.hotelmarigold.co.kr/

If I were to go back, I’d stay here again. It cost 128,700 KRW which is around $150 AUD or CAD.

I got to the hotel around 8:30/9pm on Saturday night and dropped my stuff off. From there I walked to the Hongdae Free Market’s/Hongdae (Hongik University Street) which was right behind my hotel.

The market stalls of food and gifts are set up along a variety of large and boutique shops on University Street. University Street is a huge area full of bars, clubs, restaurants and little shops, all lit up in neon colours. It was spectacular. I was so wowed by South Korea that I really failed on the picture side of things.

The streets are also full of people, and so full of life. There were rappers, dancers, singers, bands and so much music. You’d walk by bars and night clubs and hear loud music coming from the buildings. It was such a lively area.

I really liked the clothes in Korea, although in many of the cheap places you were not allowed to try the clothes on and you have no idea what size you are in Korean.

Prices were fair. My suggestion is to have a calculator handy and calculate what it would cost in dollars. The rate on average is 1 AUD to 858 KRW.

There were so many Korean beauty shops. These beauty shops load you up with free samples if you buy something. Prices for Korean beauty items are unreal. SO CHEAP. The free samples are worth any price you pay though, really. There is so much commotion in these beauty shops. I felt that shopping there was really fast paced. I felt like I was on a shopping high.

Learn a few words in Korean before going over there. Hello, goodbye, thank you, how much?, sorry, etc. It was really helpful to know how to say these basic things when I was shopping in Korea.

Some other cool shops were little knickknack type places.

My favourite shops were:

• Daiso
• ETUDE House (Beauty)
• I have a tag from a store called The Gam, the rest of it is in Korean. I can’t find anything about The Gam online, but I really liked this boutique clothing shop.

At the markets, I opted to try the Spicy Rice Cakes/ Ddeokbokki (떡볶이). I did a bit of research prior to heading there and wanted to try this. They were really delicious. Very spicy! Barely cost anything. 

I headed back to my hotel just before midnight and the streets were just as busy as they were when I got there. All of the shops were still open and full of people. I’ve never been anywhere like South Korea before.

I might add that I was there at the very end of July, and it was extremely hot. The humidity was quite high as well. It was winter for me in Australia (not that cold, I know), but it was a huge temperature difference. Expect to get exhausted very easily. The flying, walking around and the heat will get to you.

I headed back to my hotel, connected to the free WiFi and watched some TV.

In the morning, I checked out quite early and headed back to the train station. I think I left my hotel around 5am. It was dark outside, still very humid as well. The streets still had people in them. Fewer people than before, but the streets were full of people stumbling home from the bar.

Again, the walk underground to Hongik Station is very confusing. I ended up touching my ticket on to enter a certain area and I realised that I went into the wrong part and touched my ticket to exit. This mistake cost me a couple of dollars. Enough that I had to go back over to one of the ticket stations and put more money on my card.

I waited for the train and headed back to Incheon on one of the first trains of the morning. Again, expect about 50 minutes to get there.

When you arrive at Incheon, expect long lines to get into customs. I was at the airport at 6am Sunday morning and it was extremely chaotic. *Note that this airport had some interesting things you couldn’t bring on the plane in your carry-on and one of them was liquid foundation…?

Incheon International Airport is a good airport. It is full of places for you to sleep and relax before your next flight. There is a shower area for Korean Air, flight passengers. You have to wait a bit for a shower. When it’s your turn though, you get a whole bathroom type thing to your self with plenty of room. Your clothes are far enough away from you that you don’t get anything wet. Most airport showers I’ve been in didn’t leave much room for your clothes.

They supplied towels, blow dryers, tooth brushes, paste, soap etc.

There are many places to eat, cheap and expensive. I opted for Dunkin Donuts and it didn’t disappoint.

If you forgot any Korean beauty products, the airport is your chance to grab them. Although, you’ll find the prices are a lot higher in the airport.

My stay in Seoul was short, but it showed me how much I need to explore the rest of South Korea!

 

 

 

 

 

Wellington, New Zealand

In April of this year, I decided to take a couple of days off and visit an old friend in Wellington. It was an easy trip for me living in Brisbane. Normally, you can find really great deals for $300 return Brisbane to Wellington, but unfortunately I booked too late in the game and went during school holidays. I ended up spending $600.

I didn’t know anything about Wellington before booking my flights. My friend advised me that the weather is usually wet and windy… Wellington is also known as, Windy Wello. I had the most incredible weather during my trip. 4/5 days were perfect, sunny with clear skies. At the end of April, expect a high between 12-16 degrees Celsius and a low between 5-11 degrees.

The nights are VERY cold. In Canada, we are prepared for the cold weather. We’ve got; insulation, heated floors (if you’re lucky), central heating and 2 pane glass windows. In Australia & New Zealand, houses have none of those things. They are built for the hot weather. They build houses so they keep cool in the summer… well they continue to keep cool in the winter.

Expect to freeze going to bed at night and waking up in the morning. If you aren’t staying a room with heat, I recommend investing in a hot water bottle.

Now, I’ve been to many countries, and New Zealand has to be one of the most beautiful places I have ever been (and I haven’t seen much of it).

This photo was taken at the top of the Wellington Cable Car. 

MUST SEE/ DO

1. Visit Cuba Street: Go get some coffee and check out the shops on Cuba street. It’s easy to get there by bus. Cuba street is full of great little cafes, thrift stores, and other cool little boutique shops. I really liked this shop called Abstract, that had wooden abstract art pieces.
2. From Cuba street, I took the bus over to Lambton Central and walked down to the Harbour. Again, the Harbour has a heap of cafes and restaurants, plus a beautiful view of the mountains.
3. From the harbour you can continue to walk around to Te Papa Museum. It’s free to walk through and I really enjoyed it.
4. From there you can continue to walk along the Harbour and you end up walking through: Te Aro (has a funny statue of a naked man leaning into the water), Waitangi Park (has those cool coloured pool sheds you see in instagram photos), and lastly we stopped at Oriental Bay. Oriental Bay has beautiful trees that go along the roadside and are lit up by lights.

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5. Scorching Bay. I got a lift to this destination so I am not sure what the bus routes are like. You’ll want to spend at least an hour here and briefly walk around the water. This was one of the most breathtaking views of Wellington, in my opinion. Stop for a really good coffee at, Scorch O Rama Cafe.

Scorching Bay

Scorch O Rama Cafe

6. Earlier on I mentioned that 4/5 days were beautiful during my trip. On the one day that wasn’t so nice, we went to Owhiro Bay. We walked along the Red Rocks Walkway, where you are likely to see Seals. This was quite a beautiful adventure, although VERY cold as it was cloudy and the wind is very strong coming off of of the water. Wear running shoes and warm clothes!

7. On the way home from Owhiro Bay, we stopped for coffee at Blue Belle Cafe in Island Bay. This street was a cute little strip with a couple of boutique shops with little knickknacks. Coffee was great and the cafe was very cute. I have a thing for cute cafes. We didn’t have time to eat but the food looked amazing.

8. SKY DIVING. So we drove from Wellington to Masterton to visit, Skydive Wellington. The drive is through winding mountains. The trip was around 1.5 hrs and my friend told me that I would be car sick by the end of it… I didn’t believe her at the time, but yes, if you are not used to winding roads, you too will have car sickness. I highly recommend Skydive Wellington! We opted for the highest option at 12,500 feet. 50 to 55 seconds freefall, $355 Incl.GST. If you want photos and a video of the experience, add on another $135. It’s tandem, so you are strapped to an instructor! Mine allowed me to steer the parachute at one point.

If you’re wondering what it was like to go Skydiving, I really wasn’t that impressed. What I mean by that, is it wasn’t what I was expected. It was a very painful experience for me, not to say it would be for everyone. I think because I am fairly tiny, I fell quicker and my face was in a lot of pain during free fall. It feels equivalent to jumping in a pool and getting water up your nose. Except the feeling lasted for 55 seconds or so. It was also the coldest temperature I have ever been in my life. Even though my experience wasn’t really what I expected, I am still SO happy I Skydived and I probably will do it again. They say your second time is better than your first because you know what to expect! The plane ride up to 12,500 ft was INCREDIBLE. You can see the South Island from up there.

9. On the way back from Masterton, we encountered a landslide on the mountains and had to detour… 4 hours back the other way. We had no choice but to drive to Palmerston North, and take another highway back to Wellington. We did this drive late at night, and at one point had to take side roads through hilly areas. The lanes are very small in New Zealand and this ended up being a pretty scary drive. My friend and I are both Canadian, and we discovered a Wendy’s in Palmerston North and stopped in for a burger.

10. Eat dinner at Cin Cin on Cuba street. Some of the best Italian food I’ve ever had. Overall, it was a really great experience. The staff were lovely. I ate the cannelloni and my friend had the lasagna. Both were massive portions. Try the garlic bread as well. Hands down some of the best I’ve ever had.

11. You must do the touristy Wellington Cable Car. You get there from Lambton Key. It’s a very quick ride up and the cars run every 10 minutes. Adult return ticket is $7.50 and one way is $4.00. I opted for the one way and decided I would walk through the botanical gardens and walk back down to Wellington Central. I got lost during this process but luckily there was WiFi at the top of the Cable Car and I had loaded my map. Even though I didn’t have a connection, I was still able to see where I was and how far I had to go.

**Speaking of WiFi, there is WiFi all over the city. If you need it, keep walking until you find something. Some of the Networks I connected to were; CityLink WiFi, cbdfree, McDonalds and of course some cafes.

12. Have a coffee at Cafe Astoria in Lambton Quay. It has a vintage/European feel to it and great coffee. Plus access to WiFi.

13. The Underground Markets. http://www.undergroundmarket.co.nz/ I highly recommend stopping by these markets. ​​Open Saturdays 10am – 4pm.

14. Get breakfast at Frank’s Cafe in Wellington Central. A highlight of my trip was going here for breakfast. Fast service, excellent food and again, had that cute cafe vibe to it. (Frank’s is very close to the Wellington Cable Car).

I had the House-made french toast – Blackberry Compote, Lemon Curd, Honeycomb Mascarpone & Pistachio Praline ($17.50) and my friend had FRANK’s Benny – braised beef brisket on agria potato rost, poached eggs, hollandaise and tobacco onions ($19.50). Both delicious dishes, but if I went back to Frank’s I’d get the benny!

15. Every year at the end of April, Wellington hosts something called The Annual Dog walk. Located in Waitangi Park, there were 100s of dogs of all breeds hanging out in the Sun.

Lastly, I’ll list for you a couple of weird/interesting things about Wellington, New Zealand.

• Bikes can drive on some highways using a special bike lane…
• Highways don’t have merge lines, the dotted line kinda just stops and you’re expected to merge. Seems crazy for people who aren’t used to roads like that, but it seems to work fairly well.
• Lanes are VERY small. In a lot of the suburbs, if there are cars parked on the roads, two cars cannot fit at the same time. You constantly have to pull to the side to let someone through.
• People are REALLY nice.

I could keep writing about Wellington, but I will cut it off here. Ultimately, one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen in my life and I’m told that the South Island is even more beautiful.

I cannot wait to see more.