The Tokyo Chapter: Weekend in Seoul, South Korea

My husband has been away on a business trip. It’s often hard to have him gone for extended periods of time, but this time there was a reward at the end of his trip that gave us a light at the end of the tunnel. Today, my son and I tossed a couple things into a backpack and headed to Seoul to meet my husband at the end of his business trip. I love traveling with my son. He’s so excited to see and experience new things. I find his enthusiasm infectious. Plus, he’s just a really good traveler! He doesn’t mind hanging out at airports - watching planes land and take off is fun for him. He is delighted to ride on the airplane. He’s patient through immigration. The whole nine yards. Every time we travel, I marvel. I don’t think I would have been nearly as wonderful to travel with as a kid.

I picked up my son a bit early from school. We walked to the train station and made our way to the airport. My son carried his furoshiki backpack with a book, his beloved binoculars, and a small bottle of water. I carried a backpack with our clothes, toothbrushes, a couple toys (entertainment while on the airplane), our passports, and my purse. I kept shaking my head thinking about traveling to a foreign country with only a backpack. It just floors me, but we’ll only be here a couple days.

The airport was easy. We grabbed a bite to eat - a banana smoothie for my son (with real bananas in it) and a salad for me. We watched some airplanes arrive and depart. I even remembered that I had to fill out a special form indicating I was returning to Japan before my visa expired, saving us time in line.

The flight was also quite easy. Seoul is only 2.5 hours from Tokyo. Even though the flight is short, meals are served because it’s international. When I bought my ticket, I ordered my son the kids meal and myself a fruit plate for the flight. Since I hate airplane food (usually), this was a great decision. The fruit was plentiful and offered a wide variety, including apple slices, honeydew melon, kiwi, pineapple, oranges, grapefruit, and a banana. My son enjoyed the kids meal. I’ve come to the conclusion that ANA provides such a robust kids meal thinking there’s got to be at least one thing a kid will like on here! Plus it’s always cute, which scores lots of bonus points.

Once we arrived, the real adventure began. We needed to find my husband in this totally new city. In all my years of going back and forth to Japan, I never really thought I’d travel anywhere else in Asia. Our connection is Japan, so that’s where our dollars were spent. I haven’t invested time or energy into learning about Seoul because I never really thought I’d ever come here. Suddenly, I found myself sitting on a train realizing that I’m either super brave or super stupid. I don’t know a lick of Korean and would be up a creek if I got lost. Luckily, my husband's hotel is located in Gangnam, which is really easy to get to from the airport.

I enjoyed people watching on the train and taking in my new surroundings. Although we were in the subway and couldn’t see outside, I absorbed the images of train stations and shops and advertising. Clues to the people and culture. My first observation was noticing several people walking around with handheld electric fans. It’s just as hot and humid in Korea as it is in Japan, but I’ve never seen these fans in Japan. Genius. Guess we know what I’ll be buying as a souvenir. I also noted that people were talking on their cell phones on the train, which is a big no-no in Japan. It is something so small, but it really emphasized the difference in social etiquette.

My husband was waiting for us at the train station. We all jumped for joy at the sight of each other. I did an extra little celebratory dance knowing I didn’t get us lost and my independent adventure (meaning I was the only adult, my kid was with me the whole time) was transitioning into a team adventure. We dropped our stuff at the hotel and quickly headed out to find some dinner.

The streets of Gangnum.

The view from our hotel room.

Really close to the hotel was an underground mall. We perused the restaurants and found one that looked good. Cold buckwheat noodles were the perfect choice for me. My husband went for a raw beef rice bowl. Fast. Easy. Not too spicy. I love Korean food.