Travel experiences across the world
Today’s morning plan was another out-of-town excursion: this one to Yangdong Folk Village, a Joseon-era village north of Gyeongju that is famous for its preserved thatched-roof houses. There are a bunch of buses that connect the Gyeongju bus terminal with Yangdong, but I discovered in shock that their frequency is… once every three hours! I… Continue reading Yangdong Folk Village, Cheomseongdae Observatory, Woljeonggyo Bridge
I took things slow this morning! Partly because there are fewer things to see and do in Gyeongju than in Seoul (I realize that’s true of most places!) so I feel less pressure to get stuff done, but also partly because a damned mosquito kept waking me up all through the night and I wasn’t… Continue reading Bulguksa, National Museum of Gyeongju
I’ve been so lucky with the weather so far, if you don’t count the unseasonably cold temperatures: it’s been sunny every day, until this morning, when it was rainy in Seoul just as I was getting ready to leave. There are a number of ways to cross South Korea, including various regional trains and buses;… Continue reading KTX to Gyeongju, Daereungwon Tombs
Today is my last day in Seoul, so I wanted to make sure I tied up any loose ends: I don’t want to leave regretting not finishing my to-see list! Thankfully, because I’ve been organizing my trip by areas, most of the places I had left were roughly in the same corner of Seoul. I… Continue reading Itaewon, Dongdaemun, Gangnam
Today I decided to go to Suwon, site of an 18th century fortress, to the south of Seoul. Despite the considerable distance (I think about 35 km?), it is in fact reachable by subway. Things got immediately confusing because subway line 1, as it happens, has eight different platforms, and none of them listed the… Continue reading Suwon, National Museum of Korea, N Seoul Tower
As I was saying, today I got up terribly early due to the jetlag, so I was able to see the smoggy sunrise from my apartment. The weather app listed a frightful -4°C, although by the time I left a few hours later the temperature listed a comparatively balmy 1°C! I’m getting a lot of… Continue reading Mangwon Market, Cheonggyecheon, Myeongdong
Yesterday I forgot to tell you about my evening! Jet lag caught up to me and I woke up far too early, so I might as well do a short post. My apartment is close to Hongdae, a trendy university-centered neighborhood in western Seoul. If most of my day yesterday was spent traversing ancient palaces… Continue reading Hongdae
After a long, restful sleep, I was fully ready to take on Seoul by storm… but first I had to clear a couple of side quests! You see, in order to take the subway, first I needed a T-money card, but to charge it I needed cash, because you cannot top it up with a… Continue reading Changdeokgung Palace, Bukchon Village, Insa-dong
It is time for a new adventure! Ever since the lockdowns started, I’ve been trying to get back into traveling, starting with visits home, then a weekend in London, then a week in Italy (that one you can read about on this very blog!), but I hadn’t done one of my big trips since I… Continue reading Arrival in South Korea
It’s our last day in Italy! As such, our main mission today was to tie up any loose ends we may have. This was more difficult than you might imagine, because we packed our itinerary so far in order of priority so we’ve seen all the main sights and most of the secondary ones too!… Continue reading Varese, Angera
This Is A Lake 