Impromptu trip to South Korea 🇰🇷

The stars really aligned for this impromptu trip to Korea. My wife was going to India for 3 weeks for a yoga retreat in early March of 2025 and I had been keeping an eye on Japan Airlines first class tickets to Tokyo via points about a week prior (thank you, seats.aero!)

I was pleased to see a nonstop ticket on JAL to Tokyo pop up the same day she'd be leaving, making the timing perfect to visit somewhere new. Within a few days I booked my stays (with points, of course!) and was off to Tokyo for a night before heading to Seoul for a week right after.

I didn't spend a ton of time in Tokyo, I really only had 24 hours or so, so I mostly hung out around the Andaz Tokyo, where I was staying for the night – amazing hotel, by the way.

This was a "work" trip for me, meaning I was working part-time around 4-6 hours a day on weekdays here, so I spent the entirety of my time based in Seoul, with a couple day trips thrown in. I debated spending 4 nights in Seoul and 3 nights in Busan, but decided it were best to just stay put in Seoul since I'd thought I'd feel rushed spending so much more time in transit.

Very glad I stayed put in Seoul, fantastic city.

I was staying at 2 hotels, the JW Marriott Dongdaemun for 5 nights, and the Park Hyatt for 2. I had 5 Marriott FNC's (free night certificates) to use, and the JW Marriott's pricing was perfect. The Dongdaemun neighborhood could be considered slightly out of the way to some popular spots in Seoul, but I loved it.

I think I walked over to Gwangjang Market like 3 or 4 nights in a row for dinner, was thrilled this was super close to the hotel. I guess there was a Netflix show that did an episode here, quite a few stalls had signs up mentioning they'd been featured in it.

No surprise but Korea seems to do quick/street food very well. Not just in the popular markets like Gwangjang, but on the street and in tucked away restaurants in neighborhoods like Myeongdong (which was probably one of my favorite parts of Seoul). As someone who occasionally solo travels to large cities, I appreciate when this type of food is readily available.

I really loved how old Seoul felt when walking around. With tons of temples to see, and remnants of the old wall spread around the city, it had a lot of historical character while still obviously being a modern mega city.

Seoul is chock full of old palaces and buildings, and if I hadn't waited over a year to do this post I'd be able to differentiate between these photos 😄. Deoksugung and Gyeongbokgung are two of the main you'll inevitably see when visiting Seoul.

Loved the architecture throughout all of these.

Bukchon Hanok Village is one of the more popular spots in Seoul. A nicely preserved neighborhood that's very popular for Instagram and dressing up in the traditional Korean garb.

There was a huge far right/MAGA protest going on one day in Seoul which was fascinating to see. Never thought I'd see so much MAGA crap in Asia. I believe this was related to the former president declaring martial law a few months before. Very bizarre.

Seoul to me was the perfect "traveling city" to spend a week in. Plenty of things to do outside of of just eating and drinking (which a lot of cities can't say), great public transit, and some really good day trips you can do without having to change hotels.

I took a tour up to the DMZ one day, which was admittedly, slightly disappointing, as well as down to the southern suburb of Suwon to see Hwaseong Fortress and see a KT Wiz exhibition baseball game.

I was really crossing my fingers for a solid award flight in business class to pop open on the way home. I had booked an economy on United from ICN to SFO just in case, but thankfully 2 days before leaving a business class seat opened up on that same flight I was able to book with Air Canada 😮‍💨

Overall I felt like spending a working week in Seoul was fantastic. Big fan of the city and Korea as a whole, would love to come back and spend some solid time elsewhere in the country. Maybe Busan and Jeju next?