Kudos if you know which country I am talking about before reading the giant headline below
South Korea:
Where to start… South Korea will always hold a special place in my heart. It was the first destination I can truly say I went ‘travelling’ to. I visited in 2023, and while I am writing this 2 years later please note some things may have changed. However, the country itself, the sights, smells, experiences and everything else will still be just as fantastic.
So why South Korea?
Well… I asked my brother to pick a country, anywhere in the world, and he said ‘Alaska.’ Great start. I asked him to try again, this time he said ‘South Korea.’ A country, thank goodness. So I started looking into it. I had just left my job so I was lucky enough to go as soon as I had booked flights.
I was planning the trip to be in January/February. I remember reading on one travel site that they do not recommend visiting Korea in December/January/February due to the bitter cold. This only made me want to visit more. The good thing about reading that also means there would be less tourists – which is a bonus.
I booked a return flight 17 days before my scheduled departure to Seoul. I had booked for 3 weeks in South Korea but had no idea where to start. The next 17 days I would spend researching and booking accommodation for my trip.
Flights to South Korea:
I had explored my options when researching flights and Lufthansa was the best. It was the cheapest at the time and had good flight times from London Heathrow to Seoul via a layover in Frankfurt. One of the main reasons for booking this route was I wanted to fly on the ‘Queen of the Skies’ , the Boeing 747. I had not been on one before and wanted to experience one before they disappear from the skies altogether!
There are many, many options from London to Seoul. Direct services with Korean Air. Other layover destinations included Amsterdam with KLM, Istanbul with Turkish, even Abu Dhabi with Etihad. It’s fair to say I was not short of options. For me Lufthansa was the cheapest and one of the quickest. The flight was smooth and nothing exciting but it got me and my backpack there which is all that matters!
Arriving into Seoul:
I arrived at a very quiet time at Seoul Incheon International Airport. After my visa and passport had been checked I was through collecting my backpack. I collected my prepaid SIM card from the dedicated desk and made sure it worked. I jumped on a metro into the city! If you take the slow metro service it takes around an hour to the city centre from Incheon Airport. Arriving into the centre is like no other. It’s busy, it’s modern and it’s fantastic!
A note on travelling in January and February:
One thing to be aware of when travelling towards the end of January and February is the ‘Seollal’. This is the Korean traditional festival and national holiday commemorating the first day of the Korean Lunisolar calendar. It’s a very important holiday for Koreans and most of the country shuts down. This includes museums, palaces and restaurants so bear in mind that. I had planned a full day of visiting major palaces but walking up to the doors they were closed.
My plans:
Nothing was set in stone. I knew of places I wanted to visit but I ended up booking accommodation and transport while I was there.
Stayed tuned for new blog posts on my trip to South Korea including:
- Daegu
- Gyeongju
- Busan
- Jeju Island
- Seoul
- And more!