Kia ora! Hello!

We needed to leave the country so to not overstay our visa for the Philippines, so a quick getaway to South Korea it was!

This was great prep for Europe because it was so cold, averaging 2-6degrees so quite the change from the Philippines.

Firstly, due to NZ passport there is no visa required and they recently dropped the need to get a Health Certificate QR code, leaving only the need for an arrival card to be filled out.

For convenience and safety as we arrived at midnight, we caught a cab costing us $100 but you can catch a bus. We ended up catching the Airport Limousine back to the airport which was 17,000 won ($22NZD).

We used predominantly cash and walked a total of 37k steps across two days.

Day 1:

Namdaemun Market - found a fried bread filled with noodles for $2.50NZD, highly recommend!

Sungnyemun - one of eight historical gates to Seoul

Outdoor library outside Seoul Metro LIbrary

Deoksugung Palace - $1.29NZD, the grounds have been opened up as a park to the public

Gwanghwamun Square & Gate

Gyeongbokgung Palace - change of guard ceremony at 2pm

Jogyesa Temple

Insadong Street

Unhyeongung

Ikseondong Hanok Village - highly recommend going to a tea house and finding the shop that makes Salt Butter Bread 😍

Myeongdong Walking Street - great spot for dinner!

Day 2:

Our feet were sore and we wanted to save time on walking as we slept in, so we got a Hop On Hop Off ticket - these are awesome as you learn some history that you could miss otherwise.

Namsangol Hanok Village - this is a historic village to view unlike the prior village

Namsan Cable Car to the N Seoul Tower

Love Lock of Namsen Tower - this is insane to view! Along with the view of Seoul.

Back to Ikseondong Hanok Village and also Myeongdong.

At the airport I replaced my morning coffee with a pouch of Soju, simply because I'm in Korea - why not? It was gross. Not like the flavoured bottle ones I actually enjoy. That was probably the only low of this trip, being my poor decision making.

If South Korea is not on your bucket list, for the food and sites alone I highly recommend it should be!

Haere rā! Goodbye!