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Japan & South Korea

March - April 2024
Frankfurt,
Tokyo,
Hakone,
Kyoto,
Osaka,
Himeji,
Kobe,
Hiroshima,
Fukoka,
Busan,
Gyeongju,
Seoul,
Frankfurt Read more
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  • Japan & South Korea
    Day 22

    Seoul > Frankfurt

    April 9 in South Korea ⋅ 🌬 11 °C

    Time to say goodbye!

    We were happy that we spent the night before our flight at the airport having lots of space to pack and waking up to a surprisingly lovely view.

    Incheon Airport was great for some last minute shopping (because we definitely didn’t have enough Mitbringsel already ;-) We also saw a little airport concert which was a nice little Korean goodbye.

    For our 14 hour (!!!) flight back to Frankfurt, we were upgraded to Premium Economy - and let us tell you it was worth it!!

    We arrived in Frankfurt tired but happy. We fell into our own beds, dreaming of all the food we ate but looking forward to some good Graubrot for breakfast. 😂    Read more

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    Day 21

    Seoul - Day 3

    April 8 in South Korea ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    For our final day in Seoul, we felt like we needed a crazy dessert breakfast, so we visited Hongdae, the student part of town. We got a seat at a coffee shop for what was honestly the best tiramisu we've ever had.

    After having a little walk through the area we split our lunch in two different instant Ramen experiences - first, we visited a 24 hour Manga Library Cafe (it's a thing) where you can spent hours upon hours in cozy nooks reading comics, watching Netflix or playing games and if you get hungry, just make yourself a delicious instant Ramen and add some provided toppings like egg, cheese or kimchi. We got our second instant Ramen (or in Korea: Ramyun) at the Ramyun library, a convenience store with a huge Ramen selection and very fancy machines where you scan the barcode of your ready meal and it knows how to cook it best. Mind blown!

    We then sadly made our way to the airport hotel, in what turned out to be the nicest hotel of the trip (and we really had some great stays!) Let's just hope our packing is adequate for our 14 hour flight. 😱    Read more

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    Day 20

    Seoul - Day 2

    April 7 in South Korea ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    With so few historical buildings remaining, we wanted to check out the Gyeongbokgung Palace. Apparently entry is free if you turn up wearing traditional clothing but we couldn't decide who of us would get to wear the pretty dress and who would get the cool hat. 🤷

    For lunch we learned how to make original Kimchi in the Bukchon Hanok Village, an area with older style buildings. Our Kimchi is currently fermenting in our hold luggage. 😂

    In the Bukchon Hanok Village, there are hundreds of packed cafes, but we managed to get into one selling Bingsu - a Korean shaved ice dessert. We went for Mango and have zero regrets. The portion sizes in Korea have been really generous so far and it is apparently much more of a food sharing culture than Japan. Good for us who want to try everything. :-)

    We also finally tried one of the ubiquitous self foto studios - basically a shop full of photo booths that provide you with cute props and hats etc. There really has been a shop like that in almost every street and it is a lot of fun to be fair. If anyone visits Seoul any time soon, you might spot our picture…

    In a final attempt to find Korea's best chicken, we walked through the high rises and saw a beautiful sunset before finally soaking our weary feet on the rooftop foot spa.    Read more

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    Day 19

    Seoul - Day 1

    April 6 in South Korea ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    Seoul is famous for its coffee shops and we found one that was absolutely incredible. Luckily for Laura, South Koreans are not sweet-breakfast kind of people, meaning most are really empty until late afternoon.

    Where we did need to queue for was a product launch for a new Soju we stumbled into. We are now firmly brainwashed enough to swear we will never drink another brand, until the afternoon at least.

    On our way to some famous hangover soup, we walked along K-Star street. The soup was delicious, despite it being made of blood and (we think) entrails.

    For the full Korean experience, we of course needed to go to a baseball game. It’s a whole different affair compared to the more somber atmospheres you get with US or Japanese Baseball. They encourage you to bring in your own drinks and snacks, but fried chicken is a must for any event that involves beer in Korea. This might be the best one yet!!

    With a win under our belts, and slightly tipsy from all of the culture, we had a look at the beautiful Starfield library whilst sipping our iced coffees. :-)    Read more

  • Japan & South Korea
    Day 18

    Busan > Seoul

    April 5 in South Korea ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    We said goodbye to Busan beach, which had rudely decided to have glorious sunshine.

    While the ICE might be faster than the Korean KTX, it can only dream of being this punctual and have train food this gooood.

    We arrived in Seoul, found us some fried chicken, some snacks, and some more street food at the famous Myeongdong market. We then retired with a decent drink overlooking the Seoul Tower. Charlie also couldn't wait to start his new K-Skincare program. 😂    Read more

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    Day 17

    Gyeongju Day Trip

    April 4 in South Korea ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    We decided to give our feet and brains a bit of a day off and have a little touristy day trip to Gyeongju, a UNESCO world heritage site 1,5 hours outside of Busan.

    We had a look at the Yangdong Folk Village, Koreas largest still existing traditional village, dating back to 1484 where we also got a really good traditional lunch.

    Then we went to Bulguksa Temple where we got to see some stone features from the 8th century AD. 😮 As a lot of Korea has been destroyed several times these temple shrines are national treasures of Korea. There were also some really steep stairs everywhere.

    Next stop for the tourbus were the ancient royal tombs of Daereungwon, a complex of more than 20 impressive burial mounts. This is where our tour guide made us take the cheesiest pictures. 😂
    We then got some more delicious cheese-filled coins before heading off for some picture perfect shots of the Woljeong Bridge. Sadly, no one fell into the river, through it would have made an excellent picure.

    To finish our day before our cozy journey back to Busan, we walked around the Donggung Palace and garden, which was beautifully lit up.

    With feet relaxed, next stop Seoul!    Read more

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    Day 16

    Busan (afternoon)

    April 3 in South Korea ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    In the afternoon we made our way to the Busan Museum of Movies + Trick eye museum, where Charlie got roasted by a dragon and Laura finally learned something about films. 😄

    Without fail, learning builds up an appetite, so we went looking for something weird - and found it in the form of a cheese corn dog, covered in potato cubes and then dipped in...sugar!? While weirdly delicious, it didn't quite hit the spot, so we made our way back to Gwangali beach for some well-earned beer, soju and fried food. There are a lot of places where you order via little tablets which makes it really easy for travellers like us even though some of the translations are quite hilarious. Also: We didn’t order draught beer at first because we thought the picture was beer topped with whipped cream. 😂 The actual head it came with was quite adequate though.

    We ended the day by writing a letter to ourselves at a little lit up hut on the beach promissory that the letter will be sent in a years time. We‘ll see. 😉    Read more

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    Day 16

    Busan (Morning)

    April 3 in South Korea ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    We started our sightseeing day in a rainy Busan by going for a picturesque ride on the Sky Capsule. Unfortunately, the weather from Hakone caught up to us again and we were denied some beautiful views of the ocean. But no matter the weather, coffee and cake would be waiting.

    After warming up and drying out, we went to the somewhat harrowing Jagalchi Market - the biggest fresh seafood market in all of South Korea. They have the most baffling array of seafood and left us hungry - but for something vegetarian. 😂

    Wandering through BIFF square where the Busan International Film Festival takes place, we finally got to try some of the local tteokbokki: a sweet, spicy fermented chilli stew with squishy and bouncy rice cakes. Heaven!    Read more

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    Day 15

    Fukuoka > Busan

    April 2 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    We had an early-ish flight from Fukuoka to Busan, enjoying some original Japanese Starbucks coffee (it's a thing), and flying over the beautiful island of Tsushima - where one of our favourite games is set.❤️

    We landed in Busan where, fun fact: you aren't allowed to take any pictures of the airport, as SK is still under a war footing with NK!

    We saw some absolutely perfect endless cherry blossom roads from the bus, before making our way to downtown Busan. It's a completely different vibe to Japan already. very lively and a lot more chaotic. But our high rise Airbnb directly at Gwangalli beach had some lovely views in store for us. (The names of some of the hotels and shops are also very funny here as they use a lot of english).

    As Korea is renowned for its food, we had to get ourselves some K-BBQ, Beer and Soju, and signed up for a 3 hour waiting list. It was totally worth it!    Read more

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    Day 14

    Fukuoka

    April 1 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    We walked through the canal city towards the perfect cherry blossoms finally in full bloom in Maiziru Park and the ruins of the old castle (which they seem to be rebuilding!) 

    There we stopped for another street food market snack and then had a look at the fish, ducks and swan boats in Ohori Park. 

    On our last stop in Japan we made sure to visit some more shrines and temples, they are all so unique and beautiful, it really doesn't get boring. Then we went to a utopian looking shopping center, and perfect filming location, for some tomato ramen. Unfortunately the big Japanese Garden was closed but we did find a tiny little one surrounded by high rise buildings in the old town - a little oasis in the middle of this "small" city of 1.5 million.

    For our last meal in Japan we couldn't leave Fukuoka without having an original, simple tonkotsu ramen. It turned out to be the best ramen of the trip! 

    After struggling to fit in all of our shopping, we're ready for our next stop in Busan and South Korea!! 🇰🇷    Read more

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