When we woke up on our hotel in Tokyo, the city was still asleep. These were the last few hours in Japan before flying back to Seoul.
We had an early flight from Narita and had to catch a 5:08am train at Higashi-Ginza. Dazed and stumbling we somehow made it to the airport.
Two hours and a half later, we were in Seoul again. After a quick train ride from the airport we had arrived at Hongdae in Mapo-Gu, our neighborhood for the remainder of our trip.
We dropped our stuff at the hotel and quickly went back out to grab something to eat. We found a nice Ministop convenience store nearby with a varied offer. We immediately realized how much we had missed Korean flavors after our brief stint in Japan. The spam gimbap was especially delicious.
Then we headed towards Donggyo-dong and the Gyeongui park. We had heard about Acorn Caricature and wanted to get a nice drawing of the entire family to celebrate the big trip. We had to wait a bit and they only accept cash, but it was well worth it. Well, if you ignore my face in the final caricature that is.
We wrapped up the day at a nearby Kyochon like the first day. Can’t get enough of Korean fried chicken. And large beers.
Final day
On our last day, we hung around Hongdae once again. We explored the Hongdae shopping street: took some pictures in a self photo booth, bought a few more pens, tried to evade the scorching sun as best as we could, and visited a few shops looking for collectibles.
Our flight back home was at 21:45 so we still had a long wait ahead. We eventually decided to take it easy (because it was too damn hot) and bunkered up at a — yes, you guessed it — Twosome Place.
We had some sandwiches, the girls shared a watermelon drink and I had one last milk tea. Delicious milk tea and most likely the best I’ve had. Sugar content might have something to do with that.
Then it was time to head to the airport. We said goodbye to Seoul and enjoyed one last train ride to Incheon.
This was the trip of a lifetime. I can’t even put to words how much I appreciated this opportunity to spend a whole month with Lena and the kids, jumping from one place to another, sharing moments and laughs.
Both Korea and Japan felt super safe, we had no issues, and everything felt on time. Well, except maybe that one rushed lunch we had in Gangchon.
Japan was incredible, once again. It never disappoints and despite the country having changed so much in the last 10 days, it’s still very, very special.
Korea was different than what I had expected, but a wonderful surprise regardless. It feels real, more human than Japan in many ways. In fact, every time I think about our time there, I appreciate it more and more.
Drop a word