Inevitably, if you are dating someone worthwhile, you come across your first trip together. For me this can be the dealbreaker. I love to travel and if the trip is spent constantly fighting, well that is a definite turn off.
So while I was looking forward to this trip with excitement, I was also dreading it, very anxious about it. I love my man, who I will call Big C. I knew this trip he’d see all of me, the parts he hadn’t seen. It is like undressing in front of someone for the first time. You’ll hope they like what you see and are scared they won’t.
Anyways…the trip was wonderful on so many levels, and put me at ease. It actually made me more sure of the relationship and how serious it is becoming, actually how serious and stable it is.
First we got the ktx. We went first class which was nice. We got out our mp3 players and settled in. Took some beautiful couple pictures and I fell asleep. So comfortable, no pretense and it was a relaxing ride.
We got to Seoul station and while Seoul is huge, but not bombarded by the overwhelming towers that is New York city. My first impression is that its not as bad as I thought.
Big C and I went to Jeonpu where we were going to find a cheap motel. Unfortunately our taxi driver didn’t understand what we said or refused to listen to what we said. For he drove us near the area, and then turned and went in the opposite direction. Big C told me to relax and just follow the taxi. But what should have been a 5000 won taxi drive turned into 10000 when we both agreed we’d had enough. So we got out, hailed another taxi and called the interpretatin service to make sure we didn’t have the same problem. Because Big C had stayed there before, I followed his lead. That area was lit up with lanterns and many cultural things to see around. We had a nap and
unpacked and then set out to see the big city.
We set out for Yongsan, which is the electronic district of Seoul. Big C wanted to look for Grand Theft Auto 4 and I was thinking of a digital camera. The taxi driver dropped us off near Yongsan but we couldn’t see the electronic mart. However we were right across from the War Memorial which was also on our list so we decided to do that instead.
The memorial is amazing. Great picture taking opportunities. We were lucky they were showing the dead sea scroll exhibit so we took advantage and had a great time.
Then we went to Yongsan. We found the electronic mart and spent a few hours there. But there were nno really great deals so we left somewhat disappointed.
We went back to the hotel. Then we went to look for dinner. There was a huge gathering around but we didn’t know what it was. Assumed it was for the lantern festival. We walked along the river and found Bennigans. We had a great dinner and then called it a night. Not a single fight.
The next day we went for breakfast and then decided to go to Itaewan, the shopping market of seoul. I had heard it had great shopping for westerners, especially overweight ones like myself. i was disappointed. There was little that fit me and what did was too big and too ugly. Then we went to the Palace, which the land is quite beautiful but the temples, buildings all look the same on the outside. We saw a little bit of a korean drama before we left. We went back to the hotel and then out to a pub called the Rocky Mountain Tavern. A great little, Canadian themed pub that was filled with Americans. Big C and I met his friend there and had a great night. I was tired and so we left and went to bed. Did not have a great sleep and we had a slight tiff but it was such a comfortable weekend, that didn’t mar it at all. The next day we went to Seoul tower, I left my souvenirs in the taxi and so that ruined my mood a tiny bit. The view from Seoul tower is amazing. Then I took a picture of all these padlocks that were locked to the fence. They all had korean inscriptions on them. I later found out these are messages of hope and love. What a great idea.
Then we headed to Seoul Station to come home. We found a tgif fridays and had an amazing lunch for a great price. Then we came home, exhausted from a wonderful, loving, fun weekend. A huge sense of relief that it turned out to be more than I could ever hope for.
