Spring in South Korea (side trip to Jeju Island!)

Okay, I admit that South Korea is one of our favorite international destinations. Why wouldn't it be? It's perfect in every way and season! I have always wanted to visit Jeju Island and I am so delighted that we got to do it during this trip.

We carefully planned our second visit to SKorea as we knew we would be visiting more areas and we also wanted to live like the locals (not as tourists hehe well for the most part of our trip at least). We flew via JejuAir as they had a seat sale. Yay!

I wanted to mention ahead that I always see posts about visiting Seoul and Busan but not a lot about Incheon. I am aware it's famous for its airport and this is the main gateway for people going to Seoul. So, we decided to explore Incheon and I am so glad we did! It was peaceful and equally beautiful. Lots of food options in the area where we stayed (Wolmido, Bupyeong, and Songdo).

This is Wolmido: lots of food options and we were surprised to find a secret entrance from our hotel that led to what is known as Wolmido Cultural Street. We were happy we found this place! So many restos, 24/7 convenience stores, and of course, different varieties of street food. We also found a few shooting locations and took photos of the area.

This is the modern district of Songdo. We took the subway going here.

Below this is our beautiful accommodation in Bupyeong. This is a cafe and an Airbnb at the same time. They make the best refreshing drink and coffee!

When it was time to leave Incheon to head to Seoul, I was a bit sad as I really loved it in Incheon. How we wished we could stay longer but as we already paid for our 2-week stay in Seoul and could no longer cancel so we had to say goodbye to this beautiful and peaceful place.

Our Seoul experience was something new to us too. We rented a 2-bedroom apartment that would make us feel right at home and also allow us to (remotely) work comfortably. We did lots of local things in Seoul which we are really proud of. We went grocery shopping in their local grocery stores, we did our own laundry, and we cooked our own food (not always though!). We would just occasionally visit Myeongdong for street food and touristy fun. We revisited some palaces and commuted our way to Nami Island. We were honestly very chill in Seoul and that was the goal really.

This is the 2-bedroom apartment we rented. It was the ultimate K-drama living experience.

During our free time on weekdays and weekends, we would visit beautiful spots in Seoul (some new and some we have already visited before).

This was a beautiful cafe situated in Insadong and this was new to us:

Street food in Myeongdong (definitely not new):

Nami Island again but this time we commuted via subway (no tours, no KTX, just the normal subway. It took us almost 2 hours to reach our destination but we love Nami Island so it was an easy decision for us to revisit the place):

We visited so many other places in Seoul but I am now going to highlight our Jeu trip. We were honestly not sure about going to Jeju at first as we know the transportation there is not as easy or as often as in Seoul. But for only 9 USD per person via JinAir, it was the sign for us to go and we ended up staying there for 8 days.

We stayed in Seogwipo and from there, we worked our way into mapping the places we wanted to visit that were near our accommodation. The first night we landed, it rained so hard that we thought we would never get to enjoy our stay but I was so relieved that it only rained on our first night. The weather after that was perfect. There were even some days that it reached 25 degrees, but everything was still magnificent! Sharing some of the beautiful wonders of Jeju below:

Jeongbang waterfall (above and below photos): the only waterfall in Asia that falls directly to the sea.

Oedolgae Rock (above) stands alone on a beautiful shore near the shores of Sammaebong, Seogwipo.

Saeseom Island above and below photos (this was just a few minutes walk from our hostel).

Dumplings stuffed with Jeju's famous black pork. We found a local food place that sold these and it was packed with locals.

Cheonjiyon Waterfall. Truly beautiful.

Above is the Saeyeongyo Bridge. This pathway will lead you to a small island where you will be able to see the horizon and some other islands in the area. This place is famous for short hikes and walks from ajummas who are more active than I am.

After our adventures in Jeju, we went back to Seoul and stayed for 2 days before heading back to the PH. I know that we will keep coming back to South Korea so until then, I will enjoy all the photos I took and just reminisce.