Trip to Seoul, South Korea - Days 10 & 11

 I did NOT want to leave Seoul - so the fates allowed us to stay one more day!

But when we woke up, we didn't know that. So we took a bunch of pictures of our hotel room to remember what fun we had. We had a nice view of Gangnam!

The bathroom was a traditional Ibis adventure! Ibis never has a big room OR a big bathroom. But the toilet had a seat heater!

Goodbye, Ibis room!

We took our bags down to the lobby for them to hold since we had a flight later in the evening (a REALLY late flight to Istanbul). And we headed out on ONE last adventure - up to Ecojardin salon at Gongdeok Station.  As we walked through the subway station, you can see that they have a "current particulates" sign - this tells you whether you should wear a mask or not.

No need for a mask today, as we headed into the super fun area just to the west of Gyeongbokgung Palace.

Ok, (fake) chicken and beer - you're so funny!  Nat and I stopped for some lunch at Obinseu before we had our 18 step scalp treatment appointment at Ecojardin - but I totally didn't take any lunch pictures. It was awesome though!

After our tasty lunch, we walked to Ecojardin for the 18 step scalp treatment!  This treatment starts with an analysis of your scalp. This one is obviously mine (see the white hair!?) I have only a little bit of oily build up, and my scalp is very red - I'm not sure if that's because I'm Irish, or because I prefer my shower temperature to be almost scalding. Maybe both!

After your microscopic diagnosis, you head to the chair for a massage and a little suction cup machine (cupping?) for the neck area. Arin took GREAT care of me and my scalp. If I wasn't sitting straight up, I would have fallen asleep. It was THAT good. 

A lot of places are doing 15- or 18-step scalp treatments these days, but this all started RIGHT here at Ecojardin. After they tend to your neck, you're given a hot towel followed by a cleansing and exfoliation of the scalp. They use a Galvanic Sealing Brush to ensure that the essential oils they use are absorbed into the scalp.

Next up is the invigorating scrub and maybe my favorite part... the therapeutic steam mist and shampoo in the Yume Spa Bed.

The relaxing shampoo is followed by a Y stick treatment and then it's back into the Yume Spa Bed so they can rinse your hair. It sounds so peaceful in there - like a trickling waterfall. I definitely fell asleep in that room!  A scalp massage and an herbal scalp pack precede the funniest part of the experience - the steam mist hat!

I'm so stylish in my steam mist hat! 

After this, they do a re-diagnosis of your scalp.

You get shown the before and after!

THEN, it's not over - they give you a hair growth tonic and another Y-stick infusion to make sure that gets into your pores and doesn't just sit on your hair.  THEN (I'm very emphatic here!) they style and blow dry your hair. What an experience!

They will give you some freebies (well...) if you fill out a review on Google - and since we loved it so much, we thought, we might as well!  While we were doing this, we noticed the Esquire magazine on the table with Felix from Stray Kids on the cover. My SKZ bias!

They have a very photogenic wall of flowers for any kind of photo op, if you're into that sort of thing!

After our FABULOUS time at EcoJardin, we headed back to the hotel, where we stopped at a little restaurant next door to grab a late lunch/early dinner. I love this sign ha ha.

Afterward, Natalie and I went back to the hotel, grabbed our suitcases - all three, of course, because we came home with lots of KPop albums and beauty products - and headed over to the bus stop to wait for our bus to the airport.

They have these fine dust FREE ZONE areas in various parts of Seoul because the fine dust particulate levels can be VERY high. Natalie went over to the one near the bus stop and took this picture. At this latitude, all of the winds predominately come from the west... which is, of course... China. South Korea has it's own issues with traffic and manufacturing but China produces a large majority of the smog in Seoul.

I FINALLY GOT A PICTURE OF HYUN BIN! He was on this digital advertisement for watches and I kept missing him... but I finally saw him before our bus picked us up to head to Incheon.

One of the most unique things about driving in Seoul was the fact that they have, right in the middle of the roadway, these little U-turn lanes. No need to go to a light, you can just U-turn legally right in the middle of the road!

We also went by this brushless car wash, which is very necessary in smoggy Seoul. But it's funny that it's just a car wash here among the rest of the buildings.

Goodbye Seoul Tower!

But. Of course this entire trip home did not go as planned. When we got to the airport, we were trying to check our bags for the flight when a woman who worked there asked us, "Where are you going to today?" And we said, "Boston, via Istanbul." She then proceeded to ask us whether we would be willing to fly direct, the next day, from Seoul to Boston on Korean Air. They offered to put us up in a VERY nice hotel (this one: the Grand Hyatt in Incheon), and pay us 300 Euros each (roughly about $675 total) for our troubles. This was a VERY tempting offer. We actually debated it. For a very long time. We had a full day in Istanbul planned with Touristanbul which we would miss if we took the direct flight. And neither of us have ever been to Istanbul. Obviously by the photo above, you know that we took the direct Korean Air flight the next day, because here we are at the hotel - Natalie is on the random soccer field they have between the two wings of the hotel.

There is a corridor that takes you from one wing of the hotel (where we were staying) to the other. We walked over because just about everything is in the other wing - like the bar, the breakfast area, etc.

But look at these pretty flowers in the other wing! We went to the bar, I grabbed a drink and we went back to the room where Natalie was able to soak in a huge tub and relax before our trip the next day.

And if you want to visit Seoul, and you only walk away with one piece of advice, it would be this:  Get to the airport at least 3 hours ahead of time! There are so many levels of security and passport control and whatever else. You leave one line, and get immediately into another line. It's so frustrating. But we made it with literal minutes to spare. There aren't places like Hudson News where you can grab a soda and a snack. Instead, you can just buy a Louis Vuitton or something before your flight, which is far more impractical - where are the 7-11s here? 

Eventually we boarded, and we were unfortunately not sitting together. Good news though, I found Lovely Runner on the TV!

And LOOK! Jin's FESTA concert that he had a hot minute after he was released from the military! Yes! I'm definitely watching this!

Awwww, my short haired Jinnie!

I was seated between two total nitwits. We hadn't even taken off yet and this lady was sleeping on my shoulder. No thank you. Later in the flight, I had dropped my neck pillow, which I found... underneath her bare feet. ABSOLUTELY NOT. Even later, after I went to the back of the plane to see Natalie for a bit, she put her phone in my seatback pocket and then was handing me stuff from my tray table when her alarm started going off. I'm like... what is happening here???

Thank goodness Jin was so cute and kept me distracted.

Dinner was pretty good! Not the worst I've had. Both people next to me didn't speak Korean or English, so I just had to show them what I was eating and they just pointed to my meal.

GRANT! I can watch Interstellar! (This is his favorite movie!) Too bad you're not on the plane with me, buddy.

Somewhere mid flight-ish, there was a snack break. It was a FREAKING CORN DOG. Get outta town with this. I was so happy. It was awesome.

Natalie was in the very last row of the plane, but we got up from time to time to stand by the drink and snack cart and do some squats together. My kid is hydrating well!

The sunrise was beautiful. I will never not be in awe of the Earth's beauty.

We arrived at 10:20 in the morning, grabbed our bags and were squealing with delight when Todd picked us up from the airport! He's the best - I think he missed us!

Until next time, Seoul! This was one of the very best trips EVER!

Trip to Seoul, South Korea - Day 9

 Day 9! We had another busy day ahead, and today was a day where things didn't all go as planned. But if you're an experienced traveler, you know that you should always have a backup plan. We did, and it all turned out ok!

I've watched a few K-dramas, but together, Natalie and I have only watched TWO all the way through. The first, of course, was Crash Landing On You, which is THE greatest show of all time. The other was Extraordinary Attorney Woo - and this was the building they used as the exterior for the Hanbada Law Firm where Woo Young Woo worked.

Natalie in front of the revolving door that terrified poor Woo Young Woo!

Don't worry, Young Woo, I don't love revolving doors either!

On our way to the Yeoksam station, we passed this bar where apparently this might be how you recycle the bottles from the bar. Also, why is the ground crooked here? Wait, am I drunk?

We headed north again to see Seoul Tower, which we reached by starting on the Namsan Oreumi Elevator hat originated on Myeongdong Street and then taking the Namsan Cable Car up to the base of the tower.

I'm not being facetious when I say that they are everywhere. Hi Jin and Namjoon!

I'm also not being facetious when I say that this cable car terrified me! I already hate heights, and the breezy winds rocking this car did NOT help.

The views as you head up the mountain are very pretty though, especially in the spring.

Up at the top, you'll find the Love Locks of Seoul Tower.

They sell the locks here, which makes for a bright and colorful collection of little hearts!

Seoul Tower is 480 meters tall and has a 360 degree view of the city. 

Wait, you want me to go up THERE? Ok, ok fine. I'll go if you go.

It was a beautiful Spring Day in Seoul. (See what I did there? IYKYK!)  This is the view to the north from the ground level in front of the tower. 

They have these very helpful signs which tell you where everything is to the north of the tower. You can even see the office of the President, which is a blue building at the very base of the mountain.

The wall around the city of Seoul still exists in some areas, and they had these great signs which explained the different type of wall construction and what time period or dynasty they were from. The walls served to protect for 514 years, longer than any other city wall in the world! (Superlative, check!)

It's kind of a funny joke that there is a 7-11 on every block in Seoul. There IS though, and there's even one up next to the ticket booth at Seoul Tower!

We went inside and walked through this beautifully ethereal room to get to the elevators.

Once you're finally at the viewpoint, you can walk around the circular room to see Seoul from various directions. I liked this one - Pyongyang is in this direction, only 153 miles away.

The North Pole and Santa Claus are a bit farther... 3,662 miles away!

The views from Seoul Tower are amazing and this time of year happened to be "ok" for the fine particulates in the air. We can see pretty well into the distance and the sky is still blue.  This is facing to the north-northeast. Myeongdong is on the far left side of this picture.

When I was a kid, my mom's sisters and some of my cousins used to call me Colleenie Weenie Beeny.  No kidding!

Ok facing southeast is a BIT more smoggy!  Or maybe this was just a gross window. But you can still see Lotte Tower in the distance! That's also Gangnam, where we stayed on the right side of the picture on the other side of the Han River.

Oh hey, just NYC and DC in that direction.6,952 miles to NYC, and 7,033 miles to DC.

This is a view looking south-southeast. Itaewon is in the center right, but you can also see Lotte Tower waaaaay out there on the left. Maybe if you squint.

Tiny Tan Namjoon... they are EVERYWHERE!

Yongsan and Itaewon areas of Seoul. I like these areas because they're less high rise and more culturally interesting!

Park Sae-Ro-Yi, are you down there?

Natalie and I grabbed a post card and a stamp and sent a little card to our friend Carla in Georgia to let her know we were thinking about her on our travels!

Well, if they have the North Pole, you know they would have the South Pole. This one is just a TAD bit farther away - at 8,775 miles away!

I titled this one, "Been, been, been..."

And of course, this one was also titled, "Been, been, been..."

We continued our walk around Namsan Tower and now we are facing west. Interestingly, Hybe is down that long street that you see in the middle left that heads right for the Han River.

Natalie and I were getting ready to leave the tower, but I decided I needed to run to the bathroom. This is what I found in that bathroom. What? Like, is anyone down there with a telescopic lens watching me use the restroom??? I don't want any weirdo peeping toms watching me here!

After the great restroom adventure, Nat and I went down and found some cherry blossom soft serve with little pieces of white chocolate on it. YUM!

This was the part of the day that didn't go as well. After we left the Namsan area, we went back down to the hotel to refresh, and then took the bus over to Jamsil Stadium, where we wanted to see the Doolsan Bears play baseball. Apparently, a baseball game in Korea is an ADVENTURE.

When we got there, long before the game started and well before the box office opened, there was already a massive line. With most things, I usually buy tickets in advance of our travels because I know stuff like this can happen, but if you do not have a Korean credit card, you cannot purchase tickets to the game online ahead of time. You can ONLY get them at the box office. 

We were right here when they announced the game had sold out. SUCH a bummer. Natalie was incredibly disappointed, but I guess that just means we have to come back to South Korea!

Oh well, good thing I always have backup activities planned! Let's hop on the metro... ohhhhh. It's rush hour. This was our first time experiencing a Korean rush hour as we had just been traveling at off-peak times. This was DEFINITELY an adventure! I think I got married twice!

But, we survived and we headed up to Banpo Hangang Park, passing this One Bailey building on the way there. We were like, "Nope! There are two Baileys!" We also swung by a 7-11 for some dinner for Nat (I wasn't very hungry at this point). I think she ate like, 4 meals at 7-11 ha ha.

The sunset at Banpo park was STUNNING on this particular evening. We decided to go grab a drink at the building on the right in the above photo, which is the Sevit Island beer garden.

We truly had the most beautiful sunset views over the Han River!

Not only that, but we were able to have a front row seat to the Banpo Bridge Moonlight Rainbow Fountain show!

The fountain show runs about 4 or 5 times every night. They switch which side it sprays from depending on the wind direction so that it doesn't affect the traffic on the bridge. If the winds are calm, they can fire the fountains in both directions but there was a pretty strong west wind on this evening which meant they could only spray to the east.

The colorful bridge fountain show had to contend with a colorful Seoul sunset on this particular evening!

The official Seoul website says, "With 1,140 m of total length (570 m on each side), “Moonlight Rainbow Fountain” on both sides of Banpodaegyo, created as part of Hangang Renaissance Project, was recognized as the world’s longest bridge fountain in the Guinness Book of Records in 2008. The fountain creates stunning scenes as it sprays water, offering a colorful spectacle like a rainbow with various sights and activities." Superlative, check!  This is still true, for the record.

Me just looking left for the sunset and right for the bridge fountain show. It was like watching a tennis match!

Natalie and I watched the show twice before decided to head back to the hotel. She was mad that the music from the beer garden was drowning out the music from the fountain show.

We walked over to the bridge where we were going to pick up our bus back to the hotel and we had a nice view of Sevit Island all lit up in purple!

This is the point at which we realized, ah yes. Now we know why the fountains aren't running on the other side of the bridge. Otherwise, we would have been drenched from the back spray!

Natalie gives the evening a two thumbs up, despite it's rocky start!

Sevit Island doesn't just stay one color, apparently. So bright and pretty when it was all lit up.

Ooooo, I love the multi colors!

Purple for BTS! (Ok ok, probably not!).  Side note- there was a scene in Itaewon Class that was filmed here on this bridge (I believe just on the other side where the guy with the backpack is standing).

In this scene (which was in the daylight of course!), Geun-soo meets up with Yi-seo before the head off to da club. It might have been under a different set of pillars, but it was close enough.

One more stop at the 7-11 for late night hotel snacks. And one more look at Worldwide Handsome, Kim Seokjin on the Jin Ramen!  EVERY.WHERE.

I still can't believe how much fun we are having in Seoul! But... our time is coming to an end...