Melbourne (Australia) - Seoul (South Korea)
05 July 2025
It may sound almost absurd to
say, but each adventure is different—shaped by its own unique structure, the
frameworks through which you hang your expectations, desires, and lessons.
Having travelled to over 70 countries, the vast majority in the past ten years,
this is one truth I have come to know without question.
Seoul was never high on my list
of must-visit destinations; it lingered somewhere in the “someday” part of my
mental travel map, as if patiently waiting for the perfect set of
circumstances. Well, Seoul, your time has come.
Here’s the context. My current
workplace is quite restrictive when it comes to annual leave. The bulk of time
off is overwhelmingly concentrated in the Australian summer, with a
Christmas/New Year lockdown effectively forcing 12 days of leave into a period
that has become increasingly inconvenient. For those of us with European
families, the ideal window to travel is mid-year, during the European summer,
when the weather is far more pleasant. Attempting to travel anywhere in the
Australian summer is almost a trial by fire—overcrowded destinations, inflated
prices, and a general sense of “too much of everything” make it a season best
endured rather than enjoyed.
So what happened? How did Seoul
become the Steve Bradbury of my minds travel destinations? Well, sometimes, all
you need to do is stand on your feet. The story goes a little like this…
Inga wanted to return to Latvia
for the European summer. Since we had also planned extended leave at the end of
the year, I was faced with a dilemma: how could I navigate my cruelly rigid
leave schedule to make both trips possible? The fact of the matter that I
couldn’t. With that said, I didn’t want to prevent Inga and Aiden heading
overseas, and I impressed on her that that’s what I wanted.
…but then… my adventurer’s heart
launched a full-scale campaign against my inner logic. The only real barrier to
travel was work—specifically, ensuring a stable internet connection and syncing
with a time zone that allowed for daylight working hours. And so the hunt for a
destination began:
- Kuala Lumpur
- Jakarta
- Tokyo
- Bangkok
But true inspiration came from
Inga, who suggested South Korea as the best option.
Of course—South Korea. I’d seen
Anthony Bourdain’s journeys through Seoul, remembered the pigeons roasted in
the Olympic cauldron during the 1988 Games, and had enough pop culture
knowledge to differentiate between a BLT and BTS. The timing was perfect too—just
one hour behind AEST. Everything aligned.
After making the decision,
however, days of doubt and misgiving followed—too many to count. My mind
repeatedly pulled the rug of optimism from under me, as I questioned whether I
could truly make it work while being so remote. Inevitably, in situations like
these, something always fails—logins, systems, phones, stable connections. The
tyranny of distance has a way of unravelling everything. Even up to the day of departure, the doubts in
my mind kept coming. I’d never encountered anything quite as unsettling as my
drive to Melbourne Airport with my mind preying on my misgivings and targeting
every possible thing that could go wrong.
But then, somehow…once I had walk
inside the terminal and past through security and customs, there was silence.
Never has the doubt been so quickly disconnected and never has trip away from
home proceeded so smoothly, without a single glitch. No minor hiccups, no
interruptions, this was Rob Thomas smooth.
And Seoulo I arrived
I hadn’t truly travelled alone
since a weeklong trip to Buenos Aires back in 2012. But this time was
different. Nearly ten years into marriage, with my son already six, there they
were—on the other side of the world—and here I was, alone. No familiar noise,
no familiar distractions. This felt completely unlike anything I’d experienced
before but hey, here I was, ready-set-go.
From the outset Seoul made sense.
I had apps available to me that could translate text on the fly, I had a portable
router that gave me unlimited wireless access 24-7, I had Korean ingenuity and
efficiency at my disposal. Now came its time to shine.
Incheon - South Korea - I just loved how different it looked
First stop for me was Incheon.
Booked on the basis that I thought that the hotel that I booked was near the
airport, or at the very least a short cab ride away. When I discovered that my
first destination was a 45 mins, $75 cab ride from the airport, I thought much
better of it. So what better time to throw myself into acquiring innate
knowledge of the Seoul metro and logically working my way to my port on night 1
via public transport.
Some 3 hrs after
arriving in Seoul and 3 train connections later, there I was dragging my
carry-on luggage through Bukseong-dong park under the weight of the midnight
hour, thinking that perhaps that $75 opportunity cost was the sleep I was denying
myself by walking through the humidity of the night, but, I made it to the
Benikea The Bliss Hotel a min or two before my second day in Seoul. Tomorrow
was going to be a new and exciting day.
