Day-1 Seoul Travel Diary

Sunday, 29th July 2018

Once i stepped outside my hotel my eyes looked sharp to the seven wonders of the world (BTS i mean duh) Mediheal was just 10 to 20 walks from my hotel, so that is the first store i came by of course.

there i purchase their MedihealxBTS collaborations on sheet mask. the price was ₩25.000 for 16 pieces of mask. it was worth it because the mask was freaking good, it claimed to be number 1 sheet mask in Korea if i wasn't mistaken. so yeah i even repurchased them when i got back to Indonesia.

there are 4 kinds of the mask: soothing, brightening, hydrating, and moisturizing. and there are photocards inside. yes ofcourse. that's what's tempting for me as an army haha. and then without any feeling of shame i took a picture inside the store and then the lady there gave me a free coupon!! omg i got 4 actually she said for my family too. i can trade the coupon with free drinks upstairs in their cafe and there is also a BTS photobooth. ughh can you tell how happy i was

these what the upstairs cafe look like

many people were looking but idc haha 😂

yeaa basically the rest of the day i spent in Myeongdong, shopped and stuffs, because the place was huge! you can spend the whole day in Myeongdong but it's not even enough actually. you know if you shopped with my sister-in-law it could take hours haha. it was heaven for k-beauty everything you need are in here, street foods and many more. ah yes the street food was absolutely delicious, and very unique and tasteful! there are even a few street foods put a halal label for us moslems so we don't have to worry.

 tteokbokki price was ₩5000

this was an egg tart? i forgot but it has halal label on its food cart

for dinner we went to Korean restaurant called Yookdaejang. in my opinion i dont think i really like Korean food especially the one with broth, but other than that like bulgogi, bibimbap, jjajangmyeon, i kinda like it. but for me Korean food taste more herbs ?? idk in Indonesia food really rich in spices, so they taste kinda plain in my liking. 

 too lazy to edit this pic so dark haha

so i think that's what my first day in Seoul look like.. 

thank you for spending your time reading my travel diary! have a nice day!

Prologue of Seoul Travel Diary

wow so it's been 7 years since i posted here in my blog. never would have thought that i will come back to write another post. so many things have changed. i've grown a lot, haha. reading my old posts feel so awkward haha i only copy paste a content. such a terrible and unnecessary posts smh...

so, i'm here and kinda excited to write this very very late post. i actually wanted to post to this blog right after i get back to Indonesia, but yeah i'm a master procastinator haha! can you imagine i procrastinate for 9 months! i would already have a baby now.

anw! here's a picture of my whole family at Incheon Airport

you probably won't notice my first nephew in the back so i zoomed in he looked tired af 😂

 and then here is mee looking happy with my first purchase of BTS stuffs haha

so my picture was taken after we arrived at our hotel located in Myeongdong Street. yes, Skypark I Hotel could be one of the best choice if you want to stay near shopping places, because once you step your foot outside everything around you is a shopping place because you are in Myeongdong.. duh

I recommend to pick a stay in Myeongdong if you are on budget, because there are lots of street food, restaurants, also my hotel really close to the subway station so we don't need a lot of walk to the station. and of course shopping will be very convenient.

that's all about my chitchat here in the prologue part.. nothing much we could do after we arrived because we were tired and the hotel is not ready yet for check in! yep so we decided to rest a bit and looked around Myeongdong.

My Seoul Trip Itinerary

before i started showing you guys my itinerary, just wanna let you know that this itinerary will contain a lot of BTS related spots (i am an ARMY yes!). yeah, so this is not some typical tourist trip, i actually go to Seoul because i want to know more about my favorite, and biggest-boyband-in-the-world's culture, what's the lifestyle there like, and of course tracing back to places where they have visited and where they have been in Seoul. it was such a great experience, i would never forget it. such a happy place to be.

so i went there almost a year ago with my whole whole family, by whole i mean my married brother also brought his wife and 2 kids along. haha, so it's been like a family vacation too, and in the end they all become addicted to BTS too! haha, my bad, i turned my whole family into an ARMY.

it was a very short trip, only 4 days, we flew from Surabaya (my hometown in Indonesia) then transit in Singapore (because we flew with Singapore Airlines-don't worry it was a promo!), and then Seoul.

so here is my itinerary, i will explain the details and photos maybe in my next posts!

Sat, 28 July 2018
19.00 WIB	Departed from Juanda Int’l Airport Surabaya
Sun, 29 July 2018 – Arrival and Myeongdong Street
01.00 SGT	Transit Changi Int’l Airport Singapore
08.00 KST	Arrived at Incheon Int’l Airport Seoul
10.00 KST	Arrived at Hotel Skypark I Myeongdong
10.00 – 13.00	Myeongdong Street -       The Saem -       Mediheal -       Nature Republic
13.00 – 16.30	Check-in Hotel and rest
16.30 – 20.00	Myeongdong Street -       Mediheal (Free Coupon & BTS Photobooth) -       Lush -       Street food -       Olive Young
20.00 – 21.00	Dinner at Yookdaejang Restaurant

Mon, 30 July 2018 – Seoul One-Day Tour with Miss June (from Viator)

09.00	Pick-up time
09.30 – 10.00	Jogye Temple
	The Blue House (we were just passing by)
10.30 – 12.00	Gyeongbokgung Palace
12.30 – 13.30	Lunch at Insadong Street
13.30 – 14.30	Hanbok Photo Studio
15.00 – 15.20	Bukchon Hanok Village
16.00 – 16.30	Bugak Skyway, Bugak Mountain
17.30 – 19.00	Arrived at Hotel I Skypark Myeongdong and rest
19.00 – 20.00	Dinner at Kampungku Halal Restaurant
20.00 – 22.00	Myeongdong Station Underground Shopping -       Line Friends Store -       Kpop Store

Tue, 31 July 2018 – Hallyu Day with Michael Ko (our driver)

10.00	Pick-up time
10.45 – 11.15	Bighit Entertainment Old Building
12.00 – 12.15	Sulwhasoo
13.30 – 13.45	Hallyu K-Star Road
14.00 – 14.45	Lunch at Kervan Turkish Restaurant
14.45 – 17.00	Coex Artium
18.00 – 19.00	N Seoul Tower
20.00 – 22.00	Myeongdong Underground (My Quality Time Alone Finally J)       - i bought so many BTS albums and merch here yeay!!

Wed, 1 August 2018 – Seoul Subway Adventure (A lot of walk J)

07.00 -08.00	On the way to Music Star Zone (Seoul Sports Complex) -       Myeongdong Station -       Transfer at Dongdaemun History and Culture Stn. -       Stop at Sports Complex Station, Exit 6 -       10 minutes walk
08.00 – 08.30	Music Star Zone at Olympic Stadium (BTS hand's replicas)
08.30 – 09.25	On the way to &gather Café -       Sports Complex Station -       Transfer at Wangsimni Stn. -       Stop at Hannam Station -       7 minutes walk
09.35 – 11.00	&gather Cafe (Run BTS - eps. 45)
11.15 – 11.45	On the way back to Hotel -       Hannam Station -       Transfer at Ichon Stn. (2 stops) -       Stop Myeongdong Stn. (6 stops), Exit 7
12.00 – 13.00	Hotel and rest
13.00 – 13.30	On the way to Itaewon -       Myeongdong Stn. -       Transfer at Samgakji Stn.(4 stops) -       Stop at Itaewon Stn. (2 stops), Exit 2
13.30 – 14.00	Lunch at The Halal Guys
14.00 – 15.30	Line Friends Store Itaewon
15.30 – 16.00	Mbalek Hotel -       Itaewon Stn. -       Euljiro 1 Stn. Exit 8
16.00 – 17.00	Lotte Departement Store
17.00 – 20.00	Myeongdong Street -       Innisfree -       Etude House -       Style Nanda Hotel 3CE
20.00	Back to Hotel and packing LLLL

so what do you guys think? there are still many beautiful and historical places i have not got the chance to visit because of the limited time i have there. so i set my priorities where i want to go most. i hope i have the chance to visit South Korea again. i was really happy there, i really felt like i was home and i can really be myself, find who i truly wanted me to be (why it got so deep? haha anw) the people were also so nice :"). also think to visit another cities like Busan and Jeju Island next time!

thanks for spending your time reading my travel diary. if you have any questions don't ever hesitate to ask me in the comments! though i doubt people still read blogspot haha meh! have a nice day!