Tag: travel

Photos: Korea Trip 2016, batch 2

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

[2020 note] These are unposted photos from 2016, the second of four galleries of my first-ever trip to the Motherland, that I took with my mother.

After several days in Seoul, my mother and I embarked within the country on a tour that she had arranged, where we would take a whirlwind throughout the rest of the country, starting with the “Hawaii of Korea,” Jeju Island… where we were promptly greeted with a seasonal typhoon that blew through the entire island and into the rest of the Motherland.

But afterward, the weather was nothing short of beautiful, and the rest of our time on Jeju was filled with gorgeous sights and naturally, more night shopping.

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Korea Stories: The Tour 😐

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

When I brought up the idea of going to Korea with my mom, to my mom, initially, the thought was to go see the Korea that my mom grew up in, see the place she called home, any sights and streets that she remembered from her childhood/upbringing, and maybe any restaurants that she might have remembered liking growing up.

It didn’t take long for my mom to dismiss all of that, stating that it had been 38 years, and there was little chance that pretty much anything of her past was still actually in existence.  I had a very 😐 face at this thought, but I understood.

Alternatively, my mom stated that she would, through a travel agent friend of hers, book us a tour package.  I expressed my concern and general disagreement with a tour package, because I typically prefer to not operate on itineraries and schedules, unless like, I’m getting paid to do so.  The freedom to explore and plan my own course is always preferable, but for whatever reason, my mom was insistent on a tour package.  The compromise was that we would have a few days before and after the tour itself to where we could explore Seoul on our own, which satiated my own want and need to explore and wander, so I agreed to do the tour group in the end.

So after four days in Seoul, we flew out to Jeju Island, the first stop on the tour.  I’ll be honest, I didn’t know much anything about Jeju; mythical gf was more knowledgeable about the place, based on the metric butt-ton of Korean dramas she watches, and it’s apparently the de facto romantic destination for Korean couples in them, but otherwise a tropical island getaway destination, often called “the Hawaii of Asia.”

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Photos: Korea Trip 2016, batch 1

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

[2020 note] These are unposted photos from 2016, the first of four galleries of my first-ever trip to the Motherland, that I took with my mother.

As soon as we landed, we had guidance from some of my mom’s friends from over 38 years ago that they’d been keeping in touch over the internet, and they were lovely people who helped us settle in upon arrival.

Pretty quickly, I learned that Seoul is very much a city actively primarily at night, and it was a wonderful time soaking in and absorbing the culture of my parents, and it was tremendous fun wandering around taking in all the sights and indulging in all sorts of Korean food all over the place.

One of the most satisfying feelings however, was when I decided to branch off and go off on my own, and realized very quickly that even in spite of my elementary proficiency in Korean, I was more than capable of holding my own in Korea, and the apprehension of being on my own in Seoul vanished really fast.

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Visiting the Motherland, 2016

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

One of the greatest travesties in my life is that it took me this long to visit Korea.  Frankly, there’s an overarching travesty that it took me about as long to even cross an ocean in the first place, but the point remains as someone of Korean heritage and to some degree, upbringing, it does seem a little not right that I didn’t once visit Korea once until I was 34 and well into my own as an adult.

Admittedly, the idea of visiting Korea didn’t intrigue me that much growing up.  Being born in the United States as pretty much as American as American can be, this was always home to me.  Neither of my parents really talked much about Korea growing up, nor did they ever really put any ideas in my head of wanting to go.  Maybe we were just so dirt-poor when I was growing up that they didn’t want to make any difficult promises to fulfill.

A long time ago, there was an opportunity to go to Korea on some sort of church group; not that my entire family’s been tremendously religious, but it was an economical means to get there.  I’ve always been kind of nihilistic about religion in the first place, so it didn’t really interest me that much, and at that age, my priorities were vastly more interested in indulging in my no-school summer vacation, playing video games and being a slug at home.  Ultimately, my dad and my sister went, and I’ll always remember just how tan they were when they got home, and there’s a photo of the two of them riding a horse that always stuck with me as symbolic of an opportunity that I probably missed out on because of my youthful stupidity.

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Irrational anxieties

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Normally, I don’t often state my travel plans, fearing for jinxes or security vulnerabilities involving my home or belongings.  But lack of brog, etc, etc, no worries about anyone reading this until way after the fact.

But I’m going to Korea in a few days, and I’m undoubtedly excited to visit the Motherland, but at the same time I feel a tremendous amount of anxiety and concern for the home I’m leaving behind while I’m on travel.  Some of them are valid things to worry about while I’m away like my outstanding assignments are in good places for my co-workers, the health and well-being of those I care about, the safety of my home and my dog.  Or the perpetually escalating tensions between North and South Korea and the United States’ involvement, leading to some military firepower demonstrations from all sides this fucking week of all times, seem like something to fret a little bit about.

Some are less valid, like that I’m perpetually forgetting something, and no matter if I make lists, check and recheck the things I’m packing, I always feel like I’m forgetting something.  I mean, all I really need is clothes, toiletries, my passport, comfortable footwear, cell phone and my camera, and I should be mostly all set.  But I stare into my suitcase, and I’m 100% convinced that something critical and important is being forgotten, and it’s going to drive me nuts until I’m at the point where it would be too late anyway.

But the most irrational of anxieties I feel, is the feeling of FOMO (fear of missing out) of all the things that will inevitably be happening in the States while I’m away.  Like, I’m going to Korea, and visiting the country where my parents are from; I’m going to see all sorts of new and amazing things, historical, cultural and whatnot, and there’s a part of me that’s butthurt because I won’t be able to indulge in television shows like American Horror Story or Luke Cage when they’re fresh and new, and I’ll be two weeks behind when I get the opportunity to indulge.

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Things that made me think Europe is overrated

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

One thing that lots of people do that I think is a little obnoxious, is thinking that the way things are done in America are all flawed, and that they are undoubtedly and unmistakably better in other parts of the world like Europe or Asia.  I’m not going to pretend that America does everything right, but spending lengthy times abroad is an easy way to make comparisons, and discover that America sure gets a lot of things pretty damn right, and often.

European airports.  I challenge any person who loves to bitch about how chaotic, hectic and for whatever reason that doesn’t imply veiled racism “difficult” Atlanta Hartsfield-Latoya Jackson Intergalactic Nail Emporium and Hot Wings Shack Airport, to spend a day waiting for a flight in a European airport. 

Including last year, my frame of reference includes airports in Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin and Milan, and all of them suck, compared to Atlanta Airport.  And it might be home to me, but Atlanta Airport is far from the best airport in the United States.

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Photos: Europe Trip 2016, batch 3

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

[2020 note] Lost content, never posted on account of brog downtime.

This is the last batch of photos from mythical then-gf and I’s European vacation in 2016.  After we got off the cruise, we decided to spend a few extra days in Italy, where we visited Florence and Rome, taking in the sights, museums and eating all of the pasta while we were there.

Plus I caught a Mr. Mime in Pokémon GO, which at the time was a rarity for an American to have a European exclusive, which made the entire trip completely worth it.

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