Ever since I was a wee curly-haired figure skater dreaming of her chance at making the Olympics (spoiler alert: I had zero chance), I've had the Olympic dream.
There's a certain magic that materializes every four years as our televisions become saturated with epic feats and heartbreaking fails, and I, for one, am a bonafide card-carrying Olympics obsessor. If you follow me on Instagram, then you know — I did the damn thing and crossed it off my bucket list!!!
I may not have salchowed and laybacked my way to the Winter Olympics like I once hoped, but our two weeks in Korea were amazing, delicious and so, so inspiring. In just the first three days, we danced to "Gangnam Style" at the Opening Ceremonies (and watched Queen Yuna light the flame), snuck into the VIP family lounge & promptly guzzled all their champagne, were interviewed by Finnish NPR and hoarded an obscene amount of Korean snail oil beauty masks in Seoul.
Then we attended our first event — figure skating — and I began openly weeping when I saw Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir (my favorite Canadian ice dancers) warming up on the ice. And Adam Rippon skated his crazy gorgeous long program, and I lost it again. THEN I met Johnny Weir, Tara Lipinski, Scott Hamilton and Terry Gannon, and I thought I was going to have to call the entire Olympics off because my 10-year-old self could barely keep her shit together.
We attended snowboarding halfpipe and saw Chloe Kim dominate the world. We went to a local Korean spa and spent the Lunar New Year harshly exfoliating ourselves in the company of 100 other women. We witnessed the two most insane sports — skeleton and aerials. And we ate and drank (like attteee and drannnkkkk), which may have included copious amounts of boozy sparkling water by the can from 7-11.
What I'm trying to say here amidst these rambling paragraphs is going to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang was one of those travel experiences I'm privileged to have had. I don't quite have all the words to explain it, so here's a few photos as well as a mini travel guide to Seoul for your enjoyment.
Tokyo 2020, anyone?
I spent just a few days in Seoul wandering the shopping streets, endless coffee shops and sign-strewn alleyways, and could've easily spent many more. If you're looking for a place to crash between all the eating (so much eating!!!!!), walking & exploring, I can't recommend my AirBnb in trendy Mapo-Gu enough.
PALACES
Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung are the main palaces, and both are more than worthy of a visit. My favorite part? The cutest young Korean couples dressed in traditional hanbok clothing posing for photos. After Gyeongbokgung, head over to the nearby Bukchon Hanok Village (a brisk 10-minute walk) to explore a neighborhood of old Korean hanok homes. First designed and built in the 14th century, they're well-preserved and intricately beautiful.
FOOD
Start your day at Gwangjang Market, a traditional street market, for your choice of local deliciousness: I went with gim bap (simple sushi roll), bindaetteok (mung bean pancake) and tteokbokki (spicy rice cake). Head to Sobok, where this uber cool shop serves brown rice ice cream with dried persimmon, grain syrup, pumpkin seeds and edible flowers. Arriate is a must if for no other reason than enjoying a cup of tea in this flower café. Yes, FLOWER CAFÉ (almost as good as the raccoon cafés).
SHOPPING
I should retitle this section "Stationery Stores" because that's the only shopping that matters here. My favorites (in order) are Object, Artbox (a chain with locations across Korea) and Sangsang Madang. Here's a list of a few others if you love paper goods as much as I do. Don't forget a walk down Insadong Street! It's a bit touristy but houses the city's old calligraphy shops.
HONGDAE NEIGHBORHOOD
This hipster neighborhood is teeming with beautiful young Koreans (there's a few universities in the area) and a great place for eating, night shopping and incredible street performers. This 'hood comes alive after 7pm, so head out for a stroll down Hongdae University Street and soak the chaotic liveliness in.
VIEWS
There's nothing better than a bird's eye view of a big city, and a trip up the Namsan Tower cable car reveals an expansive, 360 degree look-out of this Asian capital.
All photos taken on my iPhone 6S, edited in VSCO.
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