Have you traveled? (1 Viewer)

[kinnie]

Have you ever traveled to a foreign country before?
If so, where to? Share your experiences -
what you liked and didn't like about it.
Would you ever consider yourself living there? Even for a short period of time?
What you rate your overall experience.
Any advice to those interested in traveling to the same destination in the future?

X

I'm originally from North Carolina, U.S. and in June I flew out to South Korea. I leave in September. Gotta say it's probably been the longest summer of my life while staying here. It's the first time for me ever going out of the country too. I've been wanting to visit South Korea for several years now and near the end of last year I said, "F*ck it, I'm going to Korea next summer." So here I am, cooped up in Gangnam for 3 months. I'll start off by saying the weather here is awful during the summer time due to the sweltering heat + humidity. Just lovely. I mean it's summer, so I don't know what I was expecting. Lol Just impatient to get to Korea I guess. Things I've learned while in Korea:
1. I'm not particularly a fan of Korean food. I think it's an acquired taste tbh.
2. Koreans love luxury goods and driving high-end vehicles.
3. Where are the police? I hardly ever see them around.
4. Going to clubs is a hot-spot for hooking up. All I want to do is dance, but that's just me being naive and thinking that dancing is all there is in such a setting.
5. I'm not ashamed to say there are a ton of visuals here.
6. Everyone has a copy-and-paste mentality; down to fashion, hair-styles, etc. Originality is hard to come by here.
7. I haven't encountered anything bad in regards to how the natives act around me or towards me. Just a lot of staring which is understandable.
8. Korean isn't a difficult language to learn.
9. K-Pop is not popular in Korea. Rarely come across K-Pop in general (unless of course it's BTS related) and shops dedicated to K-Pop.
10. Very mountainy terrain here.
11. Koreans will wear face-masks outside even in extremely hot weather.
12. There's always construction going on.
13. Koreans prefer to have smaller dogs like poodles, yorkies, maltese, etc. and make them look like freaking rats during the summer. As a dog groomer, I find it painful to see. They have their pets shaved completely and I'm like, "Noooooooooooooooo."
14. Some Korean companies will raise prices for foreigners that visit Korea.
15. Long live 'Weeny Beeny'.
16. It never gets boring here. Although I find it hard to make friends here.
17. Koreans love poop.
18. I feel safe here for the most part.
19. I'm the mother of meerkats.
20. I have no regrets.

I do not see myself ever living here. Just for visiting and what-not. I did find myself an s.o. during my time here and it's been amazing. I would recommend for anyone to visit South Korea, but definitely avoid the K-Pop and K-Drama fantasy mindset here. Also, take a travel buddy with ya if you can. It will make the experience more comfortable for you. There is always something to do and somewhere to eat. The prices here aren't bad at all. There's a guide book that I highly suggest for anyone who is serious about visiting Korea:

The Solo Girl's Travel Guide - #1 Guide Books for Women

Bali. Thailand. Mexico. Southeast Asia. Japan. South Korea. Singapore. Vietnam. Cambodia. Puerto Vallarta. And more travel guides and travel bucket list journals.

thesologirlstravelguide.com

I don't understand why it's titled just for women when it's clearly helpful to anyone. I mean it's literally a guidebook...
Anyways, I rate my overall experience in South Korea an 8/10 (so far).
I'm hoping to visit again next year.
Just thought I'd share a brief summary of my experiences.
Thanks!
​

 

[Puddles]

Glad you’ve been having fun in Korea - I lived there for 6 years and loved every second! Soon it will be 장마 (monsoon season) so it’ll cool down a little for you . I’ll be going back there for a holiday in October this year when the weather will have cooled!

 

[Nezumi]

Have you ever traveled to a foreign country before?
If so, where to? Share your experiences -
what you liked and didn't like about it.
Would you ever consider yourself living there? Even for a short period of time?
What you rate your overall experience.
Any advice to those interested in traveling to the same destination in the future?

X

I'm originally from North Carolina, U.S. and in June I flew out to South Korea. I leave in September. Gotta say it's probably been the longest summer of my life while staying here. It's the first time for me ever going out of the country too. I've been wanting to visit South Korea for several years now and near the end of last year I said, "F*ck it, I'm going to Korea next summer." So here I am, cooped up in Gangnam for 3 months. I'll start off by saying the weather here is awful during the summer time due to the sweltering heat + humidity. Just lovely. I mean it's summer, so I don't know what I was expecting. Lol Just impatient to get to Korea I guess. Things I've learned while in Korea:
1. I'm not particularly a fan of Korean food. I think it's an acquired taste tbh.
2. Koreans love luxury goods and driving high-end vehicles.
3. Where are the police? I hardly ever see them around.
4. Going to clubs is a hot-spot for hooking up. All I want to do is dance, but that's just me being naive and thinking that dancing is all there is in such a setting.
5. I'm not ashamed to say there are a ton of visuals here.
6. Everyone has a copy-and-paste mentality; down to fashion, hair-styles, etc. Originality is hard to come by here.
7. I haven't encountered anything bad in regards to how the natives act around me or towards me. Just a lot of staring which is understandable.
8. Korean isn't a difficult language to learn.
9. K-Pop is not popular in Korea. Rarely come across K-Pop in general (unless of course it's BTS related) and shops dedicated to K-Pop.
10. Very mountainy terrain here.
11. Koreans will wear face-masks outside even in extremely hot weather.
12. There's always construction going on.
13. Koreans prefer to have smaller dogs like poodles, yorkies, maltese, etc. and make them look like freaking rats during the summer. As a dog groomer, I find it painful to see. They have their pets shaved completely and I'm like, "Noooooooooooooooo."
14. Some Korean companies will raise prices for foreigners that visit Korea.
15. Long live 'Weeny Beeny'.
16. It never gets boring here. Although I find it hard to make friends here.
17. Koreans love poop.
18. I feel safe here for the most part.
19. I'm the mother of meerkats.
20. I have no regrets.

I do not see myself ever living here. Just for visiting and what-not. I did find myself an s.o. during my time here and it's been amazing. I would recommend for anyone to visit South Korea, but definitely avoid the K-Pop and K-Drama fantasy mindset here. Also, take a travel buddy with ya if you can. It will make the experience more comfortable for you. There is always something to do and somewhere to eat. The prices here aren't bad at all. There's a guide book that I highly suggest for anyone who is serious about visiting Korea:

The Solo Girl's Travel Guide - #1 Guide Books for Women

Bali. Thailand. Mexico. Southeast Asia. Japan. South Korea. Singapore. Vietnam. Cambodia. Puerto Vallarta. And more travel guides and travel bucket list journals.

thesologirlstravelguide.com

I don't understand why it's titled just for women when it's clearly helpful to anyone. I mean it's literally a guidebook...
Anyways, I rate my overall experience in South Korea an 8/10 (so far).
I'm hoping to visit again next year.
Just thought I'd share a brief summary of my experiences.
Thanks!
​

That’s awesome. I’m glad your enjoying your time there. And thanks for sharing the info and your experience. I personally only went to Germany, Belgium and Portugal. I don’t really count Germany and Belgium. But Portugal was fun. The weather was nice and it’s really beautiful there. But it was more like a drinking holiday I didn’t like the advertisers over there. There were so many people trying to get you to buy something.
I still wish to go to many more places in the future without it being a drinking holiday lol.

 

[Nezumi]

Glad you’ve been having fun in Korea - I lived there for 6 years and loved every second! Soon it will be 장마 (monsoon season) so it’ll cool down a little for you . I’ll be going back there for a holiday in October this year when the weather will have cooled!

I hope you’re gonna have fun when you go!

 

[Puddles]

I hope you’re gonna have fun when you go!

Thanks! I love Korean food so I am going to eat like a prince while I am out there otherwise just looking forward to meeting up with friends.

 

[eclipsoul]

nope, not into traveling at all tbh. i hate long journeys and unfamiliar spaces, also it's too expensive for something i'm not sure i'll enjoy. i prefer staycation

 

[kiki]

We travel somwhere new every year so if i were to list them all it would get too long

Some of the places i most enjoyed were france and the canary islands.
I absolutely love frances culture and food, id suggest learning a bit french before going bcs it can be deemed rude when you only speak english. For canary islands my only suggestion is to try all of the local fruits bcs they truly are on another level compared to ur average european supermarket.

 

[Tickita]

Welcome back ^^

I definitely want to travel solo (nationally), and I might try to in a year or two

 

[SnowWhite]

Some of the stuff you mentioned I expected to be the norm everywhere. Like doesn't everyone love high-end fashion and luxury goods? Don't most people follow trends anyway? I thought tourists were charged higher for what they buy everywhere. Then again I never lived outside Asia so idk how if works in the west I guess.
So far I have only traveled overseas few times in my life. I am hoping that would change once I move out of my parent's house, in few months.

 

[Nezumi]

Some of the stuff you mentioned I expected to be the norm everywhere. Like doesn't everyone love high-end fashion and luxury goods? Don't most people follow trends anyway? I thought tourists were charged higher for what they buy everywhere. Then again I never lived outside Asia so idk how if works in the west I guess.
So far I have only traveled overseas few times in my life. I am hoping that would change once I move out of my parent's house, in few months.

In the west or at least in the netherlands we don’t charge extra for foreigners.. that’d be kinda dumb and unfair imo. But I’m used to it. So I can understand if it’s different in another country.

 

[Ahsoka]

Let’s see, I’ve been to England, France, Germany, Austria, The Czech Republic, Croatia, Venice, Russia, Canada, and the UAE, so it would be hard to list all the experiences I’ve had for each country.

 

[Abeamus]

Nope but I plan to

 

[kinnie]

Glad you’ve been having fun in Korea - I lived there for 6 years and loved every second! Soon it will be 장마 (monsoon season) so it’ll cool down a little for you . I’ll be going back there for a holiday in October this year when the weather will have cooled!

Whoa! How's your Korean? What did you do during your time here? Yeah we've been getting hit by typhoons lately and although the temp has decreased, the humidity says, 'yes'. :,)

 

[Puddles]

Whoa! How's your Korean? What did you do during your time here? Yeah we've been getting hit by typhoons lately and although the temp has decreased, the humidity says, 'yes'. :,)

My Korean is good - send me a message or post on my wall if you wanna chat in Korean 🙂 I hope you’re having fun learning it! 화이팅!

I was an English tutor of various guises while I was out there. Worked in Hagwons to begin with, and then worked in a Kindergarten and then for the last few years I taught in a different elementary school across Busan each day of the week as part of a city-wide scheme. I also worked as a private tutor for a bit of extra cash and did a few other random jobs here and there. Teaching was fun, but also very tiring, so I am kinda happy to no longer be doing it!

 

[kinnie]

My Korean is good - send me a message or post on my wall if you wanna chat in Korean 🙂 I hope you’re having fun learning it! 화이팅!

I was an English tutor of various guises while I was out there. Worked in Hagwons to begin with, and then worked in a Kindergarten and then for the last few years I taught in a different elementary school across Busan each day of the week as part of a city-wide scheme. I also worked as a private tutor for a bit of extra cash and did a few other random jobs here and there. Teaching was fun, but also very tiring, so I am kinda happy to no longer be doing it!

Wow! That's amazing that you had such opportunities! My initial goal was to teach English in Korea, but now I'm leaning towards a different route. It looks fun, but yes, I have heard about the demanding work load that goes along with it. Kudos to you for having the passion to teach the kiddos. :)

 

[lily]

Traveled to South Korea, Singapore, Spain, Portugal, and Iceland. Amazing experiences...I would like to travel again if I had unlimited budget and time lol

 

[Dreamer_of_Songs]

Not recently, but I do want to travel outside the US at least once or twice at some point.

 

[kinnie]

Traveled to South Korea, Singapore, Spain, Portugal, and Iceland. Amazing experiences...I would like to travel again if I had unlimited budget and time lol

That's amazing! I would love to hit up Singapore one day. Where would be your next travel destination?

 

[kinnie]

Not recently, but I do want to travel outside the US at least once or twice at some point.

It's cheaper to travel than go to Disney World AND way more worth it.

 

[lily]

That's amazing! I would love to hit up Singapore one day. Where would be your next travel destination?

Singapore is really nice... Lots of good food/shopping and it's clean

I haven't been to Caribbean before so would love to go anywhere in that region one day. How about you- where would you like to go next?