eat good food and go places : What I Learned from Korea

My trip to Korea was my first time in Northeast Asia. Even though we were only there for two weeks, I got to step out of my comfort zone and learned a lot from my short time there. Here are my top 15 lessons learned:

1. When you don't have a clue what you're doing, following the crowd is a great strategy.
Between my Lonely Planet guidebook and the wonders of Google and Trip Advisor, we generally had a good idea of where we wanted to go and how to get there. After that - the details of what to see at any given attraction or significance it were usually unknown. Not wanting to miss out on anything, Kim and I adopted the strategy of just following whatever the crowd seemed to be interested in.

Not sure where to go out at night? Just follow groups of well-dressed young people getting off the subway.

See a bunch of people taking pictures of someone in a restaurant? Take his picture too - he's probably important. (It was Noh Hong-Chul, if you were wondering)

Want to go to a sunrise festival on New Year's Day but don't know where the best view point is? Just walk with the largest crowd of people - you'll end up somewhere good.

2. Except when it isn't. As fool-proof as this travel hack might sound, sometimes it doesn't work. The ride with the longest line at Lotte World may turn out to be a kid's ride. Or you could wait in line for 20 minutes on the top of a mountain in blizzard conditions just to take a picture with a rock with writing you don't understand. (Luckily we caught ourselves after 10 minutes of waiting and settled for a selfie with the marker in the background.)

3. Free WiFi should be a basic human right. Free WiFi is everywhere in Korea, or at least in the major cities. On the subway, on tour buses, in coffee shops, or even walking city streets. Even without an international data plan, I was never far from WhatsApp, Instagram, and Gmail.

4. If people look "too prepared", take that as a sign that you might be underprepared. As we were hiking up Mt. Hallasan in a few light layers and leggings, everyone coming down the mountain was wearing huge parkas and face-masks. Our first reaction? "People here are so over-prepared for everything." I definitely took that one back when I was still shivering in my bed hours after summiting.

5. A simple melody can make subway rides infinitely more enjoyable (the fact that the trains are always on time probably helps too). For some inexplicable reason, this jingle that played every time a train was approaching made me incredibly excited.

6. If you don't have an international data plan, screen shots are your best friend. Since we couldn't rely on Siri or Google Maps, screen shots were a lifesaver. I screen-shot-ed (is that a verb?) directions to every hotel, restaurant, and tourist site. After ending up in a bus depot while trying to find the toilet museum in Suwon, I learned to get all directions written in both English and Korean as well.

7. Anything can be cute, from toilet museums to caution signs. This one's self explanatory - the US could definitely learn from some of Korea's graphic design skills.

8. Selfie sticks are a travel essential. Selfie sticks can definitely be classified as something you don't know you need until you have it, but came in handy almost everywhere we went. It also help us fit in with the crowds at Lotte World.

9. Unfortunately, the rest of the world doesn't revolve around NFL football. We learned this one the hard way after assuming there'd be somewhere in Seoul to watch a Redskins game airing at 9:30am local time. (Spoiler Alert: There wasn't.)

10. A good soap opera plotline transcends language barriers. We never did figure out the name of it, but Kim and I got a little too addicted to a K-drama we couldn't understand a single word of.

11. No matter how tough you think you are, there definitely is a "too spicy". Your stomach will let you know later.

12. People are overwhelmingly nice and will try to help you however they can. There are more examples than I can count of people going out of their way to help us out. From a taxi driver handing out clementines, to an elderly lady showing us the best water jets to use at the spa, to a woman who spoke absolutely no English making sure we got to the right stop on a public bus. Maybe we just looked pathetic?

13. A shove in the back can be a form of endearment. Or maybe not. I'm not sure if it's a result of the sheer density of people in Seoul or a different concept of personal space, but some of the hits we took were NFL-worthy.

14. Changing into slippers every time you walk in a room is the ultimate "Treat Yo' Self", and good slipper style can make your day. There's something fancy feeling about changing into different shoes for each room.