Once upon a time, when planning our trip to South Korea, Elizabeth wanted to split our time between countries. Despite the fact that we’d be there in the middle of May, forcing our trip to be a little shorter than otherwise (I can’t take that long off of work in the middle of storm season), her idea was to fly to Tokyo, spend a few days in Japan, and then fly from there to Seoul. I’ve never been a big fan of rushing two things when you could explore one a little more deeply. In my view, there would be plenty of cool things to do and see in South Korea. We went back and forth in a fit of analysis paralysis before finally agreeing (thanks, Vanessa) to just visit South Korea. As it turns out, there are plenty of things to see in Korea even outside of Seoul. Who would have guessed?
So instead of rushing between two countries, here we were on May 13th, rushing domestically throughout Korea. We’d only arrived in Busan less than 48 hours ago, and yet it was already time to leave. While Kim waited patiently in the front drive of the Park Hyatt, everyone frantically carried suitcases downstairs and past Elizabeth’s disapproving glare. We’d be… kind of… on time for our flight from Busan to Jeju.
Let’s pick up the action in the transfer car on the way to the airport, where Pam was admonishing:
- “Everyone make sure you have your pass…”
I happened to be looking at Pam, up in front of me by a row or two, as she said it. I was the first one to see the jolt of recognition in her eye as her sentence trailed off. She barely got the end of the word “ports” out like the hiss of a tire doing flat.
Elizabeth’s head went up immediately. Everyone was quiet for a second, even though it was clear what Pam was going to say next. Yes, she had in fact left her passport back in the safe at the Park Hyatt, a good 30 minutes behind us. Unfortunately, there isn’t much good in discovering that as you’re pulling into the airport for a flight you have a tight schedule for. There was basically no way for us to turn around and get the passport while making it to our flight on time. It sounds tragic, but trust me when I say it didn’t take long after the event for Pam’s aborted sentence to become a catchphrase for the entire trip.
- “Believe in Korea!”
Speaking of trip catchphrases, let’s talk about how Kim’s iconic statement came to be. The airport drop-off lane was a flurry of activity. There were handlers in black suits waiting for us to arrive so they could shepherd us through security, but all five of us were paralyzed by the missing passport. Kim and her driver jumped out and began barking questions and instructions at us. Chaos reigned.
Elizabeth and I stood off to the side, talking in hushed tones about what to do. Winston was entirely opposed to the idea of splitting up from Pam and making sure we stayed on the same flight. But as Elizabeth pointed out, rebooking 5 tickets is much tougher than rebooking 1 ticket. Meanwhile, in the distance Pam was on the phone with Vanessa the travel planner. I could hear a little bit of the exchange and could fill in the rest mentally. Vanessa is at her core a rather blunt, no-nonsense person. Pam was calling at roughly 9:00 Eastern time to let her know that she’d just left behind the one travel document you can’t leave behind. By definition, that is the sort of nonsense that “no-nonsense” people don’t take.
So all of this was going on simultaneously in a small area. Moira was looking up flights, Vanessa was telling Pam to head STRAIGHT BACK to the hotel and DO NOT LET ANYONE TOUGH THE SAFE, and meanwhile the handlers were trying to nudge everyone along. And through all of this, there was Kim and the driver, already on the phone with the hotel. When Pam said that she was heading back to the Hyatt, Kim said that there was no need. They’d already opened the safe and were going to bring the passport as fast as possible. Somewhere halfway around the world, I’m sure Vanessa’s jaw dropped.
But you know what?
“Believe in Korea!”
We all shrugged. The four young adults of the group grabbed their bags and got ready to board the original flight. Kim promised to stay with Pam until the passport was safely back in her hands, and they’d work on getting her rebooked. So what else was there to do but believe in Korea?
- Being escorted through an airport
Ever want to feel like a VIP? Have a team of handlers in black suits escort you as fast as they can through a small airport that almost anyone with a brain could navigate on their own. To this day, I couldn’t really explain to you why anybody felt like we needed this kind of treatment. Someone somewhere was just doing their job. But Moira looked as uncomfortable as I felt being herded past crowds of people to our gate. If you’re just a random Korean person getting on the Busan to Jeju flight on Jeju Air, what does it look like when 4 fully-grown American adults are led to the gate by people in suits?
Somebody must have thought they were boarding a plane with an ambassador’s kid or something.
- Watching the Jeju tourism video again… and again… and again…
The flight to Jeju was quick and painless, as far as domestic flights on discount carriers go. Elizabeth and I were seated together and I had my giant bag of Jelly Bellies to hold me over. The airport was small as one might expect, but the interior was much more modern than I had anticipated from the rather dumpy exterior.
But mostly, it was filled with teenagers.
It must have been class trip week in Korea, because dozens upon dozens of kids poured through the airport to file onto buses. It was actually comical how big these groups were. You literally couldn’t make your way through the airport if one of the school groups was in the area.
So the four of us found a cafe just outside the baggage claim to order some coffees and wait for Pam’s flight (which surprisingly only arrived like 30 minutes later). There was a big screen in front of me that played a Jeju tourism video, showing a field full of flowers, a snowy evening at the volcano in the center of the island, and citrus fruit trees (hey, we already did the Sorrento blog post!). I thought it was pretty nicely made.
Unfortunately, by the time Pam got to us 45 minutes later, I was ready to destroy the big screen if I had to see it one more time. Maybe if the video had been longer than like 20 seconds, I wouldn’t have seen each scene dozens of times, and my psyche wouldn’t have been stretched so far.
- Beautiful Jeju
But at least after the airport misadventures, we were back on track. In fact, we were moving into the afternoon of the trip that I got to plan: our afternoon drive around Jeju.
Jeju Island is its own self-contained entity just off of the south coast of Korea. Formed by Hallasan Volcano in the center, the entire island can be framed around proximity to the big caldera. Our hotel for the next two nights was in the village of Seogwipo on the south coast, while the airport is on the northern end. Since we had no formal plans or tours (no more handlers!, I mentally cheered), I devised a little afternoon road trip for us around the northern, eastern, and southern coast of the island. We got a rental van for the five of us and chose to entrust the operation of it to Winston for the next 48 hours.
After seeing it, I can understand why Jeju is considered the peak of Korean scenic beauty. In addition to the primary volcano, there are all sorts of little cinder cones across the island from past eruptions. It’s sort of like temperate Iceland, especially when you see that everyone’s got their property lined with lava rock for fencing. From what I can tell, all of the available land on Jeju is being used for onion farming – that which isn’t being used to grow some of the world-famous Jeju oranges, at least.
Oh, and it should be noted that driving laws on Jeju are insane. Frequent speed limit changes, two-minute-long stops, school zones every few feet – Winston was really going through it in the driver’s seat on our scenic loop.
- Holy Mackerel!
Our timing was a little behind my itinerary thanks to the passport, but not catastrophically so. Everyone was hungry but not starving when we arrived at the restaurant I had painstakingly found at Hamdeok Beach.
The name of the restaurant roughly translated to “mackerel lettuce wraps”. And like all restaurants in Korea, the menu wasn’t exactly extensive. The other side of the table ordered their mackerel and got it in a big, bubbling pot of curry. Elizabeth and I stuck with pork. It was the most quintessentially Korean restaurant meal both for its simplicity, the amounts of lettuce and things that they provided for us to eat along with the entree, and for the gigantic, obscene wads of kimchi in the broth. Look at all of that kimchi!
- Climbing a Volcano
Ok, not that volcano, but we did climb a volcano. Sseongsan Peak sits on the eastern tip of Jeju and is known as Sunrise Peak, presumably because of the spiritual awakening that happens when you sit inside the caldera right at daybreak. We didn’t make it there for daybreak. Neither did all of the school groups, apparently:
It’s like Iceland, if Iceland were overrun by 14-year-olds.
From the parking lot it’s a pretty short trek to the top of the “tuff volcano”, as apparently these are known as. Hopefully the hike to the top wouldn’t be too tuff for anyone; Pam was apprehensive. But at a little under 500 feet in height, it felt like we could manage it in a nice hour or two.
And that’s pretty much exactly what it ended up being. The weather was lovely so we didn’t even sweat that much. Pam only needed a couple of breaks along the way up the trail, which was a well-maintained staircase for the most part. Heck, someone was even selling orange juice halfway up the mountain if you needed a break. Never discount Korean vendor ingenuity and hustle.
As you might imagine, the views from the top of the crater were some of the best of our whole trip.
The actual caldera was a little disappointing, though. I wanted to see something more dramatic. (Tuff luck.)
And then in an added little bonus, the trail figure-8’d on the way back down to the parking lot and dipped by the water at the foot of the volcano. There were some pretty dramatic shorelines to be enjoyed here:
And this was an enclave for some of the famous Jeju female divers, though we didn’t have time to stop and watch them at work (they operate in the morning anyway).
- Ice Cream With a Volcano View
Finally, we get to a point in a vacation blog where I get to talk about ice cream! Any reading of this site before should let you know how much Elizabeth and I enjoy our ice cream, especially on vacation. It just makes every trip a little bit better! So yeah, when we see vendors selling ice cream with the famous Jeju Hallabong orange flavoring, it was a no-brainer.
Except for the part where I got peanut-flavored ice cream instead.
They were both very good, and who doesn’t love heart-shaped rice cakes in their ice cream bowls?
- This Place is a Cult, Right?
Because we were running a little behind and nobody wanted poor Winston driving after dark, there were no planned waterfall stops to finish off the day. Instead we reached the JW Marriott along the south coast of Jeju right as the sun fell behind the horizon. Poor Moira pretty much short-circuited at the site of this incredible hotel on a bluff over the water. A doctor would probably diagnose her with “poshness overload”. In fairness, the interior felt like nothing so much as one giant spa. The staff spoke in hushed tones, brought everyone ice cream to enjoy during check-in, and had matching clothes. There were schedules to remember for on-site amenities, and all of the guests walking by had the same sort of quiet detachment that the staff did. It was bizarre and kind of creepy. You’ll never convince me that there isn’t some sort of major cult operating at the JW Marriott in Jeju.
But like all great cults, they had a really beautiful compound. Here’s the view from Elizabeth and my suite:
And here’s the view from the main hotel area, where there’s like an elevated bridge you cross to get to the dining area.
Our suite was incredible (it feels like I say this every time, but dammit, it’s always true). Perhaps the crown jewel was a bathtub so big that I could fall asleep in it sitting up and probably have space for 3 more sleeping Nolans (yes, I fell asleep in the tub). The sheets were nice, and Elizabeth still has her JW Marriott Jeju slippers.
They’re really annoying to vacuum around in our bedroom.
- Sea Slug
Fatigue was catching back up with us a little bit, but there’s no way to finish out one of these travel days quite like checking out the hotel’s restaurant. The JW Marriott restaurant has a tasting menu, and I guess I married into a full tasting menu family now. This one wasn’t super exciting to me because it was mostly seafood based, but what was I going to do, be the one to ruin everybody else’s tasting menu fun? Heck no.
And any sort of tasting menu is going to have a course that has something like “bread and Jeju oranges”, which is a plus.
One of my favorite bits from tasting menus is when you get comically small portions.
For me, the real moment of bravery came with a course prominently featuring sea slug. Sea slug! Who would dream of eating such a thing? You might think something like “Well, oysters and lobsters aren’t that different than sea slugs, so perhaps they look and taste normal.” I am here to assure you that sea slug looks and tastes exactly like the name implies. I was extremely brave and forced it down, though. Kim told us that it was rude not to finish your meal in Korea. I washed it down with a quick drink of water and a mental toast to our host country:
Believe in Korea!
