South Korea has my Seoul

 I can’t talk about Seoul without making some stupid pun like the one in the title. Of course, my whole life became a lie when I learned that Seoul (서울 in Hangul) isn’t actually pronounced like “Soul” in Korean. It’s closer to “Suh-Ool.” But I guess I’ll get over it eventually, because Seoul is an incredible city.

 Why Seoul?

And here’s the time for honesty: I was TERRIFIED thinking of planning a trip to Seoul. I didn’t even know where to start. What if we got there and we couldn’t figure out the public transportation? What if we couldn’t find places to eat? What if our kids needed a bathroom and we couldn’t find one? Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret: all of those things happened – and then they turned out alright in the end. Because that’s just how things go.

Why we love Seoul

The people

Then there were the people who just kept giving our kids free stuff. We’d heard of this happening, but we hadn’t experienced it to the degree that we did in Seoul. We are pretty used to people giving our kids a lot of attention (the fact that they are very white and very blonde is probably the number one reason; the fact that there are FIVE of them is another one) and people often give our kids treats and candy. But in Seoul, our kids got free shoes, hats, candy, treats, stickers, and one man even came up and excitedly gave our kids some hard-boiled eggs. We tried to pay for the items (particularly the shoes and hats), but instead we got the Korean “no” (where they cross their arms over their chest in an “X”). And so instead we graciously accepted the gifts and moved on with our day.

And then there were those who offered to take pictures of our family, those who congratulated us on our family and reminded us how blessed we are. Two Korean men (who were probably in their twenties) offered to take our pictures at Gyeongbokgung Palace. They were so kind and loved talking to us. They spoke English very well and told us that they loved seeing our family and that they wish they had a family like ours. It was a humbling moment for me. We’d had a rough morning with the kids (more on that in a later post) and I was not feeling overly grateful in that moment. And so I’m grateful for the comments from others that remind me how thankful I am for our crazy little hoard of children.

The public transportation system

We knew when we were planning our trip to Seoul that we were NOT going to drive everywhere. Parking is difficult to find (and even when you find it, it’s EXPENSIVE for extended periods of time… and that’s assuming they will even accept your American credit card) and so we knew that public transportation was going to be the way to go.

It was actually really incredible watching people come and go on the subways and in the subway stations. We hit the subways during rush hour a few times and, while the crowds could be overwhelming, it felt weirdly organized. I can really only describe it as “organized chaos” which is absolutely my favorite kind of chaos. Sure, we preferred to step onto a subway that had open seats and plenty of room for all of us to fit comfortably. But even during the times when we had to squeeze in, we managed and all made it out in one piece. And again, people were mostly so patient with us and so willing to help: moving out of the way when it was our stop and we needed to squeeze through; helping our kids on and off the subway when we had our hands full with other kids; and even making room for our umbrella stroller so we didn’t have to unbuckle H.

One thing that we did notice about the subways: there were never really any kids on them. During our four days in Seoul, I think we saw ONE other family with kids – and they seemed to be tourists like us. I’m unsure what families do for transportation when they visit Seoul, but I’m guessing they hire taxis to take them around. That being said, the subways were definitely one of the cheaper ways to get around. Sure, you have to deal with wandering through subway stations on occasion (and trust me when I say that the subway stations are HUGE), but the whole system is really pretty incredible. And with the help of Naver, navigating the subways was so easy even I (someone who is VERY bad with navigation) could figure them out with very little issue.

On our way up to N Seoul Tower, we took a bus (because subway wasn’t an option) and we all preferred the subways. Sure, the buses MIGHT get you a more direct route to where you’re going (and I think they may even be cheaper than the subways), but we generally found them to be more confusing and less pleasant than the subways. Maybe next time we visit Seoul we will try to use only the buses and we’ll find that they aren’t as bad as we think.

The entire experience