This past week I went on a 7-day road-trip across the penisula, hitting up major cities like Sokcho, Gyeongju, Busan, and Jeonju among some other smaller attractions. Despite warnings of heavy traffic and long drives during the Chuseok holiday, I would say we did relatively well in terms of seeing what we wanted, getting to locations on time, and making the best of our time in this beautiful country, while free from work! However, no road-trip is perfect, and therefore here are some tips if you ever find yourself in Korea trying to plan for a magical week!

Do Not: Go on the cable car at the first place you go to

You’re strong. You’re determined. You got this. You don’t need no cable car to get you there! Walk up that hill!

Do: Get a GPS in English

We rented from Avis and asked in advance for a GPS that spoke our native tongue. Not only was this extremely helpful as only one out of five of us has a maps app that worked in Korea (Google Maps does not show you the actual roads just a general map of the location, only Kakao maps does this but in Korean), but offered us a variety of entertainment along the journey. We named our GPS Gypsy, and were grateful along the way for her wonderful guidance. She would say things like “be careful not to take the wrong road,” “speed cameras 100m ahead” “you are entering the highway, make sure all passengers have fastened their seatbelts” and our personal favorite,”you may feel drowsy at this time” then something about make sure you feel safe to drive. We owe you Gypsy for keeping us safe!

Do Not: Go into a Korean Sauna wearing any type of clothes

Now I did not do this, but I do know some foreigners who did . . . and trust me you will get enough stares already from having white skin. You don’t need to give people another reason to stare at you. People will actually stare more if you wear underwear and you may feel so awkward as the only one wearing something that you will decide to go out then come back in not wearing clothes anyways.

Do: Invite your hostel host to drink and play cards with you

As nice as it is being with your close friends, drinking, and hitting the town, one of the best things about traveling will always be meeting new people. Even if the answer is no (initially) and the answer is no to a drink (initially) you may find that the statement- the more the merrier-certainly proves true. Also he might give you a good rating on hostelworld for it 🙂

Do Not: Forget your raincoat

But it rarely rains in Korea!! That’s what people keep telling me. And then each time it does rain they say- this is highly unusual to get this much rain! Well usual or not, it DOES rain in Korea. And if it is raining, and you are walking around town, or are on the very top of a mountain, and it starts to rain, you will regret not having one.

Do: Stop at a North Face, whether or not you need a rainjacket

I’m not sure if they were giving us a greater discount because we were foreigners, or if things were really that much on sale, but I got a really nice North Face flannel for only about $45. In fact, four of five of us bought at least something. North Face also currently has an extremely cute Olympics themed lined for the Pyeongchang Winter Games.

Do  Not: Order Fast-Food in the village area of the National Park

Fast food in Korea is normally fast, Street food in Korea is ALWAYS fast. That is my best advice. A 20 minute line and then 20 minutes of waiting for your food is not worth it when you could have ordered a haemulpajeon (seafood pancake, something I can now write in Korean too  🙂 )and it would be at your table in under 5 minutes.

Do: Have a group signal to stay together

Our group, otherwise known as the wolf-pack had no problem staying together through our systematic use of the howl during hikes and throughout cities. It started as a bit of a joke, but on our first hike we met some other foreigners, one American girl and two guys from Germany and at the halfway point of the hike we found the girl had somehow lost her friends en route and was looking all over for them. When part of our group went ahead all we needed to do was howl to see where they were.

Do Not: Go to Yangyang

Okay! Okay! To be fair, we did not actually go to Yangyang ourselves, we just drove through it. So I can’t say don’t go to the place itself. But what I can say is be very careful looking at maps and which road you get on because sometimes you’ll think you’re taking the right road and before you know it you’ll be heading towards Yangyang when you want to be going the other way. 45 min later you won’t be laughing anymore . . .

Do: Dress up in a Hanbok if you’re in a Hanok Village

Even if it’s 7:30pm and the first shop you go to tells you it’s too late to rent them because they close at 8:00pm, find the shop that is open until 9:00pm and rent them for an hour. You will not regret it. You will take so many pictures, not just on your camera but with the locals as well.

Do Not: Visit a Strawberry Farm in October

There will not be strawberries (dall-gi in Korean!) there. Not sure why we didn’t think of this, but there were some cute ducks next to the greenhouses!

Do: Get Honeycomb Ice-cream in Busan

Honeycomb Ice Cream is a thing here. We went to a really cute little place on the mainstreet in Haeundae to get ours but many places sell them! So good.

Do Not: Visit Donggung Palace on Chuseok Holiday

This is probably the only place where the holiday really caught up with us. Apparently this is a REALLY popular place for locals to go with their families. However, the Hanok village here does sell postcards, so even if the lines are horrendous and you decide to just get dinner, take pictures of the observatory and then leave (like us) at least you can go knowing that you found possibly the only postcards in the country.

Do: Get McDonalds for breakfast

Western breakfast places are not very common in Korea. So if you’re craving some pancakes and tatter tots, then McDonalds has your back. I’m not typically a McDonalds person, but I will say it was better then eating at Paris Baguette every morning which is the local bakery chain here.

Do: Take the cable car on the last day

You’re Weak. You haven’t gotten proper sleep in 7 days (or a proper shower). You won’t make it otherwise. Enjoy the scenery fly by!