Seoul, South Korea: A wonderful travel destination with kids (Part 1)

Luqman on a stone bench at Nami Island, Chuncheon, South Korea.

Finally, after a long hiatus and much deliberation, I'm blogging once again. Hi!! I definitely miss blogging a whole lot! Okay, so in this very first post, I'd like to share about my trip to Seoul, South Korea back in late November 2015. We were there in between the transition of autumn to winter. Went there with my husband and son. And it was grreeaat I tell ya! It's really a wonderful travel destination for a family with kids. A lot of interesting places to visit, which of course I will be sharing with ya'all. Will also be sharing some tips and advice that hopefully can be useful for those who plan on travelling to Seoul.

T-Money

One very important and useful thing you should get once you land in South Korea is called T-Money. For Malaysian's it's like our Touch 'n Go card. The subway system in Seoul is very convenient especially if you've T-Money. It saves a lot of time, rather than having to purchase tickets. All you gotta do is just tap and proceed to the train of choice. And for kids, there's a discount. We met a Malaysian family at the guesthouse we stayed and was surprised as to how much we saved using T-Money to ride the train. It can also be used to ride the bus.

So it's a must have okay? Also, you can get a refund of the balance you have left. We got ours at GS 25, a convenience store at Incheon International Airport, the same place we purchased the T-Money. We topped up ₩40, 000  (South Korean Won) for our T-Money, ₩30, 000 for Luqman that we used for 6 days of our stay in Seoul (and we had ₩5, 000 balance each, Luqman's T-Money had ₩10, 000 balance left). [Click here] for more information on T-Money.

Transportation

From Incheon International Airport to Seoul Station the fare of the airport railway was around ₩4,150. The duration of the journey was about 1 hour. We got on the all stop train as we were on a budget. There's another option where the train goes direct to Seoul Station, which of course would cost more. Although it took a while, we enjoyed every moment on the train. We did doze off a bit. It was a pleasant journey, with it's warmed up seats and lovely view we felt relaxed after flying 6 hours from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

When we arrived at Seoul Station, we went on the Seoul Metropolitan Subway to our guesthouse at Chungmuro. The subway is the main public transportation that can be used to travel all around Seoul. Prior to our travel, we downloaded the Subway Korea app that became our map to plan our train rides as there is quite a number of different lines to choose from. It definitely came in handy. It's available on the Apple App Store as well as Google Play.

Mago Guesthouse

Mago Guesthouse, Seoul, South Korea (image source)

This is the place where we stayed. Mago Guesthouse. If we plan to go again, we will definitely be staying here. The owner Jess Kim and his assistant Charlie were really nice and super friendly.

Double Ensuite - Room H (image source)

The room and bathroom is clean, no weird stains or funky smell. The pillows are super duper fluffy. Pillow quality is important for quality sleep. Haha. They've a dining area, which includes a stove to cook, a refrigerator and a microwave oven. So you can save up some money and cook your own meals.

For breakfast, they provide:

Bread, butter and strawberry jam
Fresh eggs which you gotta cook yourself
Sliced cheese - so I made scrambled eggs with cheese, nyummy!
Cereal
Milk and orange juice
Instant coffee, tea and sugar

Mago Guesthouse is located in Chungmuro, which is only one train station away from Myeong-dong (crazy huge shopping district). You need to walk a bit though (around 500m), up the hill from the train station to the guesthouse. Alhamdulillah, My 5 year old Luqman had no problem walking. It must have been the cold weather that made us not mind going up and down the hill. There are a few convenience stores along the way. So if you get thirsty, you can just pop in and buy some drinks. Our favourite was this honey and ginseng bottled drink that was warm. Mmmm mmmmhh. For more information on Mago Guesthouse, you can visit their website [here].

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In part 2, I'll be sharing some tips for a winter holiday and where we went. See you in the next entry!

Kamsahamnida!
{Sue Anna Joe}