South Korea
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How to detect a hidden surveillance camera in an Airbnb home?
Living nomadically, we change our accommodation very regularly and live year-round in Airbnb apartments (at least ten per year) One of our psychoses is to come across an ill-intentioned landlord who has hidden cameras inside the house to keep an eye on us. The risk is very low but not zero, some travelers had this bad surprise. So I got into the habit of doing a little test when you arrive in a new home. This test is very far from guaranteeing the absence of cameras at 100% but it only takes a few seconds The principle: scan the wifi network to identify the devices connected to it. Here is…
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Practical Travel Guide for Seoul (South Korea): Budget, Tips, Addresses, What to Visit, Advice, Digital Nomad
We have just spent a month and a half in Seoul and as we had a bit of difficulty at the beginning to enjoy the city, we will give you our best addresses and advices, so you won’t waste time like us This guide is in Question/Answer format, I find it is the most suitable format to cover the most topics (which have nothing to do with each other) Two important documents to have Just make sure you have (1) your passport with you (2) a return ticket or ticket to leave the territory For French people, you are exempt from visa requirements and can stay here up to 3…
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Where to go shopping for cheap in Seoul (South Korea)? Underground shopping in Seoul
Seoul, along with Tokyo, are among the top destinations in Asia for shopping and/or fashionista fans. Today, I take you on a tour of the best places for shopping, for cheap. Attention: here I speak mainly about the purchase of clothes. For cosmetics, you have a dedicated article. Be aware that there are plenty of underground areas where you can go shopping in Seoul – usually in the subways. The clothes sold there do not necessarily have a brand or label. Prices start at 5,000won. In summer, the average price (June 2018) is 10,000won. The most expensive items are 30,000won maximum. Clothes are very nice, good quality but they look…
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Jeju Island (South Korea): 3rd Day of Visit
Today is the last day we have the car. But I have too much headache and stay in bed. I still have the presence of mind to ask JB several times if he cancelled our car reservation. And then, around noon, when I regain all my human capacities, I ask the question again and JB answers me that he didn’t manage to cancel the reservation This is a sign! I have to do everything I can to visit the places we couldn’t visit the last two days We booked the car at 9am, but when we arrived at 1:30pm, nobody yelled at us, on the contrary, our car is still…
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Jeju Island (South Korea): 2nd Day of Visit
Today, we continue our visit with a rental car (see our article on car rental here) Gwangchigi Beach Our first destination is Gwangchigi Beach, the beach isn’t swimmable, but from this beach you can see Seongsan Ilchulbong in the distance Well, it’s not as nice as if we had a drone 😀 Seongsan Ilchulbong is a volcanic cone formed by eruptions on a shallow seabed about 5,000 years ago, and the shape of the volcano can be clearly seen from above Seongsan Ilchulbong A few minutes by car later, we arrive at Seongsan Ilchulbong, a Unesco classified site Apparently the sunrise here is very nice. I’m not sure about the…
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How to Rent a Car on Jeju Island (South Korea)?
Jeju Island is THE favorite tourist destination for Koreans Every day, many flights connect Seoul and Jeju and thousands of people disembark to visit the island As public transportation isn’t the ideal solution to explore the island, many decide to rent a car As a result, many rental companies compete with each other and renting a car is easy, fast and cheap Small return of experience of our hiring at Lotte Rent a car with whom we carried out two hirings How do I book my car? Everything is done online on the site of Lotte Rent a car. The site isn’t a model of ergonomics but has the merit…
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Jeju Island (South Korea): 1st day of visit
After a month and a half in Seoul, here we are in Jeju for a week! Over a week, there are a lot of days where we work, so you will see on the blog only 3 travel diaries, corresponding to the 3 days where we actually visit 😀 Let’s get started Part 1: Travel Diary Part 2: Practical Tips Part 1: Travel Diary Jeju, késako, and why do we have to go there? South Korea is very strong in marketing and Jeju is one of the well-publicized destinations abroad. It is an island in the very south of the country, home to many (old) volcanoes, marketed as the Hawaii…
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Travel Diary Seoul (South Korea) #8: B2B Market, Palais Royal, Notre-Dame de Paris, Barbecues
In this last travel diary in Seoul, a lot of things happen in the evening because our last days in Seoul are also the days when we have to work during the day 😀 In Seoul, it seems that there are as many types of barbecue as there are restaurants. We went again to the Hongdae district to test the barbecue skewers we spotted last time. The restaurant is very small and well decorated (there are plenty of lanterns), it is well equipped and we have a small machine that turns the skewers for us. When the skewer is well cooked, you have to put it on the grill high…
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Travel Diary Seoul (South Korea) #7: Marinated raw crab, Gilsangsa Temple, Suyeonsanbang, shopping in Myeong-dong
Today, we find M., a French-speaking Korean girlfriend we met thanks to our long time friend J. (we were talking about it here). I appreciate his company more and more, because we discover a lot of things in common Mr.’s husband is Korean, too. Based in Paris, he has been an entrepreneur and tour guide since 2002. He designs personalized trips in France and Europe for small groups of Koreans (up to 8 people). He has a spacious vehicle, he drives and accompanies clients at the same time. If you ever have Korean friends looking for a Korean guide in Europe, passionate about history, gastronomy and French culture, contact him…
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DMZ Tour: at the border between North and South Korea
In 1953, after 3 years of war and 3 million casualties, North and South Korea agreed to a ceasefire. Officially, the two countries have been at war since then, but the fighting has stopped The two countries have defined a border. On either side of this border, a 2-kilometer zone is demilitarized, known as the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) So there is a 4km wide area almost ghostly, which has become a paradise of biodiversity in which protected species thrive The paradox is that beyond these 4 kilometers, we find the zone with the highest concentration of military forces on the planet. Approximately 1 million soldiers (700,000 North Korean soldiers, 400,000…