Our Vacation to the Repuiblic of Korea

Our Vacation to the Republic of Korea

July 11th-17th, 2001

We flew out on the morning of July 11th at about 9am. We got on a C-5 "Galaxy", the largest aircraft in the military, on Space Available ("Space-A") which is a free military "hop" or flight, on Environmental Morale and Leave (EML) orders. The plane had no windows and the seats faced backwards. We had the very last seats in the "back" which is actually the front. C-5 Ride

Asheton fell asleep before take-off, Tristan mid-way through, and D took a short nap during the hour and a half flight to Korea. We had been up since 5am to make the 6am Space-A call.

When we landed in Korea it was overcast, but the weather was much cooler than tropical Okinawa in July which was a relief! We went through customs, got our passports stamped, and Jeff signed us up for Space-A for the trip home. The longer you are on the list, the sooner you get on so we wanted to sign up right away. As the kids and I waited outside the AMC terminal, a old Korean man came up to me by the name of Johnny to offer us a ride to an off-base hotel he manages. We are going to try to get in at billeting I told him, so we took a cab to The Osan Inn on-base but they were all booked up. Johnny was sitting in the reception area waiting for people who couldn't get a room to hitch a ride to his hotel, so we did. It was called The Rose Hotel. It was not up to American hotel standards, but it was clean, bug-free, and the AC worked.

We settled into our room and washed up. We decided to venture out around Osan AB, so we walked to Osan's main gate, which was practically right across the street from our hotel, and grabbed a taxi. We went to OHOP (Osan House Of Pancakes) and got some breakfast. Then, in the same building, we went to ITT Tickets & Travel to inquire on admission to an Amusement Park in Seoul called "Lotte World". It is the largest indoor amusement park in the world. We got the tickets and decided to rent some movies for our hotel room. We then went to the BX and bought a few necessities. Shopping Downtown I was exhausted so we all decided to go back to our hotel and take a quick nap. When we got up it was time to venture out in Songtan, the shopping district right outside from our hotel. The shopping consisted of mink blankets, leather shops, handbag and purse shops, athletic wear and imposter-designer clothes. It was all at pretty reasonably priced. Our first purchases were a 4-piece luggage set, a Coach purse and wallets for both Jeff and I. We then went and got some PC games. I got Demetri some Nike and Adidas socks and we got some ice cream at Baskin Robbins. That evening we ate dinner at a Korean restaurant called "The Chinese Restaurant" and ordered Bulgogi, a Korean dish with spicy meat mixed in vegetables over rice. Demetri ate egg with shrimp over rice and we had mango juice for drinks. Tristan and Asheton were tired and cranky so we ate quick, went and got our luggage packaged, and went to our room to retire for the night.

The next morning we went to the Post Office to mail out our luggage, had breakfast at Burger King, and prepared to journey to the capital of South Korea: Seoul. We went to the bus stop and bought tickets for Yongsan Garrison, an Army Post about an hour bus ride north of Osan.

When we arrived at Yongsan we walked to the PX to get a few things we forgot like juice cups. The boys and I weren't allowed inside due to rations they have in Korea. We then walked to the subway about a 10 minute walk from Yongsan. It was difficult at first to figure out how to buy tickets from the machine and where we needed to go, but Jeff figured it out and we set off on two sets of subway lines a total of 45 minutes and arrived right at our destination: Lotte World.

View from Lotte World Hotel We needed to find a hotel so we looked in our tour guide book and found a hotel called the Riviera Hotel. Unfortunately, it was 15 blocks up and none of the taxis knew where it was. The only hotel around was Lotte World Hotel and we were so exhausted that we had no choice but to stay there at a whopping $300 a night. When we walked into our 29th floor suite we were exhausted and just glad to have a place to rest. It was an amazing room with elegant furniture and a gorgeous view of a lake and many sky scrapers. We decided to wash up and take a look around.

We ate dinner at TGI Friday's and the meal was delicious! We then looked around the Lotte World shopping mall. It was very expensive with fine furniture stores and places like Gucci. We decided to look for a place for the kids to go swimming. We found out that our hotel had a pool on the 5th floor, but, after getting the kids ready, dressed, and down to the 5th floor, we were disappointed to find out it was only for kids 7 or older. We then went to bed looking forward to the amusement park the next day.

We woke up bright and early and decided to check out of our expensive hotel. We got donuts and orange juice for breakfast and we headed for our fun.

When we walked into Lotte World Adventure, there was a carousel with horses and the first thing we did was play video games. Jeff, Tristan, and Demetri then went on a water ride called the Adventures of Sindbad on a boat that goes down falls and is about an Arabian sailor. Tristan was scared, but he also had a good time. Demetri went on the flume, a roller coaster for the first time, a jungle safari, the Waikiki wave, and many other rides. We saw a performance with lights and water fountains in a theater. We ate ice cream, cotton candy, churros, pizza, and sno-cones. We took a balloon ride that was connected to the ceiling that took you around the whole park. It was scary but it was a great view. There was an Olympic-sized ice rink on the level below the park.

Magic Island Castle The outside part of this amazing park was called Magic Island. It was set in 16th Century Germany with a huge castle and authentic looking buildings from the Germany of old. It was fun to see a bit of our future! We had a great time and the place was just amazing. The two little boys got to go on a mini ferris-wheel and slides at the kiddie park.

We realized we had better go find a new hotel before it got too late, so we got back on the subway to the Coex Mall and checked in at the Grand Inter-Continental Hotel. It was also a whopping $300 per night, but we had planned to go to the Coex Aquarium the next day that was right in the Coex Mall attached to the hotel, so we checked in. We ate KFC and went back to Lotte World until about 10pm.

At the end of our day, we saw an amazing laser-light show and an International parade. The boys got a watch and a pillow of Lotty the raccoon for souvenirs.

On the way home we picked up some Dunkin' Donuts across the street from the Grand Inter-Continental. This new hotel was great. We stayed on the 14th floor and the room was very Oriental looking. It had screens on the windows, an awesome bathroom, and it was a lot bigger than Hotel Lotte. We slept good that night! They provided a crib for Asheton, D slept on the extra bed they brought us, Tristan had a whole full-sized bed to himself, and Jeff and I slept on the other full bed.

The next morning, D and I ate a continental breakfast in the lounge amongst businessmen from all over the world. There were no other "families" at this hotel that we noticed. We ate croissants, fresh fruit, and cereal. Tristan and Asheton had Dunkin' Donuts up in the room. We all got ready and headed off to the Coex Aquarium. It was neat and the boys got to go to a part where they had an aquatic petting zoo. They got to touch stingrays, starfish, sea slugs, and other interesting creatures. Tristan ran off and got lost, but a nice Korean family saw the obvious American family in the crowd and brought him to us. At the gift shop, the kids got a t-shirt, a large stuffed shark, a box of rubber frogs, and a big blue stuffed tropical fish. We went and checked out of the hotel and D got a Korean coin set from the hotel store.

After the we checked out, we went and ate at Bennigan's. It was fabulous. Then it was time to go back to Yongsan garrison on the subway and the same bus ride back to Osan. We did a little bit of shopping downtown outside Osan and got McDonald's for dinner that night.

The next day we went shopping for just about everything under the sun: leather jacket, water fountains, raincoats, clothes, toys, Playstation games, etc. D at The Clay Pot Restaurant The boys had ice cream at Baskin-Robbins and got some cool toys. D got a remote control car and Tristan got a SCUBA guy that swims in the tub and an electronic airplane. We went and ate dinner at an authentic Korean restaurant all the GIs call the "Clay-Pot" restaurant. We had kimchee and other interesting (and spicy) Korean foods. D tried EVERYTHING from seaweed to cucumber kimchee. He had samgyeopsal for dinner (pork), Jeff had chicken bulgogi, and I had beef something or other. Tristan didn't eat one thing and Asheton napped through it all. D and I went to the Laundromat and he played with his remote control car while Jeff and the little ones watched movies and went to bed at the hotel.

Monday, July 16th, we had to get all of our shopping packaged and mailed out before we left, so the boys and I went to Burger King play-park while Jeff got everything mailed out. Two hours and eight taxi rides later, all our stuff was headed for Kadena.

We shopped some more and, when the boys got tired in the evening, I shopped alone. We ate dinner at the Pizza Club restaurant which was delicious deep pan pizza, something you can't get at Kadena. The boys got Power Ranger toys and we headed back to our room for the night. I tried OB Korean beer while Jeff and I watched a movie.

The next morning we got up early for Space-A call. Johnny gave us a ride back to the AMC Terminal. We headed out on a MD-11, "The Patriot Express", back to Okinawa. The flight was great and the boys behaved well.

Overall, we had a great time and it was an amazing experience. We spent a lot of money shopping and eating and the boys got to experience an opportunity of a lifetime!

Lotte World: