Trip to Jeju Island In South Korea 

Getting tickets to jeju over the spring “honeymoon period” proved to be extremely difficult but Giuli and I managed to get flights from Wonju on Friday and back to Busan Monday morning. This means that we are left with two full days on an island that we could easily spend a month on. We were desperately trying to find accommodation and things that we should definitely do. Language barrier turned out to be the biggest problem. We were becoming so frustrated at something that we should have been so excited to plan. 

I went to a co-worker of mine and asked his advice as his family is from Jeju. He referred me to a Tour Guide named Victor who speaks English. I was super skeptical about a package tour as you never really know what you getting. I contacted Victor and it all sounded really great and Giuli and I decided that we should go for it. We arrived on Friday and before our arrival Victor gave us details on how to get to the accommodation and he told us to be ready at nine in the lobby. These guidelines turned out to be true and Victor did exist! Seogwipo is not like every other city. The people are friendly, the city looks green with vegetation, its clean, there are tons of things to do and the local food in the area is incredible. 

We found a pasta place which was absolutely phenomenal. It was called ‘Promise’ and it was owned by the kindest Korean man in the world. He tried to speak English and accommodate us as much as he could and he put great care and effort into preparing our food. When we went to eat at promise for the second night in a row he responded to us by saying, ‘you, my house, second time, I’m so happy’. It was an experience, not just the average supper and I would recommend that anyone who visits Jeju Island, visit and eat at “promise”. Promise contact number: 01196648588 

The next morning Giuli and I woke up and had our breakfast at the hotel. The conversation revolved around questions, what would Victor be like? Is it like a big buss with a person on a speaker phone talking to everyone in a million languages? Would we actually do what he said we would do? These questions were all soon to be answered. 

He arrived in a Hyundai minivan which was awesome and he greeted us with a big smile. He explained to us what we would be doing for the day and that three others would be joining us. So far all our questions were answered, we had a small intimate group, a good guide, a good itinerary and everyone spoke English. 

On the way to pick up the others, Victor took the scenic route past a few places which he could explain. It’s so great to hear him talk about different areas as he is fluent in Korean and knows all the myths and legends which have been told to him by the Korean people of Jeju. 

The weather in Jeju was not the best as it was rainy, overcast, sunny, you name it and we still managed to do all the activities on the itinerary drawn up on the Jejueco website. When it was not a good idea to do an activity, he would have something else for us to do which was just as spectacular as the activity that we were expecting to do. I would really recommend Jejueco to anyone that plans to go to Jeju. 

Marc Radloff 
http://marcradloff.blogspot.com