There and Back Again

A little over a year ago my Lizzy girl and I took a trip to Seoul, South Korea during spring break. It was a result of a new and ongoing obsession with KDrama that prompted the journey. For those who missed the blogs as they went up in real time, you can find them on my notes page or at the links at the end of this one.

Before we ever returned back to the US from that trip we knew that we had only scratched the surface of the things that we wanted to see and do and began to make plans for our return.

Now those who know me know that I absolutely love to travel but it wasn’t always that way. I never left The States until I did a summer study abroad in Greece back in 2000. It was someplace that I always wanted to go. Someplace that had always called to me. I thought that I would never get the chance to go.

As fate would have it, the program was being offered at another university that my dear friend Charlotte attended. We had often talked of going there together for years and so she was quick to mention it as soon as she knew that it was available. She had also checked further and learned that there would be no troubles with me attending as long as I filled out the necessary paperwork to dual enroll.

Also, as fate would have it, I had sat out the fall semester after the birth of my youngest child and I had financial aid money that would carry over and pay for the land portion of the trip. My father-in-law generously donated the frequent flyer miles for the airfare portion. How often can a person say that they have the opportunity to spend six weeks in another country and the only thing they have to come up with is spending money? It truly was what I thought at the time a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ opportunity.

I thought that having visited the only country that I ever dreamed of visiting would quench my thirst for travel. In fact, just the opposite happened. It only whet my appetite for more. Once bitten by the travel bug, I became insatiable.

In those interim years, I have tucked over a dozen countries under my belt in addition to travelling extensively throughout the US. In all that time, have *NEVER* seen and done everything that I wanted to do in a country that I have visited and I have *ALWAYS* made plans to go back.

However, some other exotic destination always beckons and receives priority over re-visiting one that I have already seen. So it may come as a surprise to everyone that for the first time ever I will be returning to an overseas destination that I’ve already visited. I will be going back to South Korea in just a few weeks.

In all honesty, it’s a surprise to me as well. There are other places on my bucket list besides all the ones that I’ve already seen and want to revisit. I always thought that Greece would be the place that I would go back to before any others. Well, maybe Ireland. Or Italy. Or France. Or …. well, anywhere other than where I am going.

South Korea was never even on my list of places to visit until my youngest daughter introduced me to Running Man, KPop, and KDrama almost two years ago. I sometimes think that she rues the day she did. Other than the fact that they have become an obsession, I can’t give you an adequate explanation as to why this country gets the honor that all the other countries have unsuccessfully vied for in the last sixteen years.

There is something about South Korea that speaks to me and calls to me. Not that I didn’t feel that in the other places I’ve gone. I have. Which was why I chose to visit them in the first place. But, at the moment, this is the one that screams the loudest for me to return. I can only take that to mean that I still have something more to learn from the country and its’ people. So I will heed its’ call and, once again, I will invite you to come along with me as you did a year ago.

We (and that means you!) depart on May 29th. Are you excited? I am! See you on the other side of the world!

https://www.facebook.com/notes/donna-lynne-hanlon/seoul-courtyard-7pm/10153326264926004

https://www.facebook.com/notes/donna-lynne-hanlon/getting-lots-of-practice-saying-jwesong-hamnida-the-most-formal-form-of-saying-i/10153328350621004

https://www.facebook.com/notes/donna-lynne-hanlon/the-best-laid-plans-go-out-the-window/10153330788441004

https://www.facebook.com/notes/donna-lynne-hanlon/everything-i-need-to-know-in-korean-life-i-learned-in-running-man-/10153333061301004

https://www.facebook.com/notes/donna-lynne-hanlon/history-meets-kdrama/10153335326871004