The Ultimate Guide to Rail Biking in Korea

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Meagan & Dave | HappilyEverExpat.com

Three and a half years ago I was obsessed with Pinterest (who hasn’t been at some point, right?!) and spent hours searching for things to add to my Korea Bucket List pinterest board. One day I found a pin about rail biking in Korea and immediately my heart was set on doing it. Unfortunately, the southeast corner of Korea where I live doesn’t have a single place to rail bike so it took me a very long time before I could make my dream a reality.

A few months ago we discovered we had booked a hotel close to a rail bike after doing a facebook check-in and seeing 레일바이크 (Korean for rail bike) in the list of choices. We went and I have to say that rail biking was just as fun as I had imagined… I loved it! As soon as I posted a photo of my experience on my blog’s facebook page, I immediately had people wanting to know how they could rail bike too. Continue reading →

Exploring Beautiful Gangwon Province by Rail Bike

Posted on November 3, 2014 by Meagan & Dave | HappilyEverExpat.com

We recently went on a major road trip on a mission to visit Nami Island, which is in the far northern part of Korea and very far from Ulsan. The night before leaving we booked the Benikea Hotel (short for Best Night in Korea) in Wonju. Because we waited until the last minute, we had to book a “luxury” room for 10,000 won (about $10) more. When we got up to the rooms, we both had a laugh because the room looked like someone from our grandmothers’ generations could have been the decorator. Most hotels in Korea go for the ultra modern look, but this one had a giant vintage sofa, antique wooden furniture and to top it all off, there was a full desktop computer set up in the room. If I didn’t already know that Korea has the fastest internet in the world, I would have expected to hear the shrill sound of a dial-up modem when trying to connect to the internet. Continue reading →

Beautiful Sunrise and Hydrangeas at Taejongdae in Busan

Posted on July 20, 2014 by Meagan & Dave | HappilyEverExpat.com

I love traveling around Korea! I spend a lot of time scouring the internet for the best places to visit and because of that my list of places to see in Korea is a mile long. When I saw that there was a hydrangea flower festival going on in Busan last weekend I immediately told Dave we had to go. Luckily for me, Dave usually just goes along with my crazy ideas and spends most of his weekends driving us all over Korea (he’s a keeper!).

I used my irresistible charm to talk Dave into waking up verrrrry early so that we could get to Taejongdae in time to watch the sunrise. That’s a pretty big ask considering the sun comes up around 5am and we live an hour and a half away from the park. Not only that, but once we got to the park it was a bit of a hike to get to the lighthouse.

Continue reading →

Places to see in Gyeongju: Lotus Ponds & Summer Flowers

Posted on July 7, 2014 by Meagan & Dave | HappilyEverExpat.com

I’ve heard a lot of people complain about Korea just being a concrete jungle with no green spaces. These people must never get out of their small little bubbles because Korea is such a beautiful country. Summer in Korea can be hot and humid, but it’s still one of my favorite seasons because of how all of the trees and plants perk up and turn a stunning shade of green. It can be really breathtaking driving through the countryside this time of year.

Another great thing about summer in Korea is that the lotuses bloom! I’d never actually seen a real lotus until I came to Korea. I was so excited when we found the lotus ponds in Gyeongju two summers ago.

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Things To Do In Gyeongju: Gyeongju Tower

Posted on June 23, 2014 by Meagan & Dave | HappilyEverExpat.com

Gyeongju is my absolute favorite city in Korea. It was the ancient capital of Korea so it’s extremely rich in history. There are tons of things to do in Gyeongju so I recommend taking at least a few days to explore as much of this amazing city as possible.

When I’m in Gyeongju, I always love driving by the Gyeongju Tower. It’s a 30-story tower with a giant pagoda cut right out of the middle. It’s really impressive, and it’s an observation tower so you can go up inside of it! Continue reading →

American Village – Namhae, Korea

Posted on October 17, 2013 by Meagan & Dave | HappilyEverExpat.com

Welcome to American Village, a place designed to lure Korean-Americans back to their homeland with its beautiful surroundings and American suburbia style homes.

I have to admit that the views of Aenggang Bay are amazing. Continue reading →

Andong Mask Dance Festival

Posted on September 30, 2013 by Meagan & Dave | HappilyEverExpat.com

September 27- October 6, 2013

We went to the mask festival in Andong on Saturday and had a really great time. The festival has a few different sites and it was tough to pick just one. We chose to go to the smaller festival at the Hahoe Folk Village. It’s a village full of Korean traditional homes, called hanok. It’s also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Before entering the park, we were greeted by a large group of students that were so excited to practice their English with us.

After buying tickets, we stopped off at the information booth to pick up some information about the festival. The woman spoke really great English and she marked on our map where the festival would take place. It was a 1km walk to the festival site, but we opted to take the free shuttle.