Travel Diary: Seoul, South Korea

A collection of stationery stores, coffee shops, and my personal travel log through the colorful city.

Sunday, June 21, 1 PM:

The rental car is meticulously packed with frozen dog food and a large suitcase we suspect is over the weight limit. Genevieve is pulling on the leash on the cross walk because we said the word “car” in front of her. She is approaching every car on the street, throwing her head back at us to say, “This one?! Is it this one?” until we get to the small Honda Connor picked up from Jersey that morning. We have yet to have a rental car experience in the city that is not an ordeal, so we tried Jersey. It was an ordeal too. Genevieve whips into the backseat with the eagerness of a 6th grader on a school field trip bus. We depart from home.

3 PM:

A pit stop in Princeton, New Jersey to get lunch turns lengthy. Unbeknownst to us, there was the most picturesque-Americana-Gilmore-Girls-Stars-Hollow-type-of-town-square-festival happening downtown. A little carousel in the town square spun, carnival games with men saying step right up!, and a giant sculpture of a cherry pie sat proudly on the lawn.

It is simply irresistible and so we spend too much time walking around. The smokey aroma of the grill entices us, and we order burgers from a vendor, ice cold water, and sit in disbelief at the magic we happened upon side by side at a picnic table. Finally, we grab an iced matcha that is much too sweet from a soda shop and depart.

9 PM:

We arrive at the steps of my brother and sister-in-law’s home in the dark, clad with a to-go order of tacos from a restaurant down the street and that general weariness even a minor road trip seems to endow. Genevieve begins her vacation in their home. We go promptly to bed, but I mostly lie awake because I know the alarm will ring at an abnormally early hour.

Monday, June 22, 3 AM:

The head-dizzying feeling of 3 AM sounds like a shrill iPhone alarm in a dark room. I feel around for my clothes, brush my teeth with my eyes shut, and we depart for the D.C. airport. A visit to the Capital One lounge is next. As tradition follows, we grab a bunch of free breakfast items and a chai latte before heading to the gate.

The suitcase is indeed over the weight limit, it is discovered. Alas, we board our seats for a 19 hour commute (and 13 hour time difference) to South Korea. I watch Perfect Days on the small seat rest screen and tear up a bit, then I watch Hamnet and weep into the little fleece blanket the airline gave out until my eyes are red. Then I try to sleep (I do not).

Tuesday, June 23, Late Afternoon:

The Incheon airport greets us with sunshine, as we move through customs efficiently, reunite with said overweight suitcase, and go to the curb for a taxi pick up. The hour taxi drive moves us through beautiful landscapes and city views to the front door of our friends’ home, and my favorite street in all of Korea.

Justin and Koheun (and their kids, Will and Lee) became dear friends when we visited two years ago. Justin is a DP who worked on a documentary project that Connor directed where they interviewed North Korean refugees in partnership with a non-profit. The two formed a friendship during the project, and since then, we have spent time with them on every subsequent visit. You know those friendships that have an ease about them? It’s easy to be in their home, easy to have fun together, and we’ve even earned the titles, “Uncle Connor and Auntie Jenna,” with the kids. A badge I wear with the highest honor.

Sweating in the summer heat, we carry our bags up 4 flights of familiar granite stairs to their doorstep and are reunited. They’ve adopted a abnormally cute cat, named Smokey, since the last we saw them. The kids are a foot taller too.

Wednesday, June 24, Unknown Hour:

I wake up in delirium in the guest room. I am a monster. I am nauseous. I hardly slept. I feel with any movement I will vomit. This is my typical day one jet lag experience, so I am not necessarily phased by it, just green. Koheun graciously offers to run down to the pharmacy to get me anti-nausea medicine. I insist she does not have to, but she says it’s right downstairs and the medication is less than one U.S. dollar (crazy). I drink the bottle of it, choke down a quarter of a croissant, and then I am renewed and made whole. Whatever was in the little bottle worked like a charm and I am upright.

Connor and I head out, giddy to explore Gangnam.

We discover a cafe called London Bagel Museum and I become immediately enamored. I grab a matcha, usually on the menu as a green tea latte in Korea, and a blueberry bagel. I spy earl grey cream cheese behind the counter. Korean cafes love a theme, and this one is themed very British, with an emphasis on Queen Elizabeth’s horses. Magical.

We bopped around a few shops in the area. Perfumer H. is a beautiful fragrance store with a tea shop on the second story, overlooking Dosan Park. The park is a beautiful stroll, and an interesting showcase of the history of Korea’s independence movement.

Dearpost is a small, unmanned stationery store open 24 hours, 7 days a week. There’s a very curated selection of card-writing sets. A small self-checkout, and a writing desk. I watched someone pick out a postcard, sit at the desk, write a letter, then mark it with postage, drop it in a mailbox, pay, and exit.

The jetlag begins to set in, so we order some naengmyeon to take back for the whole family. Ice cold noodles on a hot summer day heals us! An early bedtime commences.

Thursday, June 25th, 9 AM:

We spend the morning looking for a place to watch the Korea vs. Japan game, but have little luck with a 10 AM watch time. A mom-and-pop hot pot spot has the game on, so we watch there (Korea loses).

The owner frequently went outside to feed stray cats abundant scraps. We grab an orange iced americano and iced milk tea from Tressed and head over to Justin’s studio to set up for our shoot Monday. Justin is helping us film some creative marketing videos for my first collection of greeting cards.

In the evening, Justin and Koheun host a rooftop BBQ with some familiar friends from our last visit, and some new faces as well. The grill smoke fills the air while the sun sets over the city, and Lotte Tower lights up in the distance. Smokey the cat, evidently a daredevil, tiptoes the edge of the building with no fear.

Friday, June 26, 10 AM:

We venture out to the Starfield Coex Mall. The word “mall” feels like an understatement for what Seoul offers. They are spectacles of retail design, hospitality, and most importantly, air conditioning.

The Starfield Library fills shelves up to the sky with books, and we discover as we browse that there is an international book fair happening at the convention center to the side of the mall. Connor finds the line for the fair and communicates (he secretly knows an impressive amount of Korean from that time he filmed a documentary) to get us green bands, and boom, we suddenly have access to an International book fair.

This feels so timely since I’ve been hosting a Summer Reading Challenge, inspired by the Scholastic book fair of elementary days, here on Substack. I thought of you all as we explored rows and rows of independent publishers’ booths from all over the world. Kind of the Substackers dream, certainly the graphic designer’s dream.

Beautiful covers of books catch my breath, row by row. A publishing house called, “Ghost Books” made me cry. Like actually. I stood in their booth wiping tears away.

I think for a long time, but especially since moving to New York, I have felt an invisible pressure to be cooler with an unbearable weight. If I’m going to be an artist there, I have to be chicer, better, know the right people, be more avant garde, more niche, more edgy. No one in particular is saying that out loud to me, but I feel it on a molecular level at every event I attend, every person who scans my outfit from the shoes up, every brand that won’t respond when I reach out with an idea. I stand in this random booth across the world and materialize the heavy pressure I have been absorbing from my environment.

My work has always been lighthearted. If my soul spilled out onto paper, it would be colors and likely drawings of dogs. Years of darkness, battling waves and bouts of biting anxiety, and my heart’s response is to create sunshine. On the darkest nights I’ve lived, the impulse to create joy has been a balm to grief and pain. A vase of flowers, a color palette, a sleeping cat have all held their weight against strong storms. I’m proof that those small things are essential parts of being human. I’ve seen small things keep people alive. I love to write and draw things that specifically communicate joy and feel I was made to do so. And lately, in the hurricane that is New York City, I had started to think maybe that’s not enough. I’m not enough, perhaps.

I stand in front of a painting of a dachshund in a bathtub, a tea pot steaming, and a pink stack of books. I look around and see people clamoring for this artwork. And it feels like a warm hug. A reminder that because my work is joyful, childlike, feminine, and sweet doesn’t mean it’s less valuable. Just like how I am drawn to these small reminders of joy, so too are others. I can’t believe I almost forgot that.

I feel the weight begin to shed. It’s okay to just be me.

We sit at the majestic food court and Connor eats a pork katsu bigger than I knew possible for lunch. We return home for a quiet evening, watching a silent film in black and white with takeout in tow. I feel a soft wave of peace and relief in my heart.

Saturday, June 27, 10 AM:

This is the day of stationery magic. We found so many incredible places.
The morning started at a cafe called Thanks Oat with an iced oat latte, refreshing apple cider vinegar ade, and a bowl of fresh fruit atop of yogurt. A stream glistens nearby.

Oats Cafe, located in a beautiful home down the road, fills me up with an iced matcha before we begin the search.

Our goal is to find props and pieces for the videos we will be shooting of my greeting card designs with Justin on Monday. Here are the incredible stationery stores we found:

Ploting: Full of trinkets, vintage postcards, pens, other paper goods.

Rihoon Mansion: A wall of leather, colorful planners, and the ability to custom emboss the covers of the journals. I found a tiny baby butter yellow journal on a keychain and the store clerk was the sweetest of all time. She helped me find the right journal and offered the customization for free, and then even tucked a pink pen in my bag just because. She knew I’d like a pink pen, evidently.

Merge: A unique home decor store with puffy coffee mug-shaped accessories as a signature piece. They were sized from key chains to plant holders in all colors and patterns.

Made By: A four story stationery dream. One could spend hours in here. Rows and rows of stickers, cards, art prints, and trinkets. Organized and clean. If you are a big journaler, art-maker, or car-writer, this is the can’t miss spot.

Blackheart Pencil: A retro pencil store complete with pencils and pencil accessories. Tucked away on the third story of a cute building with a bakery underneath.

Poset: Aisles of cards from different artists. I thought I was stationery-ed out, but alas, I walked in here and found a second wind scouring the walls for unique cards.

We go to one of my favorite areas, Seongsu, for dinner. A leisurely walk down the street and I discover Loeuvre, a clothing store that I will now be loyal to forever. I adore everything on every shelf.

After dinner, we stroll to the Han River at sunset. A Korean raccoon crosses our path and it does not have a striped tail but is just as cute. Runners and bikers fill the path alongside the river, while fishermen stand closer to the edge, casting lines on the pink surface of the river, reflecting the sunset. The lookout is a perfect view of the Namsan Tower, city skyline, and rolling mountains.

Sunday, June 28, 9 AM:

A train ride to Yeonnam and a quick brunch.

We visit a friends’ international church in the morning, located in a record shop that only has classic Gospel records fittingly. I meet someone who somehow knew me from a connection back in Florida, and remember the world is very small in reality. Wild.

We head over to Lotte Mall for the afternoon. I am on the hunt for new glasses. I find them and fall in love, but after a quick eye test, they say my prescription is too strong and they would have to ship them in special, which would arrive after we were back in the States. If you are ever in Seoul, you just totally look for glasses as the eye exam is totally free, frames are less expensive, and usually you get them the same day!

At the house, we enjoy yet more takeout, and I catch up on my summer scrapbook.

Monday, June 29, 10 AM:

This is the big shoot day! I have my first 12 greeting cards designed for Feeling! Press. We head to Justin’s studio with all our collected props and coffees for a long day indoors. Our shoot lasts about eight hours. I am there for art direction, Connor is directing and will later be editing the shoot, and Justin is the DP (or director of photography, or simply, the camera man). He’s gotten a special macro lens just for the vision.

Together, it feels more like play than work. Each of the twelve cards has its own environment, so we are constantly creating little worlds, trying different camera movements, and quite literally playing. Watermelon was cut, hands were bedazzled, stop motion animations created, and we wrapped with flying success!

Everything on the (long) list was captured. That evening, we head back to the house and play games with the kids over dinner. Connor starts an early edit because he’s excited, and I finish up writing another Substack. (The footage is magic and I am excited to share films here soon)

Tuesday, June 30, 9 AM:

The morning starts with Le Bon Mariage, a bread and coffee spot, with Justin and Koheun. They advertise “ugly pony bread” but are sold out. I haven’t stopped wondering what it is.

They live in the city, but recently purchased farmland about an hour and a half away to cultivate and give their kids an experience of living in the country. It’s a fascinating lifestyle and I want to read more about it. I convince them to document their farm on Substack, naturally. Fortunately, they started a Substack after our coffee!

From there we depart to Jongno to visit Onion. I think it is the most unique cafe in the city because of its traditional setting. The drink menu alone will inspire me for months.

The remainder of the day consists of exploring museums and historical sites together. We visited the National Folk Museum of Korea, The National Folk Museum Street of Memories, and the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History.

For dinner, we visit the magical land of the Hyundai Mall food court. The mall is full of shoppers and diners. We pick up a dessert for the kids on our final night, and head back home.

Wednesday, July 1:

We spend the morning packing up all our things, feeling a little blue to leave. It was such a rejuvenating trip. Creatively, we accomplished what we set out to do. The cards were captured, and a long list of stationery shops was procured so when we do launch the business, I have a list of potential wholesale partners to reach out to directly.

We are so grateful to have friends on the other side of the world that feel so close. I am most grateful for Connor, who is a delight to travel with and spent hours upon hours of the trip alongside me researching and sourcing stationery, on top of getting us around, communicating with taxi drivers, and directing the full-day shoot. It’s always nice to get a big field trip with your best friend.

I left with a sense of newfound inspiration for capturing color, joy, and hope for the work ahead.

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P.S. Telling my Substack friends before anyone else…new secret Instagram for the upcoming greeting card business is here. I would love to have you join the journey and see some familiar names!