This winter, things turned out a little differently. My long-distance partner came to visit after Christmas to see me after months of us being apart, albeit on the most fleeting of impulses. We arranged a last-minute itinerary (they had never been to Korea before, let alone Seoul), and compiled a list of fun ways to keep ourselves busy while spending time together during the holidays. Our itinerary ended up being overly ambitious for the limited amount of time we had together, but it gave us plenty of options to play with on our time off, at least. 

Here are four things we did together: 

1. Tried Korean fried chicken

Korean fried chicken is a pretty ubiquitous food concept at this point - you can’t throw a stone in a mall without hitting a chicken shop that smells of oil and gochujang. However, my partner has never had that saucy goodness in its place of origin, so I took them to two different places to try Korean fried chicken at its best. I can safely recommend these whether you’re a local, or someone who’s only been here a short while:

• 후라이드참잘하는집

It should be noted that only take-outs are available for this fried chicken franchise. It’s pretty much available in all delivery apps (요기요, 배민, coupang eats etc.) 배민’s also recently introduced a foreigner-friendly interface where you could use a foreign card for purchases (which is a huge improvement! So I highly recommend that.)

• Mom's Touch

A very well-known Korean fast-food chain that has surprisingly good fried chicken (better than Lotteria or other fast food chains, in my opinion.)

2. Go to Lotte World Aquarium

Naver maps link: https://naver.me/GaldtpJ2

Who doesn’t love an aquarium date? Here’s a hot tip if you’re trying to save a bit of cash: The widely-used foreigner-friendly travel website Klook offers entrance tickets to Lotte World Aquarium for $17 (25,000 won) apiece. That gives you a 2,500 won discount compared to the official website, which sells tickets for 27,500won apiece. If you love marine life, including adorable penguins and zoomies-having otters, it’s well worth the trip!