South Korea Family Holiday and Perfumes

Hi there Posse. South Korea Family Holiday is a rambling read, you might need to grab a cuppa or a boozy beverage. Jin, my husband, was born, raised and schooled to BAKLit in South Korea. He moved to Australia for love 2006 and became an Australian citizen 2009. His parents are still in South Korea. His only sibling, older brother Jinki, is in Slovakia with his family and works for the Korean car companies over there. When I met Jin in 2011 he was already embarked upon the Electrician apprenticeship journey. Since 2013 we have visited his parents at least once a year and his brother most years. For Jin to not see his family since 2019 has been hard, to put it mildly. So this visit is full of joy.

Jin and my traditional arrival in South Korea’s airport meal is Lotteria. Basically their McDonald’s but SO MUCH BETTER! Look at that happy face.

South Korea Family Holiday

We’d not seen Umma (Mum) and Appa (Dad) in so long we decided to make the whole trip about them. We would arrive in Korea, stay in Seoul one night then bullet train to Busan where his parents would collect us. Big teary open armed hugs on arrival from all of us. We stayed in their apartment in Yangsan for a week. It was very chill. We ate at home and had a few meals out with parents and Jin’s school buddies. Often we walked up to the local Lotte Mart and other stores. We even cooked spaghetti bol and garlic bread for them one night.

Then we grabbed the parents and aunty, chucked them in the back seat of the family 4X4 and took them on a five night South Korea road trip. Two nights in Seoul (where none of them had been for decades). Another two nights in Sokcho (a famous east coast beach town where for decades many of the wealthier South Koreans would spend their honeymoon long weekend, and Jin’s parents had never seen). Lastly one night in Gangneung (another beach town, less famous where there is a nearby street dedicated to coffee and you can legally have fireworks on the beach!).

From Gangneung parents and aunty took the car home. Jin and I grabbed a train back to Seoul for two nights. Spent our time catching up with friends. We even ended up going to a little gay Karaoke Bar one night and the Foreign Quarter gay bars the next night. It was our first time doing anything LGBTQI together in South Korea and quite eye opening.

Food

The whole South Korea trip was extremely food oriented. Every meal was specially curated so Jin could eat as many of his favourite dishes over the break. My palate was extended by about 1000 miles. Secretly though most of the new things I tried need more time for me to become accustomed to them. Fishy flavours, fat or gristle on meat and bone broth as a base for soup are not things I like. I gave them a red hot go. Indifferent results.

Perfumes

I made up a small collection of perfumes, mainly travel sizes, and tried to accomodate late summer warm days and cool nights. This was especially exciting because it’s late winter here. It would be excellent to have a couple of weeks in light and lovely scents. So here’s the line up.

Divine EdP

An old favourite super glam aldehydic floral. Divine EdP is CHANEL No 5 taken to the farthest reaches, an end game for the genre. Impossible to feel any less than movie star ready when wafting this kitchen sinker. Wearing this in South Korea created a spectacular counterpoint to all the other scents.

Dolce Patchouly by I Profumo di Firenze

A cool, simple patchouli. Bought this bottle of Dolce Patchouly on the 2013 Perfume Posse ScentSation Bus Tour. It’s had a little wear over the years but I recently rediscovered it in the collection and have been wearing it a lot. Dolce Patchouly got the most wear on this trip. It was a beautiful undercurrent to all else happening.

Mohur by Neela Vermeire Creations

Ahhhhh! My one true rose love. Big, jammy, spiced and tapestried Mohur. No other rose perfume moves me so eloquently. A perfect showstopper for nights out and it fit beautifully with the few cooler days we had. A lovely counterpoint to everyone speaking another language, I was easily able to get lost in the scenery and perfume.

Reflection Woman by Amouage

Reflection Woman Travel Set has been in my collection for years but I have no recollection of ever wearing it. That it is a lily and lily of the valley fragrance was such a surprise recently on spritzing. What a beautiful late summer spritz. My only complaint is that after it is a lovely fragrant beauty for two and a bit hours it completely collapsed and needs refreshing.

Estratto di Colonia by Pineider

My dream was to finish my bottle of Estratto di Colonia on this holiday. It’s a fairly traditional cologne but always feels luxuriously put together. There was about 5-6ml in the bottle on leaving Australia and I wore it in the first three days till I dropped the bottle and smashed it at Ma & Pa’s. BUMMER! Well, I did finish the bottle. Be careful what you wish for eh?

 

That is the last of our holidays booked for 2022. We have a couple of one day getaways booked but we nixed the November 2022 European tour and pushed it back to November 2023. That will be a big one. we are taking Jin’s parent and Aunty to visit his brother’s family in Slovakia! Their first time seeing Europe.

Are you getting out and about in the near or far future? What have you got planned? Do you know what perfumes you’ll be taking already?
Portia xx