My boyfriend and I booked a trip to Seoul without thinking too much about it -- the fare was sort of reasonable, we liked Korean food a lot, and both wanted to go somewhere in Asia. Thus, we weren't prepared for the quizzical looks from friends and family members wondering why on Earth we chose Seoul. This curiosity continued even after we arrived and met several Americans working there as teachers, who were surprised that we would choose Seoul, of all places, for vacation.
Luckily, our lack of any sort of planning except for booking a hotel and DMZ tour seemed to work in our favor. This was my first time in Asia so I was expecting significant language barriers, challenges in getting around and perhaps some serious culture shock. Instead, we discovered a city extremely friendly to English-speaking tourists with great public transportation (and food!).
While countries like Japan or Thailand get more buzz than South Korea, its capital city of Seoul has definitely tried its darndest to make itself accessible to outsiders. Here's why it's the perfect, non-stressful (minus the whole North Korean aggression thing) Asian primer:
1) Airport accessibility: Downtown Seoul is about 50 kilometers away from Incheon International Airport -- a taxi ride would not be cheap. As is the case with many other cities, about $15 will get you a seat on a bus to take you to a central location. However, Seoul's system is complete with several buses that drop off door-to-door at most of the major hotels. It's not hard to find your way -- the ticket you purchase details your stop number, and the stop has a clearly marked schedule of when the buses arrive (about twice an hour). They are prompt too.
2) An extremely functional subway: The Seoul subway system is very daunting at first -- there are a ton of lines and exits are far enough away that they are numbered. Instead of just going up the stairs back to the outside world, you can sometimes choose from more than a dozen exits. And, Exit #1 may take you to a very different area than Exit #8. But lucky for the visitor, there are tons of maps (in English!) that illustrate where each exit leads. As for the trains themselves, they are far cleaner than any in the U.S. Plus, each stop is announced in English, as are announcements of any transfer station. There are signs everywhere.
3) Picture menus: Okay, so this sounds like a bad idea -- most restaurants in the U.S. that have pictures of their food are probably tourist traps. But in Seoul a lot of the unassuming and cheap restaurants have pictures, and the food didn't taste like garbage at all.
Here's a delightful seafood pancake (pajeon) ordered after looking at a picture wall. Does this look like tourist garbage to you? Ithinknotthankyouverymuch.
4) Translations at all major tourist sites: From the Seoul Tower to the War Memorial, there are English signs aplenty. There's no need to worry about not understanding certain major museums or attractions -- the city makes it easy for you.
Of course, picking up a few Korean words is never a bad thing either. It's amazing to see how far a simple "thank you" (or, "kam-sa-ham-ni-da") will go. You're a guest in an unfamiliar city -- since it's being so welcoming to you, the least you could do is return the favor.