An around-the-world trip the coronavirus can’t spoil: YouTubers’ guide to South Korea
- On their honeymoon, Hong Seuk-nam and Kim Hyun-young spent a year travelling to 27 countries and five continents
- While the Covid-19 pandemic has put overseas travel on the back burner, they say there are plenty of wonders at home comparable to the sights of their trip
It was a fitting celebration for veteran television travel reporter Kim and her husband Hong, who had long dreamed of seeing the world. Indeed, it was during a month-long trip to the United States while they were still dating that Kim knew she had met her future husband.
“I knew I could spend the rest of my life with someone who also wanted to venture to new places every day,” says Kim, 31, who works for the Korean Broadcasting System.
Drawing on her experience working for the national broadcaster, the pair documented their adventure, which included months of volunteering in schools and community centres, on their YouTube channel doitbubu (“do it couple”) – gaining close to 12,000 subscribers and millions of views and becoming mini celebrities.
“If the grandeur and scale of some of these places abroad made us gasp with amazement, places in South Korea have a certain charm and sense of jung, or affection, that makes us want to visit them again,” Kim says. “You feel it every time someone gives you food or presents to take home when visiting a place.”
Here are the couple’s five most memorable stops on their honeymoon, and five comparable places within South Korea: